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1915Thanhouser CompanyOne reelComedy

The Volunteer Fireman

Also released as Only a Volunteer

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

“David Simpson, the village barber, is also a volunteer fireman. When he hears the fire bells he abruptly leaves his customer in the chair, and throwing the razor on the floor, rushes to the scene of action. He especially desires to distinguish himself, as he is in love with the belle of the village and has a formidable rival in Hiram Jones. But in the end Jones wins out. He kicks Simpson off Mazie’s front porch, and the volunteer fireman is picked up by Jock, the smallest and bravest policeman on the force, and bundled off in the patrol wagon which is a dog-catcher’s cart.”

Summary from Reel Life · 23 January 1915

What the papers said

1 review · 1 article

“Simpson in addition to being a barber is also a volunteer fireman. When the alarm bell rings he leaves his customer and runs to the fire, intent upon distinguishing himself to win Mazie. But he only succeeds in extinguishing himself, for Hiram Jones wins her.”

The Morning Telegraph · 24 January 1915

Article

14 February 1915The Morning Telegraph1 min

“Dave Thompson, starred in The Volunteer Fireman, started his performance in that production by appearing as a barber. ‘Funny thing,’ he remarked recently, ‘that razor work and face-scraping stuff has got me fascinated. I didn’t use to shave myself, but now I do, and what’s worse is the desire to operate on the capillary stubble has got me going so strong that I am asking my friends to let me shave them. ‘Will they let you?’ a friend asked. ‘Not any more,’ said Thompson with a sigh. ‘You see, I’ve already put two stars out of business for a week.’”

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
Clifford P. Saum
Clifford Saum as Hiram Jones
David H. Thompson as David Simpson
Helen Badgley
“Jock” Gironda as policeman
Leland Benham
Minnie Berlin as belle of the village

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 castCoals of Fire
A frame from Jack and the Beanstalk13:24
1913 · Same castJack and the Beanstalk
A frame from The Girl of the Cabaret15:54
1913 · Same castThe Girl of the Cabaret

More about this film

Bowers’ notes
  1. This film was listed as a drama in a schedule printed in The Moving Picture World, issue of January 16, 1915. 2. This film was unusually short for a one-reel release.

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 Volunteer Fireman”. thanhouser.org/films/the-volunteer-fireman/

Where a print is held

Held by
No print known