Volume II: Filmography

HALF WAY TO RENO

February 16, 1913 (Sunday)

Length: 1 reel

Character: Comedy

Director: T.N. Heffron

Cameraman: William Zollinger

Cast: Harry Benham (the husband), Mignon Anderson (the wife)

Locations: In the Midwest with Thanhouser's Midwest stock company, on a train; some winter views of Niagara Falls.

Note: This film was originally scheduled to be released on February 7, 1913 but was rescheduled, and the split-reel subjects, While Mrs. McFadden Looked Out and Los Angeles the Beautiful were shown on the 7th.

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, February 22, 1913:

Suppose you and your wife had a quarrel - well, so unpleasant - since she left a note behind saying she was going back to mother. Suppose you yourself had taken a train out of town, certain that your wife would repent; then a strange woman rushed through the train and dropped a strange baby in your lap; that your wife rushed through right afterwards and found you holding the baby! Well, we only wish your troubles would end as peacefully as our hero's did!

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, February 22, 1913:

The trouble started because the young husband had half an hour to spare and devoted his time to looking over his wife's bills. More sorrow was caused by the fact that he commented upon them. There was an angry exchange of words, and when the man wrathfully departed he left a very tearful little wife behind him. While she was still plunged in grief, her dearest friend called and added fuel to the flames. According to the 'dearest friend' the only womanly thing to do was to go to Reno and get a divorce. The wife consented, and departed after leaving a note, meant to be bitingly cruel, but which was really pitifully weak. The husband came home to prepare for a business trip out of town, read the note, and regarded it as a stupid joke. He did not remain to investigate because it was nearly train time and important consequences hinged upon the trip.

The husband was just comfortably seated in the sleeping car when a strange woman entered with a baby and a valise. She dropped the valise on his toes, the baby in his arms, and muttered, 'Where is that dratted boy,' and rushed out of the car. The man was so dumbfounded that he did not even notice his wife, when she entered, and a moment later when the train started, leaving him the unwilling custodian of a child, his cup of misery flowed over. For a time he regarded himself as the most miserable of men, and no matter what he did was unable to get rid of the infant. The child, however, brought him good fortune. For the man's offended wife forgot her anger in pity and finally sided with the helpless man to care for the child. There were mutual explanations and mutual forgiveness, and when the mother finally joined them explaining that she had lost the baby while trying to locate her elusive small son they were really sorry to see the infant go away, for they realized that it was only the tiny hands of the baby that had turned back the woman who was half way to Reno.

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, February 23, 1913: This review is reprinted in the narrative section of the present work.

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, March 1, 1913:

This is an amusing film, in which the young married couple quarrel and leave on the same train for Reno to get a divorce. A strange woman gives her baby to the husband while she looks for her boy. The train starts and the baby is the means of reuniting the quarreling couple. Some excellent winter views of Niagara Falls are shown.

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, February 19, 1913:

The situation wherein a man is left in a train with a strange baby in his possession has done service on many occasions, but this is an acceptable variation of the theme. After a quarrel, the wife starts to Reno to secure divorce, and on the same train is her husband with a baby thrust into his arms by a mother, who, in seeking another child who had strayed, was left behind. The husband and wife continue on their journey with the strange baby to guard. At Niagara Falls it seems like a second honeymoon; and, of course, differences are patched up long before they reach Reno. Views of snow-covered country and the Falls are an attractive part of the film, in which Harry Benham and Mignon Anderson give satisfactory performances in the leading roles.

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