Volume II: Filmography

AN AMATEUR ORPHAN

(Pathé Exchange)

June 3, 1917 (Sunday)

Length: 5 reels

Character: Drama; Pathé Gold Rooster Play

Director: Van Dyke Brooke

Scenario: Agnes Christine Johnston

Cameraman: George Webber

Cast: Gladys Leslie (Marcia Schuyler), Isabel Vernon (Quincy), Thomas A. Curran (Marcia's father), Jean Armour (Marcia's mother), Chester Morris (Dick), Ray Hallor (David Benton), Justus D. Barnes (David's father), Carey L. Hastings, Grace DeCarlton

Note: The release date of this film was listed as June 3, 1917 in a synopsis in The Moving Picture World, June 9, 1917; this date is probable, as at the time Sunday was the standard release day for Pathé Gold Rooster Plays. However, an article in The Moving Picture World, May 19, 1917, gave the release date as June 1, 1917, and a Thanhouser advertisement in the same publication, June 9, 1917, gave June 5 as the date.

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, June 2, 1917:

"A rich man's daughter gets 'back to the farm' in a novel way. Miss Leslie makes a most lovable heroine."

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, June 9, 1917:

"Miss Leslie is charming in this play by Agnes Johnston. Her pranks while 'playing hookey' from home will have your audiences with her from the start."

ARTICLE, The Morning Telegraph, May 13, 1917:

"Because farms and farming are uppermost in the public mind, through Uncle Sam's persistent call for increased national effort in that direction, Gladys Leslie of Thanhouser and her director, Van Dyke Brooke, wisely journeyed out to a farming district 'somewhere in New York State' and took a picture on the most attractive farm in the vicinage. 'We wanted such a farm,' said Miss Leslie, 'as would make the beholder hie to the nearest government farm bureau and register as a farm purchaser or worker.' Be that as it may, the Leslie smile in farm surroundings is going to make farm life look more attractive than ever. The happy farm boys are represented in the picture by Ray Hallor and Chester Morris, and Edwin Thanhouser claims an old farm couple - man and wife - were never more naturally portrayed than by Justus D. Barnes and Carey Hastings in this film. The back to nature subject is An Amateur Orphan, from Agnes C. Johnston's scenario, and released by Pathé June 1."

ARTICLE, The Moving Picture World, May 19, 1917:

"Thanhouser's next 'Smile Feature,' as their Gladys Leslie plays are termed - it was of Miss Leslie that the New York Herald said: 'She has a million dollar smile' - it is to be released June 1 and called An Amateur Orphan. It is director Van Dyke Brooke's first Thanhouser production - he who was ten years with Vitagraph. Perhaps Agnes C. Johnston's authorship of the scenario evidenced the sunny nature of the picture along with the fact of Miss Leslie's presence in it, for The Shine Girl, Pots-and-Pans Peggie, Prudence the Pirate, Her New York, and other humoristic Thanhouser successes are from her pen. Indeed, she is working on other 'smile pictures' for Thanhouser's smiling star, for it is the belief of Edwin Thanhouser that such films are an actual necessity to the public in dread war time."

SYNOPSIS, Exhibitors Herald, June 9, 1917:

"Marcia's folks are very wealthy, and she is under the severest surveillance of a strict governess. She longs to change places with an orphan and finally, when a niece of her governess is to be placed in an orphanage, she arranges to change places with the little girl. From the orphanage she is adopted by a farmer, and soon she and the farmer's son are very good friends. Through her efforts, Dick, the farmer's son receives a good position with her father and soon after they are married."

