Lost1915Thanhouser CompanyOne reelWestern

The Has Been

Name: The Has Been
Genre: Western
Released: 1915-10-10

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

“For years Sheriff Kincaid has been one of the most respected men in his community. He sent his only son, John, through college, and his cup of happiness was full when the young lawyer hung out his shingle in their home town. But clients came slowly, and Elinor, John’s sweetheart in the East, constantly urged him to hurry up and make more money so they could be married. Suddenly, in Jericho County, one crime after another is perpetrated. The sheriff immediately gets on the trail of the mysterious robber. He returns from his hunt without the criminal, a changed man. From that day Kincaid rapidly goes downhill. He avoids his son, who is fast becoming prosperous. His sheriffship he has long ago resigned to a younger man. For some time the community enjoys peace. Then the robberies break out again. The new sheriff and his posse are on the job. Tracking the desperado one day, they find the old ‘has been’ before them. He has captured their man and taken him to safety over the border. Kincaid directs the officers of the law where to find the thief’s cache. But one of the band, lingering behind, catches a glimpse of the robber’s face. It is Kincaid’s own son.”

Summary from Reel Life · 9 October 1915

What the papers said

1 review

“A Western story containing a rather pathetic situation. A sheriff, in the opening of the picture, gladly greets his son, who returns from college a full-fledged lawyer. Later the ambition of the young man to possess money leads him into paths of shame. His father resigns, but shields the name of his son. The close of the picture shows them both starting out to begin life anew.”

The Moving Picture World · 16 October 1915

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

Cast: George M. Marlo
: George Marlo as John, his son
: Wayne Arey as the sheriff

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 John T. Rocks and the Flivver

13:35

1915 · Same leadJohn T. Rocks and the Flivver

14:29

1915 · Same castThe Mistake of Mammy Lou

1:05:26

1916 · Same castThe World and the Woman

More about this film

Bowers’ notes: In advertising this film was billed: “A tale of red-blooded men—all men—not a woman in it!”

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, “The Has Been”. thanhouser.org/films/the-has-been/

Where a print is held

Held by: No print known