Volume II: Filmography

THE STOLEN ANTHURIUM

(Falstaff)

June 25, 1915 (Friday)

Length: 1 reel (1,010 feet)

Character: Comedy

Director: Arthur Ellery

Cast: Riley Chamberlin (Dana Hood), Inda Palmer (Emily Bradbury), Leland Benham (Tom), Roy Hauck (Ned), Arthur Bauer, Helen Badgley, Madeline and Marion Fairbanks, Zenaide Williams, J. Wallace, Mrs. Hough

ARTICLE, Reel Life, July 3, 1915:

"Riley Chamberlin, veteran lead with the Thanhouser studio, who is sixty-odd years young, recently starred in The Stolen Anthurium, a charming horticultural comedy released under the Falstaff brand. It was the kind of a part in which Riley's admirers most enjoy seeing their favorite - an amusing old bachelor role, tinged at times, with pathos, and 'so exactly in Riley's line,' Mr. Chamberlin is enthusiastic about his beautiful horses and has several blue ribbon winners. He is also something of a horticulturist. Best of all, however, he loves children. At his country home near New Rochelle he entertains parties of youngsters whom he gives free run of the house and paddocks. For nearly 40 years he was on the stage. His favorite character is Conductor 786, a creation of Riley's own, featuring him in a series of delightful playlets showing incidents in the life of an old trolley-car conductor."

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, June 19, 1915:

"A little old maid and a nice old bachelor live side by side. They do not know each other, though Dana Hood always lifts his hat to Miss Emily Bradbury when he passes her on the street, and she returns his courtesy with a demure glance. Both are devoted to flowers, and each has a back yard garden. Their little Edens are separated by a high board fence. Someone sends Miss Emily a rare specimen of cactus, and she places it in her open front window where it can get plenty of sun. The bachelor long has wished for a cactus. He does not happen to see the plant in his neighbor's window. And that afternoon, when the very specimen he has coveted, falls in a litter of glass and dirt at his feet, he is completely mystified. By the time he can get his head out of his broken window, the naughty boys who committed the deed are far down the street. He plants the cactus in his garden. Miss Emily sees her lost plant over the fence. She completely ignores Dana Hood when he bows to her on the street. That same day, Tom and Ned, in the custody of their mother, are marched to the home of the old bachelor. They confess and Dana Hood digs up the cactus, repots it, and for the first time in his life goes to Miss Emily's door. She is overjoyed to have her cactus restored, but even happier to find that her neighbor, after all, is not a thief. And now it is rumored in the neighborhood that the two gardens and the houses side by side are to be turned into one."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, June 26, 1915:

"A pretty, homelike little story in which a bachelor and a maiden lady live on adjoining properties. The garden scenes are very attractive. Some boys steal her plant and throw it into the bachelor's window; she thinks he has stolen it. But the boys confess and happiness results. A quiet sort of story, well photographed and attractive in its way."

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