Lost1913Thanhouser CompanyOne reelDrama

The Protectory’s Oldest Boy

Name: The Protectory’s Oldest Boy
Genre: Drama
Released: 1913-08-05

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 50 years the Catholic Protectory has done much to make good citizens out of boys who would have otherwise had no chance. Many New York City men owe their proud positions to the training and care they received while wards of the Protectory. A wealthy man received an invitation to the Protectory’s Golden Jubilee. He was now wealthy and held a high position in the national government, but the Protectory had sheltered him when he was a friendless waif, so his feelings toward the great institution were those of deepest gratitude. Accompanied by his little grand-daughter, he visited his old home. While the statesman viewed the impressive ceremonies his little grand-daughter formed the acquaintance of one of the Protectory boys. The statesman heard the boy’s story, and the little chap’s pathetic tale of privation touched the successful man and awoke memories of his own past. He determined to take the child to his handsome home, educate him and make him a credit to the Protectory. The boy left the institution with his new guardian and is now being carefully educated. He is a manly little fellow, and the statesman, ‘the Protectory’s oldest boy,’ firmly believes that in years to come the great institution will be proud to name the youngster as one of their graduates.”

Summary from The Moving Picture World · 16 August 1913

What the papers said

3 reviews · 1 advertisement

This review is reprinted in the narrative section of the present work.

The Morning Telegraph · 10 August 1913

“An abused newsboy is taken into the Protectory, and later meets the granddaughter of his benefactor, the inference being that in later years they will marry. The picture, however, features principally the parades and drill work of the boys’ school.”

The Moving Picture World · 16 August 1913

More reviews

13 August 1913The New York Dramatic Mirror1 min

“A little boy, much abused by worthless parents, is rescued by neighbors and sent to the Protectory. While there, at some maneuvers of a nearby military school, he meets the little granddaughter of the ‘Protectory’s oldest boy’—who is now a successful man outside—and her request leads the old man to adopt him. A good idea very poorly worked out. As the thing stands at present, it makes little sense. The story given here is merely surmised from the premises laid down. A split with The Wild West Comes to Town.”

9 August 1913The Moving Picture World1 min

“That was simply a fine title for him—he had been out of the Protectory for years and had made a great success in the world, but he was ever the ‘boy’ of the institution that had sheltered him in youth—its oldest boy! And he helped one of the struggling youngest.”

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Cast and crew

Cast: George Barnes as the protectory’s oldest boy, grown up
: Marie Eline as the newsboy

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: Views of the Catholic Protectory, a New York boys’ school.

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 Protectory’s Oldest Boy”. thanhouser.org/films/the-protectory-s-oldest-boy/

Where a print is held

Held by: No print known