Volume II: Filmography

HER FATHER'S GOLD

Working title: THE WATER DEVIL

May 11, 1916 (Thursday)

Length: 5 reels

Character: Drama; Mutual Masterpicture, DeLuxe Edition No. 100

Director: W. Eugene Moore, Jr.

Assistant director: Leo Wirth

Scenario: Crittenden Marriott; adapted from a story by Frank R. Stockton, The Water Devil, which appeared in Blue Book magazine

Cameramen: Alfred H. Moses, Jr., George Webber

Cast: Harris Gordon (newspaper reporter), Barbara Gilroy (his sweetheart), Louise Emerald Bates, William Burt, and Ed Lawrence (crooks), Violet Hite, Boyd Marshall

Location: Jacksonville, Florida railroad depot; Mayport, Florida (aquatic scenes); other scenes were set in the Jacksonville area

Notes: 1. In advance publicity this film was billed as The Water Devil. 2. The title appeared erroneously as His Father's Gold in a schedule in The Moving Picture World, May 6, 1916. In The Florida Metropolis, May 10, 1916, the title appeared erroneously as Her Mother's Gold, in Tracey Hollingsworth's "Flivers From Film Folk" column. 3. Production of this film commenced in Jacksonville, Florida in February 1916. Certain aquatic scenes were filmed in Mayport, Florida on Monday, February 7, 1916.

BACKGROUND OF THE SCENARIO: The Water Devil, the working title of the film, was also the title of an obscure and not particularly popular work of Frank R. Stockton. The Thanhouser film was adapted from a later printing of the story which appeared in Blue Book magazine. Born to a wealthy family in Philadelphia in 1834, Stockton became a wood engraver. By 1867 he was engaged in literary pursuits, and in that year he contributed to the Riverside Magazine for Young People. In 1869 he wrote for Hearth and Home and Scribner's. A few years later, in 1873, he was named assistant editor of St. Nicholas Magazine, a popular periodical for children, remaining there until 1891. He was relatively unknown until 1879, when Rudder Grange was published. Later came works which achieved recognition, including The Casting Away of Mrs. Lecks and Mrs. Aleshine (1888) and, in particular, the short story, "The Lady or the Tiger?" published in 1882. For much of his life he lived in New Jersey and worked in New York. He died in Washington, D.C. in 1902.

ARTICLE, Sunday Times-Union, January 30, 1916:

"Louise Bates, the popular Thanhouser-Mutual star, who has been appearing in the Falstaff brand made by the Thanhouser Company, has been transferred to Mr. Moore's dramatic company. The vehicle which Miss Bates plays the heavy lead is The Water Devil, a novelette which appeared in the Blue Book recently. It deals with the adventures of a band of desperadoes, who rob a Mexican gold mine of a million in bullion and escape to the States. One of the bandits steals the gold from his pals and secretes it on an inland Florida lake. The bandits are all killed in a terrific battle with the man who has stolen the gold from them, and he afterward dies. Miss Bates, as the wife of one of the bandits, takes up the search for the gold, and after many exciting adventures is about to secure it when she is thwarted by a young newspaper reporter, who has come to Florida to investigate stories of a mysterious water devil which has been creating havoc in the Everglades. The water devil kills her accomplice, and the reporter returns the gold to the mine owner from whom it was stolen, and marries his daughter, and presumably lives happily every after. Mr. Harris Gordon portrays the character of the newspaper man, and Miss Gilroy that of the mine owner's daughter. Mr. Leo Wirth will assist Mr. Moore in the production of this photoplay, which will be photographed by Chief Photographer Alfred Moses. The city scenes will be taken in Jacksonville, and many of them being laid in the depot. A full Pullman train will be used, the lake scenes will be photographed in southern Florida. It is quite a jump from comedy roles to intense dramatic ones, Miss Bates has shown her versatility before, and can be depended upon to put it over."

ARTICLE, The Florida Metropolis, February 5, 1916:

"W. Eugene Moore, the Thanhouser director, and his assistant, Leo Wirth, had a very interesting trip to the mouth of the St. Johns River Wednesday. They were looking for locations for The Water Devil when the motor broke down and they started to drift out to sea. Wirth saw visions of losing the [Hotel] Seminole orchestra [which he was directing in his spare time] and Mr. Moore does not like salt water. Hence the perturbation."

ARTICLE, Sunday Times-Union, February 13, 1916:

"Not having found rocks in Jacksonville the size called for in Mr. Moore's story, The Water Devil, Mr. Charles Owens, scenic artist of the company, has been at work in the past week building a large rock of canvas and plaster parts. The rock he is making is 20 feet in height and about 15 across. It has an important bearing on the picture."

ARTICLE, Reel Life, March 11, 1916:

"Louise Bates, lately featured as the Falstaff Girl, makes her dramatic debut in The Water Devil, a Thanhouser Mutual Masterpicture, DeLuxe Edition, in which she plays the heavy lead. Miss Bates was prima donna with The Passing Show at the Winter Garden, New York, when Edwin Thanhouser made her an offer to star in the silent drama."

