Volume II: Filmography

TEMPEST AND SUNSHINE

June 28, 1910 (Tuesday)

Length: 1,020 feet

Character: Drama

Scenario: From the novel by Mary J. Holmes

Cast: Violet Heming (leading lady)

BACKGROUND OF THE SCENARIO: Tempest and Sunshine and Lena Rivers, both of which were dramatized for the screen by Thanhouser, were Mary Jane Hawes Holmes' two most popular works, in that order. Known as a bright child, Mary entered school at the age of three, was teaching in a district school at the age of 13, and had her first story written by 16. She married a New York attorney in 1849 and subsequently moved from New York to Kentucky, which latter state provided the background for her first novel, Tempest and Sunshine, published in 1854. She later returned to New York. Childless, she led a life of writing and world travel, collecting art on her many journeys. A generous woman, she worked for and contributed to many causes, especially temperance, which together with woman suffrage and the abolition of slavery, was one of the three great American social movements of the 19th century. Her stories were simple, with a domestic flavor, and typically were set in a small-town rural atmosphere. Her life's work included 39 novels and numerous essays and short stories.

Tempest and Sunshine featured the cruel and deceitful Julia Middleton (Tempest), her angelic sister Fanny (Sunshine), their teen-age friends, and their problems with romance. Laced with a bit of morality, the novel relates that good conquers evil. Everyone is happily paired off, save Julia, who stays home with her hard-nosed, invalid father.

In the era that Thanhouser released its dramatization of Tempest and Sunshine, the title had numerous counterparts, including the following: a two-reel IMP film, also from Holmes' novel and titled Tempest and Sunshine, released in 1914; a 1915 film by Rialto for Gaumont titled Sunshine and Tempest, featuring "Florenze Tempest" and "Marion Sunshine"; another production from Holmes' novel, titled Sunshine and Tempest, the production of which was scheduled in Jacksonville, Florida in 1916; and a vaudeville team called Sunshine and Tempest, from which one girl, Marion Sunshine, was recruited by Mr. Webb for Biograph, and was considered "quite a famous personality to be in Biograph movies at this time," acccording to Linda Arvidson Griffith in her book, When the Movies Were Young.

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, July 2, 1910:

"Planter Middleton, of Kentucky, has two beautiful daughters. One of them is known as Tempest and the other is Sunshine, because of their different dispositions. Sunshine is wooed by Bill Jeffreys, the village postmaster, whom she does not love and rejects. Later her heart is won by young Dr. Lacey from New Orleans. Soon after they become engaged, the doctor is compelled to return to his home city on business. During his absence, Tempest, who is in love with him, conspires with Bill Jeffreys to intercept the lovers' letters. They succeeded in making Julia and the doctor each think the other is untrue. The doctor, in a spirit of pique, decides to marry Tempest. Sunshine remains true, and confides to no one the sorrow that she feels. Just as Tempest and the doctor are about to be married, the ceremony is interrupted by Jeffreys, who confesses the plot - having left a sick bed to do so. The guilty ones are forgiven and the lovers reunited."

REVIEW by Colin, The Moving Picture News, July 2, 1910:

"We are accustomed to seeing some very good pictures from this company and this one is no exception. The story is dramatically told with a view of continuous life all through. The settings are artistic and the photography is all that could be desired. The ending is made to please everybody; a forgiveness and a wedding being the closing theme."

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