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, June 9, 1917:

"Marcia's father hit upon a plan to get rid of Quincy, a straight-laced scientific governess, by sending Marcia to boarding school, while he and his wife would take a trip to Japan. Marcia was delighted with the plan until she learned that the school was conducted on a scientific basis. Catching Quincy at the right moment, when the infuriated woman had just been discharged, Marcia makes her consent to a wild scheme. Quincy has a little niece, who was to go to the orphanage, so Marcia implores her to let them change places. Quincy agrees, so Marcia goes to the orphanage under the name of Jane Perkins. Marcia for the first time plays and lives as a child should. Climbing up a high spiked fence, Marcia slipped and fell. Dick Walton, a young college boy, riding by on a horse, saw Marcia and came to her assistance. Believing her to be an orphan, he determines to have his mother adopt her, but to his astonishment, Marcia refuses.

"Farmer Benton adopts Marcia. There she meets Dave, the black sheep of the family, and in her he finds a long needed friend. Dave won Marcia's confidence when he saves her from a whipping at the hands of his father. Dick, on a vacation, pays a visit to Marcia, and Dave experiences the first pangs of jealousy. Through the newspapers, Marcia learns that her parents have returned and are searching for her. She schemes so that Dave shall receive the reward for her return. Later Dave and Dick find positions in the same office and soon both are in line for a higher position, providing they appear at a directors' meeting at 8:00. Marcia calls up Dave to come and see her before going. Arriving at her home, Dave is detained until the last moment."

Note: The synopsis as published is seemingly incomplete.

REVIEW, Exhibitor's Trade Review, May 26, 1917:

"While lacking depth of plot, An Amateur Orphan, the first vehicle in which Gladys Leslie has been starred, affords a pleasing entertainment embodying a fund of simple human interest and quaint humor. The lack of any dramatic grip or sensational thrills is made up for by the utter simplicity of the plot and its avoidance of the stereotyped situations that are usually presented in a picture of this kind. At the very first the story fails to convince, until the arrival of Marcia at the farm, when the action begins in earnest. The locations have been well selected and the photography and direction of such worth as to demand praise.

"Gladys Leslie has been seen to very good advantage in recent productions, but in this release she has her first chance as a star. Throughout the entire play there is seen a smattering here and there of true dramatic possibilities. The part of Marcia, however, calls for too much of the kittenish acting which has a tendency to prevent the star from showing her true worth in her endeavor to act cute. She shows great aptitude and will undoubtedly prove a strong asset to Thanhouser productions when supplied with a vehicle of a different nature. In support Ray Hallor as Dave and Chester Morris as Dick meet every requirement as the two lovers, while Justus Barnes as the irate old farmer adds the finishing touch to a very satisfying cast. An Amateur Orphan will entertain many and disappoint a few, that few being among those who enjoy a little more body to the plot and a bit more action. But the average audience will find this release thoroughly entertaining and entirely up to the standard of Pathé productions."

REVIEW by Dickson G. Watts, The Morning Telegraph, May 20, 1917:

"An Amateur Orphan is a typical Agnes Johnston story, being light, amusing and brisk of action. The production introduces Gladys Leslie as a star, and is particularly happily chosen as a vehicle for her type of beauty and style of acting. While scarcely logical, the play is entertaining at all times, and can be especially recommended for children's performances. Marcia Schuyler, surrounded with all the pleasures of wealth and a scientific governess, grows tired of having everything done for her. Her parents' trip to Japan provides her with an opportunity to escape. She changes places with her governess' niece, who is an inmate of an orphan asylum, and proceeds to have a splendid time. Later she accepts a chance to be adopted by a farmer, and goes to work in the country. Her example of good nature and willingness makes a great change in young David Benton, the black sheep of the farmer's family, and two grow fond of each other. When at last the Schuylers find their missing daughter, David is given an opportunity to make good. He does so, and his marriage to Marcia is foreshadowed. Gladys Leslie will without question take a front piece in the ranks of the screen ingenues. She is vivacious, youthful, pretty, and possessed of a natural grace and instinct for acting. Her support is first class, Chester Morris and Ray Hallor being very well chosen for the two leading juvenile roles. The setting is entirely adequate and the photography pleasing."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, June 2, 1917: This review is reprinted in the narrative section of the present work.

