Volume II: Filmography

A WOMAN'S LOYALTY

May 5, 1914 (Tuesday)

Length: 2 reels (1,882 feet)

Character: Drama

Director: Howell Hansel

Scenario: Lloyd F. Lonergan

Cast: Harry Benham (Jack, who dreams of becoming a great artist), Marguerite Snow (May, his faithful wife), Adele Rey (Grace, a heartless model), Minnie McCoy (Jane, a country woman), Riley Chamberlin (sheriff), Fan Bourke (girl who works for May), Ethyle Cooke (girl who works for May), Charles Horan (doctor, in Paris)

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, May 2, 1914:

"Firmly convinced that he was destined to become a great painter, Jack, the proprietor of a greenhouse, gradually brought about the ruin of his prosperous business by his inattention to the wants of his customers. His wife, who had faith in her husband's ability, supported the household by working as a dressmaker. Selfish to the core, Jack insisted that a thousand dollars which his wife received from a distant relative be used toward his tuition in an art school in Paris. While she preferred to pay off the mortgage on their little home, May acceded to her husband's wishes, and while she stayed at home Jack left for Paris, believing that he would quickly win fame and fortune. In this he was not disappointed.

"The long months passed and Jack soon began to make a name for himself in the French capital. Several of his pictures were exhibited in the Spring Salon, and letters from his admirers began to pour in. Among the women who pursued the successful artist was a French model with whom Jack soon became infatuated. Long hours before the canvas and much night work ruined the painter's eyes, however, and with the first sign that her sweetheart was losing his sight the model deserted him. Nearly a year later May, back in America, heard that her husband was dying in a Paris slum. Faithful even until death she nursed him in his last illness and did not even undeceive him when he caressed her, believing that the fickle model had come back to him at last."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, May 3, 1914:

"With a thousand dollars left to his wife, Jack goes to Paris to study art. Though she would rather that he should pay the mortgage on their house, she listens to his plea and is glad to be able to give him what he desires. In Paris he becomes famous and soon forgets the wife he left behind him. He falls in love with his model, and she pretends to love him. But when his eyesight fails she leaves him, and his wife learns that he is dying in the Paris slums. She goes to him and nurses him in his last moments, not even undeceiving him when he caresses her, thinking that the heartless model has returned."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, May 9, 1914:

"Two reels of film are used up in this story to elucidate the conventional artist's confirmed habit of falling in love with his model and forgetting his wife and children. This is different in some ways. There is a paint brush duel, and a fancy Bohemian ball, and the artist is blinded. His affinity cruelly deserts him and his faithful wife cheers his last moments."

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May 8, 1914 (Friday)

No Thanhouser release because of the two-reel film of the preceding Tuesday.

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