Volume II: Filmography

GRAFT VS. LOVE

a.k.a. (erroneously) CRAFT VS. LOVE

January 19, 1915 (Tuesday)

Length: 2 reels (1,969 feet)

Character: Drama

Scenario: Lloyd F. Lonergan

Cast: Florence LaBadie (Violet Grey), Sidney Bracy (Lawyer Newell), Harry Benham (Newell's accomplice), Harris Gordon (Henry Williams), Arthur Bauer (asylum superintendent), Evelyn Foshay

Notes: 1. Many trade listings and schedules printed prior to the middle of January 1915 listed this film as Craft vs. Love, a typographical error that was subsequently corrected, and most listings after the middle of January had it correct as Graft vs. Love. Even the official Mutual Program house organ, Reel Life, designated it as Craft vs. Love in some notices and in the official synopsis, in the issues of January 9 and 16, 1915 for example. In The Moving Picture Magazine, February 1915, an expanded story by Alexander Lowell, based upon the synopsis, was printed under the title of Craft vs. Love. 2. The character name of Violet Gray was used in earlier Thanhouser films. Julia Taylor played the role of Violet Gray, a fictional detective, in 1910 and 1911. Now, in Graft vs. Love we see another variation, spelled slightly differently, in the character Violet Grey. In addition, there was real-life Violet Gray, an actress who had a part in Kathleen, the Irish Rose, released March 10, 1914.

ADVERTISEMENT, Reel Life, January 16, 1915:

"Tuesday, January 19th, Craft vs. Love [sic]. A two-reel drama of a girl's daring and clever detective work in rescuing her wealthy lover from the insane asylum where he has been incarcerated through the machinations of a scheming lawyer. Florence LaBadie and Sidney Bracy are featured."

ARTICLE, Reel Life, December 12, 1914:

"Million Dollar Mystery fans will have an opportunity to see two of the popular leads in that famous serial in a new two-reel drama written especially for them. It is entitled Craft vs. Love [sic], and the principals are Florence LaBadie and Sidney Bracy. The subject is highly dramatic. Miss LaBadie does a remarkably strong piece of acting, and the fascination of her performance is greatly enhanced by her girlish sweetness and charm. Miss LaBadie's face is known all over the country as one of the most winsome on the screen. In private life, she is a simple, unaffected, almost shy little person. But the moment she finds herself before the camera she becomes an actress of exceptional dramatic power."

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, January 16, 1915:

"Violet Grey's fiancé, Henry Williams, doubts the integrity of Lawyer Newell, executor of his dead father's estate. On a certain evening, Williams failing to fulfill an appointment with Violet, she is seized with dread foreboding, as, to her knowledge, he was to have had an interview with Newell that afternoon. As she hears nothing from him the next day, she determines to call at the lawyer's office. Newell is out. But Violet finally frightens his stenographer into confessing that the night before her employer and an accomplice had taken away the young man, who had been closeted by Newell in the private office. Of his whereabouts the girl was entirely ignorant. Violet decides to be her own detective. To this end, she induces the stenographer to go away on a visit, paying her liberally. She then takes her place in the office. Lawyer Newell falls in love with Violet. She finds in his safe a letter, which gives her proof that her lover is a prisoner in a private asylum for the insane up the state. She goes to his rescue, outwits the crafty executor, and Williams comes into his rightful property."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, January 17, 1915:

"Violet feels sure that Lawyer Newell, the executor of her fiancé's father's estate, knows the whereabouts of the young man. She becomes his stenographer and finds a letter which tells her he is in an insane asylum upstate. She outwits the grafter, and Williams comes into the property that is rightfully his."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, January 30, 1915:

"Florence LaBadie appears as the heroine of this two-reel drama. She suspects the executor of her father's will and calls upon her lover for aid. The executor has Jack placed in an asylum. These first scenes are quite mystifying. The girl then enters the employ of the executor as a stenographer and learns of her lover's whereabouts. She brings about his release by a personal visit to the asylum. There is a touch of the sensational in this plot and certain portions of it are unconvincing, but it has considerable suspense and holds the attention throughout."

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