Volume II: Filmography

WHAT DORIS DID

March 1, 1916 (Wednesday)

Length: 3 reels

Character: Drama; Than-O-Play

Director: George Foster Platt

Assistant director: James Dunne

Cameraman: Lawrence Williams

Cast: Doris Grey, Florence LaBadie (Doris' sponsor), Gladys Hulette, Harris Gordon, Ethyle Cooke, Louise Emerald Bates, Bert Delaney, Morgan Jones, Leon J. Rubenstein, William P. Burt, Leo Post (stunt man who doubled for Doris Grey in a risky scene) and, according to Thanhouser advertising, "also a number of stars from other film concerns," these being: Cissy Fitzgerald, Edward Earle, Charles E. Kimball, Hal Forde, and possibly one or two others

Locations: New Rochelle, enroute to Florida, and Jacksonville, Florida

Notes: 1. Doris Grey was the winner out of 38 entries in a "most beautiful girl" contest sponsored by the Boston American and held at the Boston Exhibitors' Ball in late 1915. The prize, put up by Thanhouser, was a chance at a film career. 2. In an advertisement in The Moving Picture World, January 5, 1916, Thanhouser stated that What Doris Did would be released the week of February 14, 1916. Later advertisements (that in The Moving Picture World, March 4, 1916, for example) changed the release date to April 1, 1916.

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, March 11, 1916:

"A three-reel number, featuring Doris Grey, winner of the Boston moving picture contest. She appears in her first release. Studio scenes are first shown, giving close glimpses of the Thanhouser players, whom Doris meets. She then takes up her trip South to get a hidden document that will save a man's life. Her adventures on the way prove very entertaining. The plot is lightly amusing, with a few melodramatic touches at times to keep things moving. Doris is pursued by three men on her trip and is extricated by a young stowaway with whom she has befriended. Miss Grey's work is promising."

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