Volume II: Filmography

WHEN DREAMS COME TRUE

Posing as a theater usher to the right, with hand outstretched, is none other than Edwin Thanhouser himself. Courtesy Dominick Bruzzese (F-305)

February 28, 1913 (Friday)

Length: 1 reel

Character: Drama

Director: Lucius J. Henderson

Cameraman: Arthur A. Cadwell

Cast: Marguerite Snow (the wife), Peggy Reid and John Adolphi (the city couple), Ann Drew (the maid), William Carroll (the policeman), Edwin Thanhouser (theatre attendant)

Locations: New Rochelle; California, in an orange grove

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

That true-to-life Thanhouser touch is heavy in this. The idea of the story is perfectly natural. A man and his wife in a California orange grove have the natural dreams that the only happy life is that lived in a big city. The loneliness of the groves was naturally the inspiration. They got the chance to come to the city. And they love its life, as they had longed prayed to. In a natural way, you see it bored them. Then you see them back in the orange grove.

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

The young owners of a California orange grove loved each other, but they were unhappy because their lives were so narrow and circumscribed. Each dreamed of wealth and prayed continually that it may come. Sometimes dreams come true and in this particular case they did. Wealth came to the couple and they were in a position to gratify their every fancy. A young couple from the East gladly leased their grove, and the original owners went to a large city, expecting to spend the remainder of their days in luxury. Within a year, however, they were tired of their new life, but each was ashamed to tell the other so. While the husband was absent on a shooting trip the wife received a letter from their tenant, who also had been disillusioned. That tenant was sick of oranges and longed for 'That Dear Broadway.' Under the circumstances the woman saw her duty clear. Her husband returned, weary after his outing, and received word that his wife had gone back to the orange grove 'to look after the property.' He followed her there, found her in an old gingham dress and sun bonnet, thoroughly happy because she was again settled in the land she loved. It might be added that he was heartily glad to join her.

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, March 2, 1913:

In the Southern climes of California a young couple were most unhappy and longed for another life and gaiety and excitement. Their dream came true, for another married couple, tired of city life, journeyed westward and rented the orange grove and the home. Thus the couples exchanged places, and the Westerners went to the East to enjoy urban life. But after a while the days and nights of continual pleasure began to pall, and though each longed to return to their old homes, neither wanted to tell the other. And as they tired of city surroundings, so the other pair tired of the monotony of country living. The first husband went away on a hunting trip, and during his absence the wife received a letter from the other couple stating that they wished to return to New York. So she packed up and went back home, and when her husband returned and found her gone, he, too, packed and gladly joined her. And again were four hearts made glad. The play is refreshing in its contrast in scene and environment, and is delightfully acted and put on.

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, March 8, 1913:

The fine setting and artistic appeal of this film are its strong points. The young couple long to give up their orange grove and take up city life. They leave the grove, but by the end of the time for which it is surrendered they return. A good light offering.

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