Volume II: Filmography

TWINS AND A STEPMOTHER

February 3, 1914 (Tuesday)

Length: 1 reel (1,002 feet)

Character: Comedy-drama; "Human interest novelty"

Scenario: Lloyd F. Lonergan

Cast: Madeline and Marion Fairbanks (Madeline and Marion, Lewis' twin daughters), Florence LaBadie (Miss Willis, their stepmother), Sidney Bracy (Lewis, a young widower, their father), Ethyle Cooke (Mary, the maid)

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, January 31, 1914:

"The twins loved their father - and their Sunday School teacher, Miss Willis, who lived next door. Their mother had died when they were babies - but Miss Willis, they thought, must be very much like her, and so they were not so lonely as they might have been. Little did they dream that their father had fallen in love with their beloved teacher - and when they heard that they were soon to have a stepmother, they were broken-hearted. Of course, they must run away before the awful woman arrived - and the only place they knew to run to was the house next door. When they arrived, bag and baggage, and explained to the astonished Miss Willis the motive of their flight, she was secretly much amused. They begged her to marry their father and so prevent the dreaded stepmother coming. Miss Willis hid the children, and solemnly sent for their father. Then, in the twins' hearing, she told him that his little girls had left home, and would go back to him only on condition he married her, their loved teacher. Lewis cleverly takes his cue, and plays up to the role expected of him. He gives his promise in all seriousness - the twins rush out to embrace father and prospective mother - and to this day, they actually believe it was themselves who made the match."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, February 14, 1914:

"A likable little picture that is not at all pretentious, but wholesome, cheery and pretty. Thanhouser has turned out a great deal of work of this kind and we have found it fairly popular."

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