Lost1916FalstaffOne reelComedy

The Skilful Sleigher’s Strategy

Name: The Skilful Sleigher’s Strategy
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1916-05-06

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 girl tells her suitor they were going to take her to school in her father’s auto, and the suitor, aided by several snow shovelers, blocked the road. Then he drove up in his sleigh and offered to drive the girl to her destination. The guardian insisted upon accompanying them. The young man put the girl on the front seat, placing the guardian in the rear seat, and drove so skillfully that at a certain place in the road the sleigh tipped and the unsuspecting guardian was tipped out. Then the young couple drove on to a minister’s house. But he never saw the skillful sleigher again until the happy couple returned to his home to ask his blessing.”

Summary from Exhibitors Herald · 13 May 1916

Another synopsis, from Reel Life · 20 April 19161 min

“The young man in this story started something, helped by a heavy snow. The girl had told him they were going to take her to school in her father’s auto, and the suitor, aided by several shovelers, blocked the road, rendering it impassable for the auto. Then he drove up in his sleigh, and offered to drive the girl to her destination. Did the guardian let her go? He did not. He insisted upon accompanying them. Was the young man surprised? He was not. He put the girl on the front seat, placing guardian in the rear seat, and drove so skillfully that a certain place in the road the sleigh tipped, and the unsuspecting guardian was tipped out. Then the young couple drove on to a minister’s house. The guardian never saw the skillful sleigher again until the happy couple returned to his home to ask his blessing.”

What the papers said

1 review

“An entertaining light comedy in which a young couple bent on matrimony against the wishes of the young lady’s guardian manage an elopement very cleverly, when, on his way to take her to boarding school, the auto hired by the guardian sticks in the snow, and her sweetheart ready with a sleigh and a team of horses rescues her. Some beautiful snow scenes add to the enjoyment of this picture.”

The Moving Picture World · 13 May 1916

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Cast and crew

Cast: Billy Swan as skilful sleigher
: Frank E. McNish as her uncle
: Gladys Leslie as his sweetheart
Writer: Lloyd F. Lonergan

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More about this film

Bowers’ notes: A word in the title was spelled as “skillful” in certain schedules in The Moving Picture World and the synopsis in Reel Life. Thanhouser in its advertisements spelled it as “skilful.”

From Volume II: Filmography of Q. David Bowers’ Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, reproduced with permission and unchanged. Read the history of 1916 →

Cite as: Bowers, Q. David. Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, “The Skilful Sleigher’s Strategy”. thanhouser.org/films/the-skilful-sleigher-s-strategy/

Where a print is held

Held by: No print known