Volume II: Filmography

HER NEIGHBOR

Production still of Thanhouser players out West, having taken the train from New York, with

Marguerite Snow, James Cruze, and members of Thanhouser's California stock company. (F-540)

March 7, 1913 (Friday)

Length: 1 reel

Character: Drama (per Thanhouser); comedy (per some reviewers)

Director: Lucius J. Henderson

Cameraman: Arthur A. Cadwell

Cast: Marguerite Snow, James Cruze, and other members of Thanhouser's California stock company

Location: Southern California in an orange grove

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, March 8, 1913:

The young artist had determined to devote her life 'for art.' She wasn't a great painter, she never would be one, yet she believed that she saw her mission clear and 'mere man' had no part in her dreams. A number of her girlfriends encouraged her in the notion, and all had determined to live in single blessedness for the rest of their days. While her enthusiasm was at its height, a distant relative died and left the girl an orange grove in California. She determined to share her good luck with her chums, and invited them to aid her in establishing an 'Adamless Eden.' They accepted with enthusiasm, made the journey with her, and promptly ousted all the men they found at work in the grove, declaring that they (the girls) would look after everything themselves.

For a time all was lovely, but this condition did not last. The girl found to her sorrow that her chums were not only unfitted for the work, but they were also lazy. Seemingly all they knew about oranges was how to eat them, and this they did energetically, spicing the dessert with discourses on the uselessness of man. The young proprietor lamented, but revised somewhat when an interesting man came into her life. He was her neighbor, the owner of the adjoining orange grove, and she soon grew to like him very much. He was always helpful, reliable, and could be depended upon to be on hand when wanted. Their friendship grew and finally the other girls became aware of it. There was a scene, and the young orange grove proprietor was deserted by all of her indignant apostles. Lonely and forlorn, she prepared to go back to the city, although her mission did not appear as important as it once had been. Just at the right moment, however, the man came along, and in his masterful way solved the problem of the future. You see, orange groves suggest orange blossoms and orange blossoms suggest brides, and frequently mighty poor artists make lovingly affectionate wives, and so it proved in this case.

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, March 9, 1913:

Her neighbor was the proprietor of an orange grove, and so was she. She had gone out West to take charge of this grove, which had fallen to her through the death of a relative. But she did not go as most folk might. She took a crowd of girl friends along to work the grove. All were strongly in favor of women's rights and against all mankind in general. But the girls proved poor workers and strong talkers, and the grove did not thrive. So the owner thereof had to appeal to the only help she could find, and she knew nothing about the growing of oranges, and he happened to be the man living near by. And as he helped her she grew to like him - no use in telling the rest. The girls went home and the expected happened! That its picturesque scenes will please the eye and that the story will please the mind there is no doubt.

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, March 15, 1913:

Outdoor California scenes, with a comedy idea as a plot basis. The girl who inherits an orange grove founds an Adamless Eden and she and her girlfriends don overalls and do the work. But the work becomes tiresome, and a handsome young chap comes along, who, of course, upsets the whole scheme by falling in love with the heiress and heroically offering to look after her and property. Nicely pictured and entertaining.

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, March 5, 1913:

With a crowd of pretty girls, a good looking young man, a few picturesque settings, and a bright day, almost any director understanding the first rules of his business could venture forth and make such a picture without even a script to guide him - or so it would seem. As far as its real value as a comedy, the plot amounts to nil. A crowd of girls go out on a fruit farm to run it themselves. They grow tired after a while, and desert their leader after she is seen speaking to her male neighbor.

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