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, May 26, 1917:

"Now that Thanhouser has raised Gladys Leslie to stardom, it will evidently be the duty of Agnes Johnston to write the same type of stories for two different young ladies under contract with that company, the other one being, of course, Gladys Hulette. The authoress's latest work which is used as the initial starring vehicle for Miss Leslie, is in the same class of story that the other Gladys generally appears in without any resemblance as to plot. It is sweet, it is wholesome, and it affords the principal actress ample opportunity to give a performance of a young girl somewhere between the ages of 12 and 14 that will be appreciated by a general audience. In An Amateur Orphan, whether it is because of the material or the way in which she plays the part, Miss Leslie's performance of the role of Marcia Schuyler is more or less of a composite of the poor little rich girl and Pollyanna. She is a child that has had everything in the world except the thing she most craves, the companionship of other children. By a scheme of substitution she gets herself sent to an orphan asylum instead of boarding school. Her adventures from then on embrace her ability to make herself and everybody happy. The direction of the picture is especially well done and attention has been paid to matters of detail. The thoroughly pleasing new star is surrounded by a capable company that includes Isabel Vernon, Thomas A. Curran, Jean Armour, Chester Morris, Ray Hallor and Justus Barnes. An exhibitor who desires a film of wholesome entertainment will make no mistake in booking An Amateur Orphan. - F.T."

REVIEW, Wid's Film and Film Folk, May 24, 1917:

"Figuring this as a program release it may get by in many communities because it has some cute kid stuff and a lot of little human touches which had evidently been planted in the story, and consequently registered effectively despite the general cheap and ordinary touch which marked the atmosphere of the offering. The plot told about a wealthy little girl who was being raised scientifically, with a tutor who suppressed all her natural inclinations. Seeing the kiddies in an orphanage having a glorious time one day, she decided to run away and become an 'orphan,' this being made possible by her folks going to Japan. Meanwhile, the tutor wanted her niece to have an education, the wealthy girl being planted in the orphanage while the tutor's niece was sent to the boarding school under the wealthy girl's name.

"Later on, the wealthy little orphan, after having a grand and glorious time in the orphanage - which is hardly convincing - was adopted by a family in the country, where she reformed a grouchy old farmer and made him realize again the attractiveness of his wife, who had become more or less of a drudge. Finally the parents came home and became very much excited over the disappearance of their child, with the result that they offered a reward for her return, which was collected by the son of the farm folk, who had, of course, fallen in love with our heroine. We then had this youth brought to the city, with a few rather forced scenes leading up to his advance in business. Another young man, who wanted to marry the niece of the tutor now established in the heroine's home, appeared to want to marry the heroine herself.

"The audience was tricked into believing that heroine was trying to make the hero lose his position so that the other boy could have it because she loved the other boy, but we found that it was because she knew the other boy loved her friend, and she wanted the boy she loved to lose his job so that they could live in the country, she having all the wealth that was essential. The introduction of the bit where the heroine played chauffeur in order to delay the hero's arrival at his office was decidedly forced, and, in fact, the treatment of the entire offering, except in a few little spots, kept it from registering anything like as effectively as it could have, had it been very carefully handled. In the supporting cast were Isabel Vernon, Thomas A. Curran, Jean Armour, Ray Hallor, Chester Morris and Justus Barnes.

"The Box Office Angle: Of course, the name of Gladys Leslie at the present time means nothing in the life of your fans. You might say that she is another discovery of the Thanhouser studios, who expect that she will become as popular as Gladys Hulette has in a few short months, and you can possibly arouse some interest by announcing that this is a story of a wealthy girl who chose to run away and become an orphan in order to have an opportunity to enjoy life free from the guardianship of her tutor. While this has been done in a rather ordinary manner, it has enough human touches that the average fan will probably accept it as better entertainment than the vampire 'mellerdrammers.' There is quite a bit of cute stuff in it, and it might appeal particularly to a children's audience if you wanted to pick something that would get by satisfactorily on a light day when you play for a big matinee."

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