Lost1913Thanhouser CompanyOne reelComedy

The Clothes Line Quarrel

Name: The Clothes Line Quarrel
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1913-11-21

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

“The two commuters lived side by side in a suburban district, each happy in the love of his wife and child. The wives were also good friends, and the little boy thought the little girl next door was the cutest child he had ever seen. One day, however, the boy was kept in after school, and when he came home he was angry and at war with the whole world. The little girl made shame of him, which aroused the youngster’s ire and he slapped her and ill treated her doll. Following this, all sorts of unpleasant things happened. The mothers quarreled; the fathers ceased to be chums and avoided one another on the streets and in the suburban trains, and the elder people having started the feud determined to keep it up. They completely overlooked, however, the fact that the children were again good friends. In fact, they did not know it until one day when the two youngsters were lost, and the neighbors told of having seen them wander away together after a hand-organ grinder. The men promptly dropped their feud to organize a searching party. They found the children in the woods.”

Summary from The Moving Picture World · 22 November 1913

What the papers said

4 reviews · 1 advertisement

Read in full · 1 min

“Here is a delightful ‘backyard comedy’—one of those charmingly intimate domestic stories which appeal irresistibly to the average picture patron. Like so many real life squabbles, the situation upon which this little tale of neighbourly strife is founded is of a very trifling nature, but, thanks to the admirable manner in which the play is presented, it is wholly sufficient. And, in consequence, the film constitutes as pleasant a piece of humour as one could desire. The Thanhouser children are already famous, and in the present production we see those wonderful kiddies, Leland Benham and Helen Badgley, at their very best. Miss Mignon Anderson, too, is as skilful as she is beautiful, and her work in the film contributes largely towards the latter’s success. A Clothes-Line Quarrel is a picture which will captivate every domesticated audience.”

The Bioscope · 2 April 1914

Read in full · 1 min

“Children may start a quarrel easily, but forget all about it much sooner than do their elders. In this film an interesting story shows the growth of a feud between neighbors as the result of a children’s quarrel which was soon ‘made up.’ Two young couples who live in the suburbs are the best of friends. One day the little boy of one household quarrels with the little girl of the other, and angry feelings result. The parents take sides. The men cut each other on the suburban train and everywhere else and the women do the same. Meantime the children have become the best of friends again. One day they wander off together, and in the search for them the two families realize the foolishness of their feud and once more become friends.”

The Morning Telegraph · 23 November 1913

More reviews2 · 29 November 1913 – 3 December 1913

29 November 1913The Moving Picture World1 min

“Portraying the domestic difficulties of two suburban families in a very pleasing manner. The husbands are seen running for the morning cars; the wives and children get into a quarrel. Later the children make up and get lost in the woods. A light plot nicely photographed and close enough to human nature to be entertaining.”

3 December 1913The New York Dramatic Mirror1 min

“A commuters’ comedy in one reel, that bases its interest on the presence of the two children in the play. The story is thin, leaving no opportunity for the actors. Photography good. Two commuters and their wives and the boy of one family and the little girl of the other family are living in peace next door to each other. Each morning the two hubbys race side by side for the 8:18. The boy is detained after school, and, being teased by the girl, he slaps her. This starts the ‘vendetta’ between the two families. The children ‘make up’ long before the parents, for they wander off into the fields and become lost. Anxiety and a desire to unite forces lead the two families to search together, and the finding of the kids brings about a commuters’ reconciliation.”

15 November 1913Reel Life1 min

“It split the two families who had lived ‘longside each other for many friendly years, and they wouldn’t talk until their very youngest members brought about peace.”

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

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Cast and crew

Cast: Helen Badgley

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

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More about this film

From Volume II: Filmography of Q. David Bowers’ Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, reproduced with permission and unchanged. Read the history of 1913 →

Cite as: Bowers, Q. David. Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, “The Clothes Line Quarrel”. thanhouser.org/films/the-clothes-line-quarrel/

Where a print is held

Held by: No print known