ARTICLE, The Moving Picture World, May 13, 1916:

"Her Father's Gold, the Thanhouser contribution to the DeLuxe features of the week, is important for several reasons, principal among them because it serves to introduce Louise Emerald Bates as the star of these Masterpictures DeLuxe. Her Father's Gold is an unusual adventure drama, having to do with a young girl's search for a hidden treasure, in which she is joined by a young newspaper reporter. Harris Gordon essays the role of the reporter. Barbara Gilroy is seen in the role of the girl who seeks and finally finds the treasure, and Miss Bates appears as a crook, an intensely dramatic role which has much to do with the unfolding of the story."

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, April 29, 1916:

"Her Father's Gold, a Thanhouser drama, to be released as a Mutual Masterpicture, DeLuxe Edition, as a mystery drama with a punch in every foot that holds the interest of the spectator from the first scene until the very dramatic ending. The acting, directing, the settings, the suspense and the power places Her Father's Gold in the forefront of present picture play dramas. Harris Gordon, Barbara Gilroy and Louise Emerald Bates are the stars, and they excel the standard they set for themselves in The Oval Diamond. The action of the film is gripping in its intensity and a synopsis cannot possibly do justice to it.

"'Beware of the water devil,' was the editor's parting word to the star reporter, the story reveals, as he sent him to Florida to investigate the mysterious water denizen that had been creating a panic among the residents on the shores of Crystal Lake. The reporter laughed, for his assignment took him to the home of his sweetheart and to the spot where he suspected that a great treasure stolen from her father lay hidden. Four crooks had stolen the gold from the mine of the [word missing] father in Mexico, and had carried it to Florida,where one of them, attempting to doublecross his pals, marooned them on an island, buried the bullion, and fled north. He expected to meet his wife and disappear with her to return to the treasure later, but the other crooks escaped sooner than he expected and besieged him in his home.

"Cut off from help, he drew a map, showing where he had hidden the treasure, painted it over with water color, hung the picture on the wall and wrote a note to his wife explaining what to do. In the fight that followed he was injured and taken to the hospital. There the wife of one of the crooks had followed him, and pretending to be his friend, she attempted to get the secret, but failed. His wife [words missing] at last and, dying, he gasped, 'The blue picture - the blue picture.' Out of funds and unable to solve the mystery of the picture, the wife wrote the mine owner, offering to divide the gold if he would help her find it. The owner was away and before his daughter could answer the letter, the crooks had done away with the writer and stolen the blue picture. The reporter met the girl at the scene of the killing, and immediately falls in love with her. From the efforts of the sole surviving crook to obtain a piece of the picture, which accidentally falls into his possession, the reporter suspects its importance. He allows the crook's wife to steal it, and follows her to Florida. In the shack where she lives with her husband the reporter finds the whole picture, and hesitating to carry it he photographs it, only to find out that blue color does not photograph. His sweetheart, who has developed the film, comforts him for his failure. They throw aside the film as useless, and it falls into the hands of the woman who has the picture, and astonished, she sees faint lines and writing that give the secret after being viewed with a magnifying glass.

"She is surprised by the reporter's sweetheart, who takes the film away from her and locks her up in a closet before she can communicate with her husband and dig up the [word missing]. The mine owner's daughter reaches the reporter with her glad tidings while he is in the company of the imprisoned woman's husband. He offers to take the pair to the island where the gold is hidden in his own boat, and then help them dig it up. Unsuspecting, they accept his offer, and he rows them to the island. After locating the treasure and uncovering it, the crook calmly tells the girl and the reporter that the gold is his, and that they are going to die and be buried in the spot where the gold came from. Just at the moment when the ruffian standing in the center boat raises his rifle to shoot, the water devil rose from the water behind him and carries him off to a watery grave. The girl, happy in having restored her father's fortune, finds peace and contentment in the life-long love of the young reporter, whose bride she consents to be."

Note: The preceding was transcribed from a tattered copy of Reel Life, and certain words were not distinct; a clear copy may differ slightly from what is given here.

REVIEW, Exhibitors Herald, May 20, 1916:

"As a whole: weak; story: very weak; star: none; photography: good; setting: fair; length: hour and a half.

"The reviewers, who are technical on such points, were pained at the horribly false ring of one important link in this story, and the general public, while not technical, may be expected to be the same. One suspects that the Gotham Gazette in sending a reporter all the way from New York to a Floridian place where it already had a local representative on no better excuse than the story of a man-eating alligator, must have been selling the precious jewel of its liberty to the Thanhouser Company for the carrying on of the story. Without this link, the whole story drops into wreckage, and since it is impossible to pass either this link or several others of almost equal importance, one scarcely knows where to begin in the review of this picture. Crooks steal gold from a mine. One beats the others out of it. Nemesis overtakes him, but, dying, he leaves a plan telling his wife where the treasure is buried. With the aid of a reporter, the daughter of the mine owner recovers the gold, after the chief crook has been killed by an alligator at the moment when his triumph seemed certain.

