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1914Thanhouser CompanyOne reelComedy

Turkey Trot Town

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

“In the mythical city of Turkey Trot Town, the inhabitants danced not only at receptions and restaurants, but in their everyday occupations at home and in business. Even one night a robbery is committed with the main participants turkey trotting joyously through the daring feat—and the hero, at the most thrilling moment, never once forgetting his steps. The judge himself turkey trots to the court—with becoming dignity—and the woman burglar is the only person who finds it easier to turkey trot into trouble than to tango gracefully out of it.”

Summary from Reel Life · 17 January 1914

What the papers said

3 reviews

“An amusing satire on the modern dancing craze is offered in this burlesque. The cast includes Perry Horton, Florence LaBadie, the Thanhouser Kidlet, Mignon Anderson, Grace Eline, Arthur Bauer and Riley Chamberlin. Each and every one of these does an extraordinary amount of turkey trotting in this film. ‘Turkey Trot Town’ is a city where every one does just what …

Read in full · 1 min

“An amusing satire on the modern dancing craze is offered in this burlesque. The cast includes Perry Horton, Florence LaBadie, the Thanhouser Kidlet, Mignon Anderson, Grace Eline, Arthur Bauer and Riley Chamberlin. Each and every one of these does an extraordinary amount of turkey trotting in this film. ‘Turkey Trot Town’ is a city where every one does just what the name implies. Staid persons like the judge in a court dance to and at their work, and burglars even crack safes while indulging in syncopated wriggles.”

The Morning Telegraph · 25 January 1914

“No plot, just turkey trotting; in fact, everybody’s doing it in that town. That is all.”

The Moving Picture World · 31 January 1914

More reviews

28 January 1914The New York Dramatic Mirror1 min

“There is not much to be said of this film either for or against it. It appears to us as intensely boring and foolish. Everyone in the picture, including the dear little Thanhouser Kidlet, either tangos or turkey-trots through every scene. There is no doubt at the same time that the average audience would develop screams of laughter over the situation.”

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Cast and crew

Cast
Arthur Bauer as captain of the police
Arthur Chamberlin as the judge
Florence La Badie as Marguerite, his wife
Grace Eline as Jeannette, her pal
Helen Badgley as Elaine, their child
Mignon Anderson as Susanne, a woman burglar
Marvin Perry Horton as Van Horn, a tired businessman
Writer
Lloyd F. Lonergan

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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A frame from The Woman in White1:08:00
1917 · Same leadThe Woman in White

More about this film

Bowers’ notes

Oh, You Ragtime!, an Eclair film released April 18, 1912, had a somewhat similar plot in that everyone in sight started dancing to music.

From Volume II: Filmography of Q. David Bowers’ Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, reproduced with permission and unchanged. Read the history of 1914 →

Cite as: Bowers, Q. David. Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, “Turkey Trot Town”. thanhouser.org/films/turkey-trot-town/

Where a print is held

Held by
No print known