Volume II: Filmography

THEIR GOLDEN WEDDING

January 2, 1914 (Friday)

Length: 1 reel (1,011 feet)

Character: Drama

Scenario: Lloyd F. Lonergan

Cast: David H. Thompson (Granville Sewell, age 75, the groom), Leslie Stose (Elizabeth Wight Sewell, his wife), Florence LaBadie (Enna, their daughter), Sidney Bracy (William, Enna's husband), Harry Benham (Tom, son of William and Enna, age 28), N.S. Woods (Malatesta, the drawing teacher), Helen Badgley

ADVERTISEMENT, Reel Life, December 27, 1913:

"With David Thompson as the aged groom, supported by Leslie Stose as his wife, Sidney Bracy and Flo LaBadie as the young lovers, and Harry Benham as the grandson. Also the Kidlet. A charming drama."

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, December 27, 1913:

"The Sewells' married life had been ideal, and their golden wedding day found no happier couple living. Their daughter was home, with her husband and boy, and there were neighbors in, and much merrymaking. Late in the afternoon - when the others had gone for a walk about the place - Granville Sewell, a little tired from the unusual excitement, slipped off by himself to think over the past. He seemed to see again beautiful Elizabeth Wight, as he first met her - and then came the call to arms, and their wedding was indefinitely postponed. In the next four years, he gave his best to his country, fighting under Sherman - and was dangerously wounded. Then Elizabeth came, and they were married - on his death bed, it was supposed. But her tenderness and skill in nursing saved his life - he was spared to fifty years of almost unparalleled happiness, with a wife, who now, at seventy-five, was still the sweetheart of his youth."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, January 4, 1914:

"This is a pretty picture founded on the happiness of a couple who have enjoyed fifty years of perfect married life. The parts of the old couple are taken by Mr. Thompson and Leslie Stose. Others in the cast are Florence LaBadie, Sidney Bracey and Harry Benham. After showing the old people at their golden wedding celebration the pictures tell the story of their younger days, including scenes during the Civil War and their marriage, when the young soldier was thought to be on his deathbed."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, January 14, 1914:

"A one-reel drama being the pictorial vision of an old man reminiscing on his golden wedding anniversary. First, there is the reunion of the small family, then the rest leave the old man to think over the succeeding mile posts in his life. This he does by means of scenes beginning in the Civil War, which is cheaply and inadequately portrayed. Succeeding life snatches are then shown. With each succeeding lapse of time, the change in the make-up of the characters reveals the best thing in the film. When he has brought the events up to the present he stops dreaming, and the rest of the family come back to take him indoors. There is nothing either good or bad about this play. The good is counterbalanced in that it has been done myriad times before. The bad, the lack of interest, the weak lighting in a number of scenes, and the cheapness with which it has been staged are counterbalanced by the general pathos of the subject, whose particular application to the golden wedding day is new."

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