Volume II: Filmography

BABY HANDS

August 6, 1912 (Tuesday)

Length: 1 reel

Character: Drama

Cast: Jean Darnell (wife), James Cruze (husband), Helen Badgley (their child), Virginia Norden (actress)

Locations: New Rochelle studio; Long Island Sound

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, August 3, 1912:

"This is our best 'story of the sea' since The Higher Law, than which it is 50% better. A female flirt likes the brawny looks of a simple sailor man and attempts to lure him from his wife and baby. He is about to fly with her, when Fate, the perfect card player, lays the Baby Hands on the table of his life and calls the game off."

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, August 3, 1912:

"A well-to-do young man imagined he was very much in love with a certain actress. He lavished presents upon her, and expected that shortly they would be married. Much to his surprise and grief, however, he found that she was only mocking him, and in rage and disappointment he forsook his old friends and determined to live a simple life in the country. Being young and impressionable his grief did not last, and meeting a sweet girl in his rural surroundings, he married her, and decided he would be happy after all. Five years later, the actress and a party of gay friends who were on a yachting trip happened to land at the little seashore village which was now the home of the once man about town. The actress met her old sweetheart, and the fascination she once exerted was again experienced by him, for it must be admitted that he was growing tired of his quiet, uneventful life. At the suggestion of the girl, he took her out for a sail in his little boat. She flirted with him and he had no desire to withstand her fascinations. Suddenly in the midst of one of his impassioned speeches he experienced the feeling that someone was looking at him. Glancing up he saw his four-year-old daughter who, unknown to her father, was aboard the boat, gravely regarding him, and evidently not knowing what to say or do. The actress was pettishly angry because the third party had spoiled her afternoon. The man was humiliated, and conscience-stricken. Still, under the spell of the fascination the woman exerted, he tried to remove the baby hands that were tightly clasped around his neck, but she clung to him, and he realized that the ties that bound him to his simple life were as tender, yet as firm as the clasp of the child he loved. Reverently he kissed the little hands and without another word to the woman, he turned the boat and put back to shore, the spell of the siren being broken forever."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, August 4, 1912:

"Done in the usually fine way of the Thanhouser Company, this entertaining picture play is sure to please. A well-to-do man about town is infatuated with a dancer who is something of a vampire woman. He leaves her when she scoffs at his love for her in the presence of another man who has called on her the same evening in her dressing room. He goes to the country to forget her and there meets his ideal woman, woos, wins and marries her. Five years elapse and they are happily located in their country home with a baby to cement the union. One day while on the shore the husband is seen from a yacht by the actress and some friends. They put in and she meets him. He is seen with her by the wife and the two are introduced. Her old fascination returns and he takes her out in his sloop. His baby has meantime clambered aboard the boat and fallen asleep in the bow, unseen by him. As the woman makes love to him, the baby wakes and toddles aft. He takes the infant in his arms and the woman shows her contempt for him. He returns to the shore and meets his wife, begging forgiveness for his attentions to the actress, who laughingly walks away with her friends. Husband and wife are reconciled and the play ends. The scenes taken on Long Island Sound are very pretty and well photographed, the theatre scenes are fine and true to actualities, the one from the stage box being especially well made. It is very well acted throughout."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, August 10, 1912:

"Not an altogether pleasant theme, although all ends well."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, August 7, 1912:

"A New Yorker becomes infatuated with a professional dancer, but when he finds that she has another favored lover he goes to the country in an effort to forget her. There a country girl is his constant companion and he finally marries her. Five years pass and the couple are blessed with a baby, but just about this time a yacht arrives from the city and the trouble begins. The yachting party includes the dancer, and she elects to amuse herself at the expense of her former admirer. He introduces her to his wife and then leaves for a walk with the woman of the stage. The child wanders away, curls itself up in the bottom of a sailboat and falls asleep. Then the man and the woman enter the same boat and go for a sail, but just as he is about to succumb to the wiles of the dancer the baby wakes up and the father realizes what a mistake he is making. When his wife comes in search of the baby the little family have a reunion while the now angry dancer goes away with the rest of her party. The story is jerky and the photography is below standard, while the acting could be improved all around. This combination of faults makes the picture one that seems to drag and that will arouse not quite as much interest as the subject warrants."

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