Lost1911Thanhouser Company700 feetRomance

Motoring

Name: Motoring
Genre: Romance
Released: 1911-06-09

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

“A young millionaire, whose hobby is mechanics, takes his newly overhauled car out for a trial spin, and he would have laughed had anybody told him that it was to be the most eventful trip of his life. For the young man was heartfree, but impressionable, and when he saw a pretty young woman in the road, asking him to help her, he stops and would have done so even had his time been really important. The young woman, with her aunt, was taking an auto trip too, and something went wrong with the engine. Her chauffeur was able to stop the car, but he could not start it again. All he could do was poke the works of the machine with chisel and remark that something seemed to be radically wrong.

“The millionaire rendered first aid to the injured auto by producing a long rope, and towing it to a nearby roadhouse. There he had time to investigate, and not being a professional chauffeur, he was able to get things right in a jiffy. The regular chauffeur was much grieved, and his sorrow increased when the aunt came out and chatted with him regarding his shortcomings. In a rage the chauffeur quit his job on the spot, leaving his passengers stranded far from home. What more natural than that the aunt should ask the young man to run his car? He looked like a chauffeur, and she thought he was a chauffeur. He didn’t want the job, of course, but he did want to see more of the pretty girl. And like the aunt, he too had made a mistake. He thought the well-born, well to do girl, a ladies’ maid.

“The girl induced her aunt to let her carry on the deception, ‘just for a lark,’ and the maid and the chauffeur enjoyed the trip immensely. She learned how to run an automobile and he learned that the most unfortunate men in the world were the blind ones who could not see the beautiful girl he gazed at so fondly. It was natural that he should ask the privilege of calling upon her, and it was natural that she should refuse, as the joke had gone far enough. But she accidentally learned who her chauffeur really was, and her heart was filled with gladness. For she found that he was a man worthy of her love. But he had been tricking her, so she decided to give him some of his own medicine. She allowed him to call, but received him in the kitchen, introduced the cook as her mother and in other ways tested his devotion. To her joy she found that his love for her could overlook and forgive all drawbacks, so in the end she revealed herself to him in the proper guise, and made him happy by agreeing to be his wife, and to motor through life by his side.”

Summary from The Moving Picture World · 3 June 1911

What the papers said

4 reviews · 1 advertisement

Read in full · 1 min

“This film tells a rather old story of the heiress who poses as a servant and wins the heart of the millionaire who poses as a chauffeur. In this instance the plan was not prearranged but just happens so, and the novel development is surely worked out of the situation. The attraction between the two people starts when the heiress’ chauffeur is trying to fix her broken-down machine and the millionaire happens along. It develops that he becomes chauffeur, while she is taken for the maid of her aunt with whom she is riding. She continues the deception thinking that he is only a chauffeur and only informs him of her real identity on her day off.”

The Billboard · 10 June 1911

Read in full · 1 min

“This is funnier than the accompanying picture on the same reel. A wealthy woman goes motoring, her car breaking down on the road. She hails the first passer by, who happens to be a wealthy autoist. He answers the appeal of the lady in distress and agrees to take her home in his own car. She mistakes him for a chauffeur and he, to keep up the joke, accepts a position as such in her employ, she letting her own go. At her house he is introduced to the cook, and when the latter’s day off occurs he follows her, when a comic mix-up happens. This gave one to infer that this cook is either the mother of the lady or the mother of the lady is introduced as the cook. All ends happily, however.”

The Morning Telegraph · 11 June 1911

More reviews2 · 24 June 1911 – 14 June 1911

24 June 1911The Moving Picture World1 min

“This is a sprightly comedy, not very original, but well acted and acceptable. The aunt of an heiress hires a rich man to be chauffeur, thinking him poor, and he in a spirit of fun takes a job. The niece finds him out and then plays lady’s mate and there is a pleasant romance.”

14 June 1911The New York Dramatic Mirror1 min

“A refined and entertaining little comedy is pleasingly presented on this film, and depicts the romance of a man and a maid who met in a motor accident. He was the owner of his own car, but the aunt took him for a chauffeur and hired him to tow them home. He took the niece for the maid and, upon learning of it, she kept up the deception by introducing the cook as her mother. The flour business in this scene was too forced and deliberate to be suggestive or amusing. On her day out she disillusioned him and they went motoring off together.”

3 June 1911The Moving Picture World1 min

“That ideal brand of comedy that teaches you to make people laugh without the aid of slapstick. Real wit in the story, real cleverness in the picture construction of it, obviate the need of all slapstick. That is made clear here that the picture is merely logical, and that’s what will make you like it. The motorist wins a wife in an intensely funny way but a mighty logical one.”