Volume II: Filmography

THE SILVER-TONGUED ORATOR

October 26, 1913 (Sunday)

Length: 1 reel (1,026 feet)

Character: Comedy

Scenario: Lloyd F. Lonergan

Cast: James Cruze (grocery clerk and orator)

Notes: 1. The title was probably derived from "The Silver-Tongued Orator of the Platte," a appellation given to William Jennings Bryan, who unsuccessfully competed in the presidential elections of 1896, 1900, and 1908, and who campaigned for "free silver." 2. The release date was given erroneously as October 12, 1913 in several notices in The Moving Picture World.

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, November 1, 1913:

"He enrolled in the Correspondence School of Oratory and made speeches everywhere. He promptly lost his sweetheart. His oratory must have been pretty bad, because he lost his job of grocery clerk, too, and none of the politicians would hire him to stump-speak for them. He wished, in the end, that he had never left the grocery store."

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, November 1, 1913:

"This is the story of a grocery clerk, who is slowly but surely rising in his profession. The customers liked him and his employer was satisfied. Furthermore, he was in love with a most desirable young woman. Then all was changed, for he decided to become an orator. It would have been bad enough had he been a natural speaker, or even if he had taken lessons at a school of elocution. This young man, however, fell under the spell of a Correspondence School of Oratory. He made speeches everywhere. The result was that his fiancée jilted him, his friends fled from him, and the boss, who had approved of him, fired him. Being out of work, he decided that the best thing to do was to utilize what he finally styled as his 'heaven born gift' by becoming an assemblyman. The political party to which he belonged gave a clambake about that time, and the clerk determined to spout eloquence so masterfully that all eyes would be turned upon him. They were, but not in the way that he imagined they would be. He made his speech, or at least started it, then some husky policemen arrived and threw him further than any man had ever been thrown before. His thoughts then turned to love, but when he arrived at his sweetheart's home he was just in time to hear her accept another suitor, first bidding him never to become an orator. It was a bitter blow to the clerk, but he comforted himself that he still had his silver tongue left, and he still makes speeches on every subject whenever he gets a chance."

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, October 25, 1913:

"Did you ever read a hard-luck story which sounded deservedly real? This play, The Silver-Tongued Orator, is one of them. It presents the case of a perfectly good grocery clerk who was giving entire satisfaction to boss and customers alike until the fatal notion struck him that he was a born orator. There are very few born orators - and they're all licensed - upon the 'limited output' basis. So when an amateur butts into the game, he's hunting trouble with both feet. This particular young man acquired his 'heaven-born' oratory through the medium of a correspondence school - which often falls short of the rosy promises contained in the coupon. In order to practice his new profession, he orated upon any and every occasion - in public, and in private. He tried it on his fiancée, with disastrous results. He tried it on the store customers - and drove away trade. He tried it on his boss - and was urged to take a permanent vacation, at his own expense. Not in the least disheartened, he went into politics and started in at a clambake to acquire a reputation as a spellbinder - but a fat policeman checked his flow of oratory so forcibly that when he picked himself up, he was out of wind for a full hour. Walking back to his girl's house, he was just in time to see her accept another man who had no symptoms of oratory. It is doubtful if the man ever learned that, like 'Polly,' he 'talked too d - d much' - but his various experiences make a roaringly comical play, upon the screen."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, November 15, 1913: This review is reprinted in the narrative section of the present work.

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, November 5, 1913:

"A laughable farce, thoroughly enjoyable. The photography is fine, the staging good, and there are several interesting scenes of unusual character. The circular of a school of oratory falls into the hands of a grocery clerk with a good job and a good-looking sweetheart. He at once subscribes to the course and starts practicing, but his sweetheart, as well as everybody who hears him, objects violently. Book in one hand, motoring with the other, he wanders around. He neglects his job to devote more time to practicing and, of course, is fired. He determines to go into politics, and we now find him in a political clambake, where the leaders are not enthused by his ability and kick him out. Just about here the moral of the story becomes lost, because we see another suitor proposing to his former sweetheart and being accepted, but only on the promise of his never becoming an orator. From this we are to infer, since this offering is called The Silver-Tongued Orator, that while oratory may be silvery silence is golden. The scenes showing the clambake are particularly good. James Cruze as the oratorically-struck grocery clerk is excellent."

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