Volume II: Filmography

THE RING OF A SPANISH GRANDEE

May 24, 1912 (Friday)

Length: 1 reel

Character: Drama

Director: George O. Nichols

Cameraman: A.H. Moses, Jr.

Cast: Marguerite Snow (girl who is shown the ring), Florence LaBadie (Myra), William Russell (Don Rodrigo), Joseph Graybill (romantic suitor)

Location: Filmed in February 1912 in and around the old Spanish fort at St. Augustine, Florida

Note: An expanded story by Leona Radnor, based upon the scenario of this film, appeared in The Motion Picture Story Magazine, May 1912.

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

"The center of a thrilling dream that we invite you 'in' on. You'll like the dream but you'll scoff at the ring. The first exploits and 'explodes' a theory about the latter. A romantic girl is courted by two men, one worthy and the other unworthy. Mr. Unworthy tries to win out by flashing a ring at Miss Romantic and telling a fancy tale about it. She learns the real history of the ring in a dream - and Mr. Worthy wins."

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

"A romantic young girl, visiting St. Augustine, finds that she must make the choice which means happiness or misery for life. She has two suitors, one an everyday young American who has made his way in the world and is proud of it. He has money, will have more, and in every way would seem desirable. But the other man had ancestors! True, he apparently did not have much else except a fondness for cigarettes, but he could talk for hours of those knightly days and days of knights. He had a wonderful ring which had been given to his great, great and a few more great grandfathers, who, as governor of St. Augustine had saved the fort and had been rewarded with a ring from the fair hand of the Queen of Spain. He offered her the ring and asked her to marry him. She said yes, and took the ring. It was so romantic. Then some power transported her to 'those good old days,' and she learned the true story of the ring. It ended her infatuation, and she decided to stop being romantic, and wed a good American who could supply her with affection, also new gowns, opera tickets, and a steam-heated home with all modern improvements. Things they did not have at the time when the ring of the Spanish grandee was simply a jewel, and not a family heirloom with an absolutely incorrect history tacked on."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, May 26, 1912:

"Once again the Thanhouser Company transports the viewer to quaint, historic old St. Augustine, and gives some more views of the old fortress and the tropical verdure of the nearby country. The story unfolded is of the dream sort. A Northern girl is wooed by two men, one a Yankee of the sterling sort and the other a young Spaniard whose one great pride is in his ancestry. He brags of the doings of his forefathers until she is weary of it all, and then he gives her a ring which he tells her had been given one of his forebears for an heroic deed. The girl, seated in an arm-chair, doses off, and her dream takes her back to the days of his ancestry and shows that the one he had bragged of was nothing but a castle scullion who had admired a beautiful girl, like herself, but who was in love with a soldier, the counterpart of the Northern man she liked. Then the soldier, being loved by a titled woman of vengeful heart, the latter bribed the scullion to trick the soldier into a plot in which he is accused of treason and sentenced to die. But the girl helps effect his escape and together they wander to a foreign land, where they live in peaceful happiness - and the dream ends. The girl realizes that the Spaniard is a coward at heart and her American lover helps demonstrate the fact in short fashion. And the girl accepts the man among all men!"

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, June 1, 1912:

"Many of the scenes of this picture were taken in the old fortress at St. Augustine in Florida. The girl (Miss Snow) is shown an old Spanish ring and is told the story of it. That afternoon, near the fountain at the hotel, she falls asleep and dreams what most likely was the truth of the story. The lover who told the story boasted of his ancestor; he finds her in a dream of years ago as a fortress's cook. Her other lover is the real brave soldier. A romantic love story follows. It is played in costume in the old stone fort, where it is very well set and effective. It is acted with usual Thanhouser grace. Miss Marguerite Snow, Miss Florence LaBadie, Mr. Cruze, Mr. Russell, and others, whose names we do not know, appear. Many of the scenes are very pretty pictures. It is also pleasantly amusing. The camera work is very good."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, May 29, 1912:

"One finds this a delightfully entertaining tale because it is so well done around wonderfully interesting and suggestive backgrounds, and it is enacted with the usual Thanhouser character and charm. While a party of tourists are visiting an old Spanish fort the young woman concerned neglects her true lover to listen to the tales of bravery which the ancestors of the Spanish gentleman at her side were supposed to have indulged in. Among other things, he shows her a ring won by a great deed of valor. That afternoon, as the girl is reading by the fountain, she falls asleep and dreams the truth concerning this heirloom. She fancied herself as a Spanish maid loved by this man, who is but a scullion. She was also loved by a young soldier, her true lover. While this one was on guard at the fort he was commissioned to show a certain royal lady around the fortress. He refused her advances, and in revenge she gave the scullion her ring if he would incriminate the soldier by stealing certain papers from her husband and placing them on the person of the soldier. When the girl awoke and the owner of the ring appeared, she left him for the other."

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