Mickey

Although it is difficult to say with any kind of certainty which films Nelson Evans worked on in the capacity of still photographer, there is one that we know for sure.  "Mickey", released in August of 1918 but started in mid 1916 and completed a year later, starred Mabel Normand as an orphan who is sent East from her late father's mine to live with her aunt.  Produced by Mack Sennett, but made at Normand's own studio, it became the biggest hit of the year, in part thanks to unusually heavy promotion, promotion that Evans not only took part in, but took great pride in as well.

A few months before the film's release, news stories appeared in several trade magazines, including the May 18th, 1918 issue of Motion Picture News, telling of Evans' work on designing the lobby display for the film.  Evans talks about his philosophy behind his design, stating that:

"I first studied the story and determined to cater to this demand for continuity, to perfect my lobby display, so that the story would be presented to the public pictorially and in chronological order, and further to combine with this phase the wonderful story which 'Mickey' possesses".  

Elaborating, he says:

"My first purpose was to place before the public a series of panels which would pictorially represent the continuity of the story, and my selection of the panels gave me that element.  They accentuate the story values and render the public in an expectant mood for what is to be shown."

It's unclear what he means by panels, but they were most likely either stills or lobby cards.  Here are examples of both:

An unusual feature of both the still and the lobby card is that they have Evans' signature.  Although I am no expert on lobby cards, the ones from 'Mickey' are the only ones I have seen signed by the photographer.  It's possible that the Evans Studio was responsible for creating the cards (which might explain why the signature is always next to the title of the film), or perhaps it was part of his contract.  In any case, it is unusual.

Other promotional pictures that he shot for the film appeared on some of the variant covers of the million-copy-selling sheet music of the film's theme song.

It's clear that Evan's was proud of his work on the film he called "the greatest comedy-drama ever presented for the public's entertainment on the screen."  Although remembered today only by silent movie fans, the movie did indeed prove to be popular with the public of the day.