Volume II: Filmography

REJUVENATION

April 23, 1912 (Tuesday)

Length: 1 reel

Character: Drama

Director: George O. Nichols

Cameraman: A.H. Moses, Jr.

Cast: James Cruze (the millionaire), William Russell (the lighthouse keeper), Florence LaBadie (the lighthouse keeper's daughter), Joseph Graybill (friend of the lighthouse keeper), Marguerite Snow (his fiancée)

Location: Florida

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture News, April 13, 1912:

"A rich man who finds that there is nothing in life worth living for is worse off than is a poor man in similar circumstances, for the poor man may be stricken with ambition, and in the last effort to attain fame and fortune redeems himself. But what is a man to do if he has wealth, health, all the fame he desires, and yet looks at life through blue spectacles? A man of this stamp is yawning out an utterly purposeless existence. He is comparatively young. There are no business cares to vex him, he has money enough to insure comfort, and yet he is thoroughly unhappy. He visits a winter resort down South, not for the benefit of his health, or for enjoyment, for he realizes that he will be thoroughly bored. He has no chums there, his friends simply endure him, and he is as thoroughly unhappy as he had been in Europe or in the North. Perhaps some kind of kind fairy took pity upon him, and induced him to go out rowing all alone, for he lost his oars and drifted about aimlessly all night, believing that his last hour had come.

"The good fairy so directed his boat that in the morning, when the rich man was unconscious from thirst, hunger and exhaustion, the tiny craft drifted near a lighthouse. The keeper's daughter saw the boat, swam out and guided it ashore, a considerable risk to herself, and with the aid of her father restored the rich man into consciousness. His benefactors did not know that their unfortunate guest was a rich man. They regarded him as one of themselves, and the keeper regarding him with favor, finally offered him a job as his assistant, which he whimsically accepted. He finds his new life so different from the old one he positively enjoys living. He forgets his old troubles, within a short time decides that there is nothing that could induce him to go back to his former aimless, empty existence. The keeper's daughter wins his love, and makes him happy by agreeing to marry him, and he finds that each day is happier than the one that preceded it.

"Years later, his old friend, who has mourned him as dead, happens to visit the lighthouse, accompanied by his wife, and is surprised to recognize in the assistant keeper the former clubman, long regarded as dead, and, in fact, so declared by the courts. The friend urges him to return, telling him that his heirs can be compelled to return his fortune, but he refuses. 'I have my fortune here,' he says, 'my wife and child. My only fear is that they may be forced back into the life I once led. I have a lovely wife, a beautiful child, enough to live upon, my days are happy. The other life, well I know what it is, and have no desire to try it again. Let my heirs keep the money. It is valueless to me.' The friend, being a true friend, kept the secret. Yet he never could understand the once rich man's reasoning, for he was not a philosopher, and, furthermore, had not been rich long enough to realize that money is not everything in this world."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, April 29, 1912:

"Like almost every Thanhouser photoplay of the past many weeks, this is a production of merit presented in an entirely praiseworthy manner, which shows the care and thought, as well as the expense to which the director and the company go to make the subject a success. It is a Florida play and is staged about the famous Ponce de Leon Hotel, a fine lighthouse and the seacoast of that unapproachable shore. Photographically, it rivals the pictures of any maker of today. With a party of equally wealthy friends, the hero arrives in Florida to spend the winter months. But the continual round of social pleasures, idle gossip and chit-chat bores him, and he wanders down to the sea, hires a rowboat and drifts over the bay, with no haven in mind. He loses his oars in his dreamy carelessness and drifts for a long time helpless and alone. Exhausted, he is washed to the shores of an island, where he is spied by the lighthouse keeper's daughter, who has gone to the tower to fix the lights. She hastens to him, he is carried ashore by her father, is revived and then cared for during the days of his recuperation. Remaining with them, he decides to give up his past life and his fortune, and so he marries the girl, and his former friends think him dead. Years pass, and the same party journeys again to Florida, and a couple, since wedded, make a trip to the lighthouse, where they meet the old friend. He admonishes them to keep silent, and thus he remains on, happy with his wife and child, enjoying real life close to nature, while his friends, uncomprehending, return to their own lives of pleasure and luxury. It is splendidly acted, there is no false or exaggerated work on the part of anyone and no camera posing."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, May 4, 1912:

"A Florida picture showing how a bored and aimless millionaire (Mr. Cruze) drifts out to sea in a boat; is rescued by a lighthouse keeper's daughter (Florence LaBadie). The picture also shows how this adventure was his step to happiness. It is naturally acted. The scenes are typical views among magnificent Florida hotels, with their beautiful arches, fountains and palm gardens. There are also sea scenes and scenes around the lighthouse on an island. The last scene is very charming; it shows the man, his wife and their pretty little girl. The photographs are very good."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, May 1, 1912:

"In this pleasing, although somewhat fanciful little romance, one is shown how one person at least solved the problem of his life's happiness, when the superfluities of life became too much for him. The film is presented with the usual Thanhouser care in the finer details in telling and acting, which go to make up the better class of picture production. James Cruze is the millionaire involved, who seeks quiet in Florida. His friends bore him, and to get away from them all he takes a small boat and rows out to sea. He loses both oars, and after a number of hours drifts within sight of the lighthouse, where the lighthouse keeper's daughter sees him. His wants are met by her father and self, and the young man decides to become a permanent member of the family, letting the account in the paper of his mysterious disappearance go unnoticed. Several years afterward a party of his former friends, while in Florida, visit the lighthouse, and he takes them aside, telling them that this is his world and they must go back to their own without disturbing his. The cast includes William Russell as the lighthouse keeper, Flo LaBadie as his daughter, Joseph Graybill as the friend of the millionaire, and Marguerite Snow as his fiancée."

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