Volume II: Filmography

OLD HOME WEEK

April 14, 1911 (Friday)

Length: 1,000 feet

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

Cast: Frank H. Crane (John Hepburn, local boy who made good)

Note: The release date of April 11, 1911 was erroneously given in an advertisement in the April 8, 1911 issue of Moving Picture World.

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, April 8, 1911:

"A comedy drama of the highest motion picture type, and it will further advance the good reputation American-made pictures have earned of late. It deals with a man who determined to know if good fortune alone kept him his friends. A ragged suit of clothes solved the problem. He wore them, though his coffers were filled and were bursting of money, and went to see his chums-of-youth in them. The result of this research is interestingly depicted in the reel."

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, April 15, 1911:

"John Hepburn was raised in a little country village, and went to the city to seek his fortune. His relatives were dead, and he had quarreled with his childhood sweetheart, so somehow Jayville rather passed out of his mind. Years later, when he was one of New York's millionaires, it was recalled to his mind by reading an item to the effect that Jayville was to have an 'Old Home Week,' on which occasion the roving sons of the village were expected to gather and renew old friendships. The article also mentioned incidentally that the village could not boast of any millionaires among those who had gone out to seek fame and fortune. But Hepburn was in the millionaire class, and he determined to show his old townsmen how he had not forgotten them. He wanted to prove, however, that they loved him for himself alone, and that the greed of gold could find no lodging in their sturdy breasts. So he hid all evidences of wealth, and went down, to all appearances, a poor man, who had battled with life and had not achieved much success.

"Things did not turn out as he had expected. His shabby clothes caused unfavorable comment, and everywhere he went he was shunned and snubbed. The only person who greeted him cordially was his old sweetheart, and the love of childhood was revived. After a time the villagers began to take notice of Hepburn. There was a reward offered for the capture of a noted burglar, and it was decided, by unanimous vote, that Hepburn was the man wanted. So he was promptly arrested, and as the village had no jail, was locked up in a barn, and there was a sign over the door reading 'Welcome,' which made the first time the village's richest son had received any attention. The girl promptly freed him, for the country constables pay little attention to prisoners after they lock them up. The boy returns to the city, with his girl's promise that she will wed him as soon as he says the word.

"He says the word promptly. The girl meets him under the old tree on which as children he had carved their initials, and they are married. Then they start off on their wedding trip in his auto. The machine, when it draws up to the railroad depot, causes the villagers to gap. Their surprise is intensified when their former townsmen, utterly ignoring them, tacks a sign up on the side of the depot. And their grief cannot be expressed when they read the sign. For he explains, in a few vigorous words, that he has bought the railroad and that after that current date trains would not stop at Jayville. If the villagers had been good, they might have been presented with a library. As it is, all they have, is the privilege of seeing the trains go by and never stop. And the principal fun at a country station is watching the trains stop."

REVIEW, The Billboard, April 15, 1911:

"This picture, while well acted throughout, is especially interesting for the good acting on the part of the country people of Jayville, where the scene is located, and the good scenery depicted there. John is in love, but is jilted by his lover, the village flirt, and goes to the city to gain his fortune and forget his former love. He becomes immensely wealthy, and after several years decides to pay his home town a visit. It is Old Home Week when he returns, disguised as a poor man. He is taken for a burglar for whose arrest a reward is offered, and being jailed is helped to escape by his former sweetheart. She sees that his love is acceptable, and sends her word to meet him at the old trysting place, where he has an auto and a minister waiting. They are married and drive off to the railroad station, where John posts a sign, telling of the purchase of the railroad and gave orders that no more trains shall stop there. Leaving the people of Jayville in bewilderment and anger, they drive off."

Ed. note: This reviewer seems to miss the point of why John does not like the people of Jayville.

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, April 16, 1911:

"This is one of the best comedies not only of the past week but of several weeks. Its conception being original and its close as dramatically amusing as could be imagined. It was splendidly acted and scored one huge hit."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, April 29, 1911:

"Though this picture does not present the poetic and sentimental side of the return of natives to familiar scenes, it must be confessed that it very closely approaches the truth of many such a homecoming. A man's welcome is too often dependent upon the size of his bank deposits. This picture violates the probabilities in only one particular. The millionaire buys a railroad and tacks up a sign informing the public that trains no longer stop at that station. Aside from this, the picture is remarkably well drawn and unquestionably presents a view of life which more closely approaches the actual than is ordinarily the case in moving picture films."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, April 19, 1911:

"A rather clever comedy and story is presented on this film, which is agreeably acted, though a trifle overdrawn in places where the hero comes back to the old home. John had a quarrel with his sweetheart and left for the city. Ten years afterward he was a successful financier, and reading in the paper that Jayville was to have an Old Home Week, he thought of his old sweetheart and how they carved hearts on a tree. He disguises himself as a poor man, and she was the only person who would receive him. At last they arrested him as a suspicious character and thrust him in the jail, over which hung a welcome sign. He escaped, rather miraculously for a man for whom there was a reward of one thousand dollars, dropping out of the top window into his sweetheart's arms. Later she received a letter from him to meet him at the old tree and marry him if she still loved him. She did, but his prosperity seemed to cause her no surprise. They were married in an automobile as they journeyed through Jayville, where at last he arrived at the station and tacked a notice to the effect that he had bought the railroad and after that day trains would cease to stop at Jayville."

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