Lost1910Thanhouser Company975 feetRomance

Cupid at the Circus

Name: Cupid at the Circus
Genre: Romance
Released: 1910-05-20

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

“Tom Wilk is a poor country lad, living alone with his stepfather, who ill-treats him. Tom leaves his work one day to follow a circus parade. He is fascinated with the wonders of the parade and follows it to the circus grounds, around which he stays all morning, and is finally tempted by his great wish to see the show, to crawl under the tent. He is discovered by a circus guard, and ordered off the ground. A small girl, Lillie Lockwood, and her father come to the circus, and witness Tom’s ejection. Urged by his daughter, Lillie’s father buys Tom a ticket of admission, giving him his first happy day. In return, Tom gives Lillie, as a keepsake, his most treasured possession, his pocket knife.

“On returning home, Tom is severely chastised by his step-father, after which he decides to run away. He walks to a neighboring town, and is there engaged as an office boy by Gates, a lawyer. After some years of faithful service, in various capacities, Tom becomes a member of the firm. Lillie obtains a position as a stenographer in their office. She and Tom do not recognize each other, until Tom accidentally sees in her hand the little knife he had given her in the long ago. He declares he had loved her through the years, and has been patiently waiting for her, so the romance that began at the circus finds a happy climax at the altar.”

Summary from The Moving Picture World · 21 May 1910

What the papers said

5 reviews · 1 advertisement

Read in full · 1 min

“Tom Wick [sic], a poor country lad, sees a circus bill being posted, and leaves his work to attend the parade. He is fascinated with the wonders of the parade, and follows to the circus grounds, and is finally ordered off. Mr. Lockwood, with his little daughter Lillie, witness the ejection. Urged by his daughter, Lillie’s father buys Tom a ticket, and in return Tom gives Lillie his most treasured possession, his penknife. On returning home Tom is severely punished by his stepfather, and decides to run away. He walks to a neighboring town, and is engaged as office boy by Mr. Gates. Fifteen years after Tom is made partner. Mr. Gates engages Lillie as a typist. She and Tom do not recognize one another, until while dictating a letter the point of her pencil breaks. Bringing out her knife to sharpen it, Tom recognizes it as the one he gave away as a boy, and the film concludes with a happy wedding scene.”

The Bioscope · 22 December 1910

Read in full · 1 min

“This is a good clean story told in a pleasing manner. Photography is also very good. A young lad runs away from home. He sees the circus and tries to gain admission. He is fortunate to win the good graces of a little girl who is going with her father to see the circus performance. At her request the father also buys a ticket for the little fellow. He is so pleased that he gives the girl a pocket knife and other small trinkets as tokens of remembrance. In later years, the boy, now a young man, has advanced himself to partnership in a law firm. The girl of his childhood applies to his firm for a position as stenographer. When she sharpens her pencil with the knife she once received, he recognizes her as the one who pleaded for him with her father to take him to see the circus. All’s well that ends well.”

The Morning Telegraph · 22 May 1910

More reviews3 · 4 June 1910 – 1 June 1910

4 June 1910The Moving Picture World1 min

“A romantic picture, representing an unfortunate boy befriended by a little girl, and giving her his pocket knife as recompense. Years after, when he has become a successful man, the girl is engaged as stenographer by his firm. He discovers the knife, and the picture ends with a wedding not far away on the horizon. A pleasant story, enhanced by the picturesque surroundings of a circus and the exhilaration which comes of seeing a boy succeed against great odds.”

28 May 1910The New York Dramatic Mirror1 min

“This company continues to produce pictures that are of commendable quality, this film being a novelty in the way of circus scenes that are introduced, and having at the same time a rather interesting love story to tell. In the early scenes we see a boy running away from the farm to go to the circus, and a girl induces her father to buy a ticket for him, for which he gratefully gives her his pocketknife. The boy plays too strongly to the camera, a fault that he is learning rather early in his acting career. After numerous interesting circus scenes we are told that ten years have elapsed. The boy has found work with a lawyer, and has been admitted to partnership. The girl, now grown up, is employed as a stenographer, and the two recognize each other, when she sharpens her pencil with the knife he gave her years before. Result: engagement.”

1 June 1910The Nickelodeon1 min

“One of the prettiest romances in moving pictures. The boy stealing into the circus is caught and ejected, whereat the little girl prevails on her father to buy him a ticket. To show his appreciation he gives his benefactors every boy’s greatest treasure, his pocketknife, which in later years becomes a means of identity, by which to renew their childhood friendship. Photography, staging and acting are up to their regular Thanhouser standard.”

21 May 1910The Moving Picture World1 min

“Just in time for the circus craze! For kids from 7 to 70! A Thanhouser heart interest story that will make you feel like a kid again, snooping around the circus tent a watchin’ for a handy hole through which to steal into the paradise within. It’s a circus picture that will bring back the smell of the tanbark and sawdust to your nostrils and make you wish yourself back in the good old kid days.”

Have you seen this film, or a print of it?

Prints of films thought lost still turn up in attics, private collections and archives. A record like this one is how the next one gets found.

Tell us about a print

Cast and crew

Cast: Anna Rosemond as Lillie Lockwood grown up
: Frank H. Crane as Tom Gates grown up

Every name opens that person's page, with each film they appear in and which of them you can watch.

Watch instead

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More about this film

Filmed in: The circus views were “by special arrangement with Messrs. Barnum and Bailey,” according to a Thanhouser announcement.
Bowers’ notes: One trade account gives the film length as 940 feet.

From Volume II: Filmography of Q. David Bowers’ Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, reproduced with permission and unchanged. Read the history of 1910 →

Cite as: Bowers, Q. David. Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, “Cupid at the Circus”. thanhouser.org/films/cupid-at-the-circus/

Where a print is held

Held by: No print known