Lost1911Thanhouser Company400 feetComedy

Stealing a Ride

Name: Stealing a Ride
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1911-01-27

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

“Two little youngsters, Susie Gay and Johnnie Eddy, are out tobogganing, when they see Susie’s parents start for a drive in a sleigh. The children ask to be taken along, but are refused. Unknown to the grownups, they hitch their little sleds on behind the big sleigh, and accompany the party anyway. Going at a good speed on an upgrade, Susie loses her hold on her little sled and Johnnie, trying to save her, falls off with her. By the time the little ones scramble to their feet, the big sleigh is a long distance off, and they are unable to overtake it. The children wander into a nearby wood, hopelessly lost, and spend an anxious afternoon together. Mr. and Mrs. Gay discover the two empty sleds when they are some distance from the town. Recognizing Susie’s sled, they turn back, fearing some harm has befallen their little one. They track the children by their footsteps into the woods, where they find them asleep in the snow. The children have had a bad fright, but are otherwise no worse off for their experience. This time they get their wish, and are driven back home in the big sleigh.”

Summary from The Moving Picture World · 28 January 1911

What the papers said

3 reviews · 1 advertisement

“Here is another film that must be given praise. It is a very simple story but well treated. A young daughter and son steal a sleigh ride on the back of their parents’ sleigh who do not know that their children are enjoying the forbidden pleasure. They fall off in the woods in very deep snow. Later the passengerless sled …

Read in full · 1 min

REVIEW by Walton, The Moving Picture News, February 25, 1911:

“A couple of youngsters hitch their sleds to their parents’ sleigh, determined to have a ride even if mother and father say ‘nay.’ The ride brings in some very pretty snow scenery. They tumble off and cannot catch the sleigh, so they get lost in the wintry woods. Their parents see the empty sleds, tumble to the situation and set off to find the children. They are found, taken home and suitably punished and kissed. A split reel of the sort young folks—as well as old—will enjoy.”

The Billboard · 28 January 1911

“This will interest the children since the details are of the adventure of two young tots who hitch behind, are thrown, and wander away in the snow. It is true to life. No one will deny that, and for that reason it will excite interest. Maybe mothers will want to point to this as a horrible example of what will happen if the little chaps hook behind.”

The Moving Picture World · 11 February 1911

More reviews

1 February 1911The New York Dramatic Mirror1 min

“Here is a charming little child episode carried out with fine realism. Father and mother go sleigh-riding, refusing to take the children along, but the little scamps, a boy and a girl, tie their sleds on behind and steal a ride. Far from home they tumble off in a snowdrift and become lost, the parents not even discovering the empty sleds for some time. At last, however, the sleds are seen, and the truth is realized, followed by an anxious return over the road in search of the missing ones. They are traced by their tracks to a shelter behind some rocks, where the boy had built a fire by which the little girl had gone to sleep. After reaching home each youngster was spanked, but the punishment was eased by hearty kisses.”

21 January 1911The Moving Picture World1 min

“A pretty little story of a pair of lost children, sort of babes in the woods modernized. These youngsters who go astray are two as lovable children as ever in pictures. And your woman patrons’ hearts will go out to them.”