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1914Thanhouser CompanyOne reelComedy

The Benevolence of Conductor 786

Also released as Conductor 786

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

“Conductor 786 rescues Baby Helen, who has wandered onto the electric tracks. He takes her home, and discovers that she has twin sisters and a mother, the latter very ill with consumption. The doctor tells the conductor that if Mrs. Smith could go to the mountains there would be some hope of her recovery. Not long after, the superintendent of the road gives the old conductor a banquet to celebrate his 25th year in the company’s employ. The men call on him for a speech. He asks to be excused for a few minutes, and soon returns with the twins and Helen. Then he tells the men about the children’s mother and appeals to them for help. A generous collection is taken up, and two days later Conductor 786 puts the Smith family on board the Adirondack Express.”

Summary from Reel Life · 3 October 1914

What the papers said

2 reviews

“A slight but pretty little film consisting mainly of a very finished character study by Mr. Riley Chamberlin as a benevolent tram conductor, who collects from his comrades sufficient money to send a poor widow and her children for a much-needed holiday in the mountains. The film includes several very effective settings, and it is quite good so far as it goes.”

The Bioscope · 4 February 1915

“On the same reel with Lizards of the Desert. Simple and charming and full of real heart interest, also a decided thrill when the conductor saves the child from being run over by the trolley. This last incident has been worked up in a very novel and pleasing way.”

The Moving Picture World · 24 October 1914

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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.

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Cast and crew

Cast
Ethel Jewett
Fan Bourke as mother of the twins
Fritz Thayer
Helen Badgley as Baby Helen
J.S. Murray as Joe, an employee
James S. Murray
Janet Clendenning Henry
Janet Henry
Joe Sparks as the superintendent
Joseph Sparks
Madeline Fairbanks as the twins
Marion Fairbanks
Mr. R. Abrahams
Nolan Gane
R. Abrahams
Riley Chamberlin as Conductor 786

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A frame from The Children’s Hour12:30
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More about this film

Bowers’ notes
  1. An advertisement for the Mutual Program in the September 26, 1914 issue of Reel Life called this a “comedy,” but the designation was in error. 2. The New Rochelle Pioneer, September 5, 1914, discussed this film: “Riley Chamberlin has completed another of those humorous ‘conductor’ pictures, under the title Conductor 786, and he is becoming funnier with each release.” Although this film was not titled Conductor 786 by the time it was released, that title was used for two separate Thanhouser films, one released on August 23, 1912, and the other issued as a Falstaff film on June 17, 1916.

From Volume II: Filmography of Q. David Bowers’ Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, reproduced with permission and unchanged. Read the history of 1914 →

Cite as: Bowers, Q. David. Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, “The Benevolence of Conductor 786”. thanhouser.org/films/the-benevolence-of-conductor-786/

Where a print is held

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