Volume II: Filmography

THE SALESLADY

May 7, 1912 (Tuesday)

Length: 1 reel

Character: Drama

Director: George O. Nichols

Cameraman: A.H. Moses, Jr.

Cast: Marguerite Snow (the saleslady), Florence LaBadie, William Russell

Location: Florida

Note: In some publicity the title appeared as The Sales Lady.

ARTICLE by Gordon Trent, The Morning Telegraph, April 28, 1912:

"The Sales Lady, the film for which real models posed in all the 1912 spring and summer creations of Worth, Paquin, Louise, and Redfern for the Thanhouser cameras - $40,000 worth all told - is released Tuesday, May 7. It is likely the most pretentious thing in the way of a fashion film that has ever been attempted. While the creations are the main feature, because of the way they appeal to women, there is a bright story woven about them involving the misguided efforts of the sales lady to advance the interests of her sweetheart, who is employed in the same establishment. The whole subject is a graphic study of department store conditions, and as the department store is a well known and interesting institution the reel should draw on this feature, too." (Adapted nearly verbatim from a Thanhouser news release)

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture News, April 27, 1912:

"They said in the big department store that 'nothing could please Nora Grady.' She was a sales lady, hard working, but with plenty of heart, and, her enemies whispered, a bit of temper. She didn't love her daily grind, but her father and mother and a little sister needed the money, so she kept at it. Love had never entered her life, she was too busy, but they say that pity is akin to love, and that was how her funny little romance started. A gawky country boy applied for work, he was so helpless that Nora felt sorry for him, guided him to the proper department and aided materially in landing him in the wrapping room. The ruralite was very grateful. He thanked Nora and she invited him to dinner. She advised him how he could make his work count, and he followed her suggestions as best he could, but he never was nor would he ever be the capable hand that the girl was. The owner of the store was a man who believed in developing talent. He offered a cash reward and promotion for the employee who suggested the best way to display the spring fashions, and many men and woman entered as competitors. When the ideas were examined there was one that stood out head and shoulders above the rest, the superintendent candidly expressed surprise that 'the country yawp in the wrapping room had real ideas.' For the man that Nora helped was the prize winner.

"The firm didn't break faith with him. He was taken out of the lowly position, given a frock coat at cost, and told that from then on he was a floorwalker. He was a happy little floorwalker too, for the job suited him, but the superintendent would occasionally look at him in a worried manner and remark, 'He seems alright, but who would ever imagine he could think?' The floorwalker grew more haughty as the days passed. He ignored the girl who had first brought him into the store, and for once Nora had nothing to say. In this case, little sister, also employed in the store, did the talking for the family. She went to the superintendent and told him that the prize winning idea was Nora's but she felt sorry for the meek little man from the country, and wanted to boost him along. And the superintendent swore bitterly and sent for the floorwalker to come on the run. The messenger found the floorwalker, who was in the seventh heaven of delight. He had just escorted the boss's daughter about the store and to her auto, and dreamed of the day when she would be his bride. Then he tripped into the office and met his Waterloo. Cheerfully he confessed. Savagely the superintendent rebuked him. Happily, little sister laughed. Then sentence was pronounced. He wasn't fired. That was because Nora interceded for him, but he ceased to be a floorwalker and was restored to the wrapping room. It is said that they offered to put his frock coat back in stock, but he held on to it as the only remaining sign of his once grandeur. Nora was promoted, but the ingrate stuck to his cord and twine to the end of the chapter, and probably never realized what a weak man he really was."

REVIEW by Gordon Trent, The Morning Telegraph, April 14, 1912:

"Combining a dramatic story and the 1912 spring and summer fashions in a film is the latest Thanhouser achievement. An idea of the story end may be found in the title, The Sales Lady, and of the fashion part in the announcement that real models 'show' with real Worth, Paquin, Louise, and Redfern creations. There are all the tailored morning costumes, afternoon gowns, reception frocks, dinner gowns, and opera wraps that have been accepted by society for wear this spring and summer. The women should go into spasms over this novel film. And so will some men I know of."

ADDITIONAL REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, May 12, 1912:

"Of the millions who daily pass through the department stores of the country, none could see this film without noting the excellence of this reproduction of a typical large shop, and of the thousands who work in these big modern marts the same consideration for detail in the scenes where customers do not travel, must be noted. As instances might be recalled the realism of the general floor scene with the variety of counters and departments and the contrasts in types of customers and employees, the lockers where the girls put away their outer garments, the packing room and the business of this department. In the flat dwelling of the salesgirls the same attention to the minor matters is adhered to, as in the speaking tube in the entrance and the push button to the door in the flat upstairs. The display of the living models and the promenade of fashions is novel in the extreme and the scene is lavish [illegible]. The proprietors offer a prize of $100 for the best suggestion for showing off the spring fashions and the older of the girls thinks out the plan for having a promenade of living models where customers can look on luxuriously as at a play. It is accepted, but the girl gives it to the man as his own, and he wins the prize and promotion to the position of floorwalker. He then neglects her and snobbishly looks for more fashionable society. In anger, the younger sister tells the manager, the man and the older girl are brought before him, and the floorwalker is relegated to the packing room, while the girl is given a new check for $100. It would be difficult to imagine how the play could have been better acted."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, May 18, 1912:

"The opening scenes of this picture show something of life in a big department store. Later scenes carry the action into the home life of two of the salesladies, and a fresh love story is introduced. This brings forward, in a very natural way, a promenade of pretty women in pretty gowns, new spring styles, morning gowns, afternoon gowns, and evening gowns. This will be interesting to everyone, but it will be especially so to the ladies. The story is entirely natural and convincing. It is also very pleasingly acted by Miss M. Snow in the leading role with Miss Flo LaBadie, Mr. Russell, and a very good player whose name we don't know. The photography is good."

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