Volume II: Filmography

THE NEWSY AND THE TRAMP

December 5, 1911 (Tuesday)

Length: 1,000 feet

Character: Comedy

Cast: Marie Eline (the newsy)

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, December 2, 1911:

"The newsy and the tramp became fast friends and this friendship was of mutual benefit. The tramp put forth a protecting hand in behalf of the newsboy, who needed it, and the newsboy reciprocated by joining his protector's hands with those of the prettiest, wittiest little school ma'm in all the county. This the newsy largely brought about by introducing a new version of The Handwriting On the Wall! His version is given in a way that will make you laugh."

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, December 2, 1911:

"Ragsy was a plain newsboy. He wasn't even a newsboy with a house; he had been selling papers from the day his drunkard father kicked him into the street and his abiding place was wherever unkind Providence permitted him to hang his cap. Often it was in the park, where a bench made a bed of sort. Henry always had lots of company. Tramps were thick in that park that year. Ragsy came to know the tramps. One of them was named Connors. Ragsy asked if he couldn't go out in the road with him. Connors laughed, but the newsy persisted. In the end, Connors yielded.

"Their wanderings are without adventure until they fall in with some tramps who feel that the newsy is just small enough to squeeze into a neighboring hen roost and pass out some fowl. Ragsy will not become a thief! The tramp takes his little chum away from the men who would make him a criminal, and resolves to resume his blacksmithing, and keep Ragsy nearby where he can keep watch over him. He finds work in a smithy and puts the boy in school. This is where his attention to Ragsy begins to earn dividends for Connors. The head of the country school is the prettiest schoolma'am in all the county, and when the blacksmith enters the building with Ragsy he meets - her! Finally, he weds her. Ragsy, let it be said, spurred him on. Newsy knew a good thing when he saw it and he took care that Connors got the girl. So from being his teacher, the girl becomes Ragsy's mother."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, December 10, 1911:

"Truly, this is one of the most pleasing romances we have recently seen and a photoplay that should have a wide presentation. Its story is highly entertaining, much out of the ordinary and entirely possible. A newsboy falls in with a tramp and so influences the wayfarer for good that he becomes a village blacksmith, meets and wins the heart and hand of the village school teacher who has been instructing the boy, and the tale ends with the three joining in a happy family. Very well done in every particular, it is a film no exhibitor should miss securing."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, December 13, 1911:

"The acting and management of this picture is altogether delightful. Beneath it all shines out the invisible good that is lodged in every heart and a delicate humor that is refreshing. The backgrounds and setting are of a high order, and the story is vivid, smooth and sympathetic in acting and telling. The small newsboy comes as a reforming force into the tramp's life. After protecting him from the designs of other tramps, the tramp obtains a position at a blacksmith's, and sends the boy to school. The boy becomes the teacher's champion. He introduces her to the reformed tramp, who becomes her pupil. In the last scene - a clever and humorous concert - the boy starts a love affair with a sly 'kiss her' on the blackboard when her back is turned. Then the man apparently begins to wake up, and the rest is left to the imagination of the spectator, which shows rare art and discretion for a present day picture."

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