Volume II: Filmography

FRIDAY, THE THIRTEENTH

(Princess)

November 7, 1913 (Friday)

Length: 1 reel (991 feet)

Character: Comedy

Director: Carl Louis Gregory

Scenario: Lloyd F. Lonergan

Cameraman: Carl Louis Gregory

Cast: Muriel Ostriche (Mrs. Hooley), Boyd Marshall (Mr. Hooley)

Note: This is believed to have been Boyd Marshall's first motion picture role, although John W. Kellette, in an article in the New Rochelle Pioneer, October 31, 1914, stated that Marshall's first film was The Campaign Manageress. The claim for the present film being Boyd's first is supported by an article in Reel Life, November 8, 1913, and a similar article in The Moving Picture World, November 15, 1913 (quoted in the narrative section of the present work).

ARTICLE, Reel Life, November 1, 1913:

"MURIEL OSTRICHE NOT SUPERSTITIOUS: Muriel Ostriche, the seventeen-year-old leading lady of the Princess films, has nothing in common with the demon Superstition. P'haps it's because she's not old enough yet. Playerfolk are strong on the superstition thing, and if this temperamental weakness hasn't 'got to' Miss Ostriche yet, likely it's because she's young. At any rate, she has always asked her director to start taking the picture on Friday, the thirteenth, and has walked under every ladder at the Princess studio. So it was altogether fitting that they appear in a playlet entitled Friday the Thirteenth that showed she gave devil a care about the terrors of superstition. Her husband - in the playlet - is superstitious. He has evil dreams, and they frighten him. The unsuperstitious wife laughs, and in the end she laughs last. The dreams aren't borne out by actual events. It's a good film for superstitious people. Friday is the release day, at that - not the 13th, unfortunately, but the 7th."

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, November 8, 1913:

"This jolly little Princess comedy is aimed at the ancient superstition of unlucky days and unlucky numbers - which, strange to say, still has considerable hold on the average mind. It is up to date - showing that if we must have superstitions, why not good superstitions? A year ago this time, Woodrow Wilson was telling us that he looked forward to 1913 as the luckiest year of his life. And the President's daughter has also turned the unlucky number into a lucky one - for she will be the thirteenth bride of the White House. Mr. Hooley, of the Princess play, starts out, fully convinced that Friday the thirteenth is going to bring him all sorts of misfortunes. Instead, the date opens propitiously with a delicious breakfast - Mrs. Hooley, daintily attired in a new negligee, sitting opposite. She sees him off to the office with a kiss - so that he goes to business whistling and cheerful. A few yards down the street he stumbles upon a purse with a roll of bills in it - and no prospect of being able to identify the owner. At the office, a telegram awaits him: 'Have just struck a rich vein assaying three thousand to the ton. Your stock is worth three times as much. Lost Rocks Mining Co.' Then, to crown all, the evening mail brings a letter announcing that his mother-in-law is obliged to postpone indefinitely her proposed visit. Hooley is converted to the Wilson view of superstition - no hoodoo about thirteen - it's just the luckiest number ever."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, November 22, 1913:

"Quite a pleasing little comedy, with good characterizations and attractive scenes. The young husband dreams that all sorts of unpleasantness occurs on the fatal day, but when he awakes his experiences are exactly to the contrary. Slight, but well pictured and entertaining."

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