1915Thanhouser CompanyOne reelRomance

A Freight Car Honeymoon

No copy you can watch online. No print is known to survive. What follows is what does: the release, the cast, the story, and what the trade press said at the time.

The story

“Dan Boynton, a telegraph operator employed in the offices of a big railroad company, falls in love with Alice Reed, a stenographer, who works for the same company. He makes application for a leave of absence, and he and Alice are married. On his return, Boynton learns from the crusty, old general manager, Jonathan Bushkirk, that he is fired. But the bride is very resourceful. An empty freight train, standing in the railway yards, suggests to her bright plan. Since the railroad would not grant them a vacation, they will take their honeymoon at the railroad’s expense, and in one of its own cars. Dan and Alice collect a few camping comforts and make themselves at home in one of the freight cars. When the train pulls out that night, the honeymooners are discovered. But the train crew, learning of the romance, decide to wink at the violation of the rules. They become the firm friends of the young couple. There occurs to Dan a scheme which will enable them to keep indefinitely their improvised cottage. At one of the stops, he climbs a telegraph pole, and by means of a pocket kit, sends a message purporting to be from the general manager, ordering the station agent at the next stop to hold the car on the siding until further orders. The loss of the car causes Bushkirk no little worry. Learning why and where it has been held up, he arrives in person to investigate. To his amazement, he finds his discharged operator and former stenographer living in the car. Their ‘nerve’ makes a great hit with him. He appoints Dan Boynton his chief assistant.”

Summary from Reel Life · 29 May 1915

What the papers said

2 reviews

“This is as nice a comedy as one would wish to see. It is wholesome and mirth-evoking, and is the story of how a young couple, in spite of the fact that the bridegroom, an employee of the railway, is discharged on his wedding day, make the company blow them to a honeymoon aboard a freight train. Flo LaBadie and Harry Benham are the stars.”

The Moving Picture World · 12 June 1915

This review is reprinted in the narrative section of the present work.

The New York Dramatic Mirror · 2 June 1915

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Cast and crew

Florence La Badie as Alice Reed, the bride
Harry Benham as Dan Boynton, the groom
Morgan Jones as Jonathan Bushkirk

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More about this film

From Volume II: Filmography of Q. David Bowers’ Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, reproduced with permission and unchanged. Read the history of 1915 →

Cite as: Bowers, Q. David. Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, “A Freight Car Honeymoon”. thanhouser.org/films/a-freight-car-honeymoon/

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