"The director has been largely in fault. Whether his alligators were real or otherwise we know not, but they are a breed at which an audience will be likely to smile. The scene in which the villain is alligatored overboard - which should be tense - might pass for a flash from a slapstick comedy. The buried treasure plan on which so much stress is laid is impossible when regarded as a guide to any place, and several of the incidents in connection with it - such as its photographing by the reporter and the accidental discovery of the writing under its paint, are carelessly and confusedly brought out. There are other things. These instances are merely types.

"We would say one word personally to the Thanhouser Company concerning a single scene: The spectacle of an angry woman tearing at the throat of a blinded and dying man is not pleasant. As shown in this film, in fact - unnecessarily it is revolting. The censors will probably have ordered its elimination from the print to be released. We should recommend that its like be strictly barred in the future.

"The figure that stands most prominently out of a rather colorless cast is that of Barbara Gilroy, who, in a comparatively small role, gives strong evidence of pleasing screen personality. Louise Emerald Bates is rather too ferocious for a really successful lady crook. William Burt, as the treacherous criminal, is good, and Harris Gordon makes an attractive reporter."

REVIEW by Dickson G. Watts, The Morning Telegraph, May 7, 1916:

"A melodrama of the old time sort, Her Father's Gold has many of the good qualities of that type of play and a few of its defects. Among the former are exciting action and well sustained suspense. The story is woven about the attempts of a young reporter to find the hiding place of a million in gold, the clue to which has been left in a mysterious painting by the dying robber. A band of crooks is also on the trail, and with the painting being stolen first by one faction, then by the other, the audience is left in doubt as to who will win until the last 50 feet of film. Of course, the fair heroine and her father finally receive their lost million, and the reporter wins a bride. On the other hand reality and probability are subordinated in the effort to provide thrilling situations. That a reporter of a city daily should be sent all the way to Florida to investigate an account of a man-eating alligator is absurd enough, but when it develops that there is a local representative of the paper already there on the spot, the incident borders on the ridiculous. But, of course, that reporter must be sent to Florida for some reason, in order to be on hand for the climax. The Florida setting of the production presents some fine opportunities for artistic photography, a fact that has not been overlooked in the staging, which is at all times adequate.

"Barbara Gilroy in a part of little distinction is able to make a good impression, her natural charm and beauty being her chief assets in this picture. She has little opportunity for emotion or character acting. Louise Bates is cast in the role of a lady villain and distinguishes herself by avoiding the stereotyped version of such a part. Harris Gordon, in the character of the reporter, acts with precision, and has departed from the popular ideal of the press man by being polite, gentlemanly, and by keeping his coat on and his hair brushed."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, May 20, 1916: This review is reprinted in the narrative section of the present work.

REVIEW, The New Rochelle Pioneer, May 6, 1916: This review is reprinted in the narrative section of the present work.

REVIEW, Variety, May 12, 1916: This review is reprinted in the narrative section of the present work.

REVIEW, Wid's Film and Film Folk, May 11, 1916:

"For an audience that likes action, this will be a great film. The plot is never very convincing, but it works overtime in providing incidents which give a touch of mystery and many wild bits of rushing about in the search of stolen gold from a Mexican mine, which has been buried on an island in a Florida lake. The plot all centers around the theft of this gold by a group of crooks, one of whom doublecrosses his partner, steals the gold, buries it, and leaves a mysterious communication telling of its whereabouts. The rest of the crooks then do strenuous things to discover where the gold is hidden, a newspaper reporter and the mine owner from whom the gold has been stolen being just as anxious as the crooks to recover it.

"The mystery of the hiding place of the gold is hidden under a water-color painting, the crook having written down the secret and then painted over it, in order to make it difficult for anyone to find this very valuable information. Of course, he had to die before he could tell his wife, and so there was much business with the painting, trying to figure what it meant, before the newspaper reporter happened to photograph it, for what reason it is hard to figure, except for the purposes of the scenario writer, since it would have been much easier for him to have taken possession of the original; but by photographing the water-color, the blue of the paint gave negative values, with the result that the writing could be distinguished and so the secret was out.

"All of this strenuous excitement ended with the death of the villain, who was eaten by an alligator, just as he was about to shoot the hero and the heroine who had discovered the gold. This alligator stuff had been planted by newspaper stories beforehand and that was the reason the newspaper reporter had gone South from New York which, in itself, is far-fetched, because New York papers are not in the habit of sending reporters to Florida because one or two [black men] happen to be eaten by alligators. Taken as a whole, this is simply a fast-moving movie melodrama, with a lot of action and a certain amount of interest as to what will happen next. It does not convince and it is surely not distinctive. It will probably register satisfactorily in some houses, but it surely will not appeal to a discriminating audience. The cast included Harris Gordon, Barbara Gilroy, William Burt and Louise Emerald Bates."

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