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1913Thanhouser CompanyOne reelRomance

The Pretty Girl in Lower Five

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

It is a long trip from Chicago to Los Angeles, and when the young man boarded the train in the Windy City, he was afraid that time would hang heavily on his hands. Then he looked around in the car and saw one interesting object, a pretty girl in Lower 5. He had Section 6, directly across the aisle, and he did all he could, in a gentlemanly way, to scrape up an acquaintance. The maiden, however, viewed him with disdain, and would not even accept his assistance when she was unable to open the window. They stood together on a platform of the observation car, but they might as well have been miles apart, for she ignored his presence. There was sorrow in Section 6, and freezing disdain in Section 5, while the train was plunging its way westward. The scenery changes on an overland trip, and so do the dispositions of many passengers. The young man in 6 found a chance to be the gallant knight of the damsel in 5, acquaintance followed, and long before they arrived at the California city they were on friendly terms. In Los Angeles the girl was met by her father, the boy by his sister, and the friendship so unconventionally begun later ripened into a happy love romance.

Summary from The Moving Picture World · 22 February 1913

What the papers said

3 reviews · 1 advertisement

Travel scenes enhance this pleasing little photo-play, which is a novel form of romance between two tourists enroute to California. The man has a section in the sleeper opposite the girl and tries to make her acquaintance, but fails utterly until they are almost at their journey’s end. And then they become friends, and when she is met at the …

Read in full · 1 min

Travel scenes enhance this pleasing little photo-play, which is a novel form of romance between two tourists enroute to California. The man has a section in the sleeper opposite the girl and tries to make her acquaintance, but fails utterly until they are almost at their journey’s end. And then they become friends, and when she is met at the Los Angeles station by her father and he by his sister they become fast friends and afterward full-fledged sweethearts. It makes one long to travel once more, if such could come true. The charm of the romance combined with the backgrounds makes the story one long to be remembered.

The Morning Telegraph · 23 February 1913

This is almost a picture without a plot, although, it works out very prettily and is pleasant to look at. The forepart of the film shows the manner in which the young couple become acquainted on board a train, and the latter part finds them on top of Mt. Lowe in California. The scenes are attractive throughout.

The Moving Picture World · 1 March 1913

More reviews

19 February 1913The New York Dramatic Mirror1 min

A quiet, almost plotless story that is pleasing because of its simplicity and the exceptionally natural acting of Flo LaBadie and other members of the cast. The scenes taken from the window of a moving car and from the observation platform are particularly good. Most of the film is devoted to depicting the gradual manner in which a young man becomes acquainted with a strikingly pretty girl while they are on a train bound for the West. There is much delicately shaded acting in these scenes. After the arrival in Los Angeles their friendship is continued, until all ends happily with the pair in fond embrace while they stand on the summit of a high mountain, which might be termed the height of conspicuousness.

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22 February 1913The Moving Picture World1 min

He had a lot of time on his hands, for it was a long, uneventful trip from Chicago to Los Angeles, so he became interested in the pretty girl across the aisle—in a gentlemanly way. That is, he never obtruded himself on her, and she on her part ignored him. She made the poor chap feel sorry for merely being lonely—awful crime!—and he spent the journey in much misery. Then came a rift of sunshine through the clouds, and Lonely Man and Pretty Girl became firm friends.

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Cast and crew

Director
Lucius J. Henderson
Cast
Florence La Badie as the pretty girl
Jean Darnell
William Garwood
Photographed by
Arthur A. Cadwell

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

Filmed in
On a train from New York to Los Angeles with Thanhouser’s Western stock company; other scenes on the railway up Mt. Lowe, a Southern California tourist attraction of the era.
Bowers’ notes

This film was originally scheduled for release on January 17, 1913, the date listed in various trade notices.

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 Pretty Girl in Lower Five”. thanhouser.org/films/the-pretty-girl-in-lower-five/

Where a print is held

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No print known