An Amateur Orphan

“Now that Thanhouser has raised Gladys Leslie to stardom, it will evidently be the duty of Agnes Johnston to write the same type of stories for two different young ladies under contract with that company, the other one being, of course, Gladys Hulette. The authoress’s latest work which is used as the initial starring vehicle for Miss Leslie, is in the same class of story that the other Gladys generally appears in without any resemblance as to plot. It is sweet, it is wholesome, and it affords the principal actress ample opportunity to give a performance of a young girl somewhere between the ages of 12 and 14 that will be appreciated by a general audience. In An Amateur Orphan, whether it is because of the material or the way in which she plays the part, Miss Leslie’s performance of the role of Marcia Schuyler is more or less of a composite of the poor little rich girl and Pollyanna. She is a child that has had everything in the world except the thing she most craves, the companionship of other children. By a scheme of substitution she gets herself sent to an orphan asylum instead of boarding school. Her adventures from then on embrace her ability to make herself and everybody happy. The direction of the picture is especially well done and attention has been paid to matters of detail. The thoroughly pleasing new star is surrounded by a capable company that includes Isabel Vernon, Thomas A. Curran, Jean Armour, Chester Morris, Ray Hallor and Justus Barnes. An exhibitor who desires a film of wholesome entertainment will make no mistake in booking An Amateur Orphan.—F.T.”

“Figuring this as a program release it may get by in many communities because it has some cute kid stuff and a lot of little human touches which had evidently been planted in the story, and consequently registered effectively despite the general cheap and ordinary touch which marked the atmosphere of the offering. The plot told about a wealthy little girl who was being raised scientifically, with a tutor who suppressed all her natural inclinations. Seeing the kiddies in an orphanage having a glorious time one day, she decided to run away and become an ‘orphan,’ this being made possible by her folks going to Japan. Meanwhile, the tutor wanted her niece to have an education, the wealthy girl being planted in the orphanage while the tutor’s niece was sent to the boarding school under the wealthy girl’s name.

“Later on, the wealthy little orphan, after having a grand and glorious time in the orphanage—which is hardly convincing—was adopted by a family in the country, where she reformed a grouchy old farmer and made him realize again the attractiveness of his wife, who had become more or less of a drudge. Finally the parents came home and became very much excited over the disappearance of their child, with the result that they offered a reward for her return, which was collected by the son of the farm folk, who had, of course, fallen in love with our heroine. We then had this youth brought to the city, with a few rather forced scenes leading up to his advance in business. Another young man, who wanted to marry the niece of the tutor now established in the heroine’s home, appeared to want to marry the heroine herself.

“The audience was tricked into believing that heroine was trying to make the hero lose his position so that the other boy could have it because she loved the other boy, but we found that it was because she knew the other boy loved her friend, and she wanted the boy she loved to lose his job so that they could live in the country, she having all the wealth that was essential. The introduction of the bit where the heroine played chauffeur in order to delay the hero’s arrival at his office was decidedly forced, and, in fact, the treatment of the entire offering, except in a few little spots, kept it from registering anything like as effectively as it could have, had it been very carefully handled. In the supporting cast were Isabel Vernon, Thomas A. Curran, Jean Armour, Ray Hallor, Chester Morris and Justus Barnes.

“The Box Office Angle: Of course, the name of Gladys Leslie at the present time means nothing in the life of your fans. You might say that she is another discovery of the Thanhouser studios, who expect that she will become as popular as Gladys Hulette has in a few short months, and you can possibly arouse some interest by announcing that this is a story of a wealthy girl who chose to run away and become an orphan in order to have an opportunity to enjoy life free from the guardianship of her tutor. While this has been done in a rather ordinary manner, it has enough human touches that the average fan will probably accept it as better entertainment than the vampire ‘mellerdrammers.’ There is quite a bit of cute stuff in it, and it might appeal particularly to a children’s audience if you wanted to pick something that would get by satisfactorily on a light day when you play for a big matinee.”

“Because farms and farming are uppermost in the public mind, through Uncle Sam’s persistent call for increased national effort in that direction, Gladys Leslie of Thanhouser and her director, Van Dyke Brooke, wisely journeyed out to a farming district ‘somewhere in New York State’ and took a picture on the most attractive farm in the vicinage. ‘We wanted such a farm,’ said Miss Leslie, ‘as would make the beholder hie to the nearest government farm bureau and register as a farm purchaser or worker.’ Be that as it may, the Leslie smile in farm surroundings is going to make farm life look more attractive than ever. The happy farm boys are represented in the picture by Ray Hallor and Chester Morris, and Edwin Thanhouser claims an old farm couple—man and wife—were never more naturally portrayed than by Justus D. Barnes and Carey Hastings in this film. The back to nature subject is An Amateur Orphan, from Agnes C. Johnston’s scenario, and released by Pathé June 1.”

“Thanhouser’s next ‘Smile Feature,’ as their Gladys Leslie plays are termed—it was of Miss Leslie that the New York Herald said: ‘She has a million dollar smile’—it is to be released June 1 and called An Amateur Orphan. It is director Van Dyke Brooke’s first Thanhouser production—he who was ten years with Vitagraph. Perhaps Agnes C. Johnston’s authorship of the scenario evidenced the sunny nature of the picture along with the fact of Miss Leslie’s presence in it, for The Shine Girl, Pots-and-Pans Peggie, Prudence the Pirate, Her New York, and other humoristic Thanhouser successes are from her pen. Indeed, she is working on other ‘smile pictures’ for Thanhouser’s smiling star, for it is the belief of Edwin Thanhouser that such films are an actual necessity to the public in dread war time.”

“A rich man’s daughter gets ‘back to the farm’ in a novel way. Miss Leslie makes a most lovable heroine.”

“Miss Leslie is charming in this play by Agnes Johnston. Her pranks while ‘playing hookey’ from home will have your audiences with her from the start.”