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1915Thanhouser CompanyOne reelDrama

The Revenge of the Steeple-Jack

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

“Joel Frazer, a civil engineer, and Ben, a steeplejack, who always had been friends, fall in love with Marguerite Frost. Ben’s jealousy makes of him an insane man. He purposely directs Marguerite into the sinking sands, and then, from the top of the tower, whither comes Frazer to inspect Ben’s job, the steeple-jack compels the engineer to look abroad and see his fiancée going to her death. Ben pulls a revolver, and there is a scuffle far above the ground. The steeple-jack loses his footing and falls to his doom. Frazer, galloping to Marguerite’s rescue, is barely in time to save her.”

Summary from Reel Life · 14 August 1915

What the papers said

1 review · 1 article · 1 advertisement

“A one-reel number featuring Mignon Anderson, Harris Gordon and John Lehnberg. This has a real thrill in it and arouses the observer’s interest greatly. The struggle on top of the chimney and the fall of the villain are well pictured. A good number of the kind.”

The Moving Picture World · 21 August 1915

Article

21 August 1915The Moving Picture World1 min

“One of the most thrilling stunts ever enacted before a motion picture camera occurred on the slender scaffolding atop a 200 foot chimney of the Standard Oil station immediately in the rear of the Thanhouser studios in New Rochelle, during the filming of one of the scenes for The Steeple-Jack’s Revenge [sic], a single reel drama for release on August 8. And it was by the narrowest fraction of an inch that one and possibly the two actors participating in the scene were not killed or seriously injured. John Lehnberg lost his balance, but was saved from death by Harris Gordon in the exercise of his own great strength.”

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7 August 1915The Moving Picture World1 min

“Prepare to lose your breath when you see this one. The big punch is the battle 200 feet in the air by two men who love the same girl. No counterfeit thrill effects! You won’t need to ask a question after you see the hair-raising work in this film. Mignon Anderson, Harris Gordon and John Lehnberg worked with all their might—and they know how!”

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Cast and crew

Cast
Carey L. Hastings as her Aunt Mary
Harris Gordon as Joel Frazer
John Lehnberg as Ben, the steeplejack
Mignon Anderson as Marguerite Frost

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

Watch instead

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1914 · Same leadAn Elusive Diamond
A frame from The Tell-Tale Scar12:09
1914 · Same castThe Tell-Tale Scar
A frame from The World and the Woman1:05:26
1916 · Same leadThe World and the Woman

More about this film

Bowers’ notes

“Steeple-jack” in the title appeared unhyphenated, as “steeplejack,” in some notices.

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 Revenge of the Steeple-Jack”. thanhouser.org/films/the-revenge-of-the-steeple-jack/

Where a print is held

Held by
No print known