Lost1915FalstaffOne reelComedy

P. Henry Jenkins and Mars

Name: P. Henry Jenkins and Mars
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1915-07-23

Also released as The Helmet of Mars

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

“There is an old legend that whoever puts on the helmet of Mars, the war god of the Greeks and Romans, no matter how cowardly the mortal may be, he becomes instantly as brave as a lion. Not long ago Mars himself sent his headgear to a certain P. Henry Jenkins, a middle-aged clerk, and the biggest coward in New York City. Jenkins knew nothing of what was to happen to him. The attendant of the deity changed the helmet into an ordinary hat so that it might not attract attention—and Jenkins, in a single day, became another man. He got a raise in salary, persuaded his wife to let him smoke in the house, and made all his former tormentors step around lively. Even after the god had recalled his own, Jenkins went on, a self-assertive and successful man to the end of his days.”

Summary from Reel Life · 17 July 1915

What the papers said

1 review · 1 advertisement

“A new variation of a familiar theme, in which Riley Chamberlin does some good comedy work. He appears as a modest clerk who for one day wears the helmet of Mars. This so fills him with courage that he talks back at his wife, gets a raise in salary and surprises everybody, himself included. This is a good comedy.”

The Moving Picture World · 31 July 1915

24 July 1915The Moving Picture World1 min

“The Helmet of Mars makes a lion of a lamb. Mars sends his messenger, Mercury, to bestow his helmet on the weakest of cowards. Poor old hen-pecked Jenkins is that man, and with the strength of the War-God in his heart, he proceeds to turn the tables on all those who had been making life miserable for him. Riley Chamberlin makes it a howling success.”

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

Director: Arthur Ellery
Cast: Claude Cooper as Olympus
: Joseph Phillips as Jenkins’ employer
: Nellie Parker Spaulding as Mrs. Jenkins
: Phil Brady
: Riley Chamberlin as P. Henry Jenkins
: Wayne Arey as Mars

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

Watch instead

Films you can watch from the same company

Matched by cast, director and kind

A frame from Mme. Blanche, Beauty Doctor

13:35

1915 · Same directorMme. Blanche, Beauty Doctor

12:27

1915 · Same leadWhen Hungry Hamlet Fled

1:08:00

1917 · Same leadThe Woman in White

More about this film

Bowers’ notes: Thanhouser originally scheduled this film for release on July 9, 1915, then changed the date to July 23, 1915. However, certain earlier printed notices were never corrected, and some trade notices state that this subject was released on July 9th. 2. In various synopses, reviews, etc., the capitalization of the word “helmet” was inconsistent.

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, “P. Henry Jenkins and Mars”. thanhouser.org/films/p-henry-jenkins-and-mars/

Where a print is held

Held by: No print known