Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 10: 1917 Peggy in the Kitchen

In the world of screen laughs Charlie Chaplin was king. In an effort to unseat the monarch of comedy, Essanay announced the production of several films featuring Max Linder, the great French comedian who during his career made about 400 films for French Pathé, many of which were distributed worldwide. First to be produced in America by Essanay was Max Comes Across, of which film historian Terry Ramsaye commented: "Max came across, but he did not go over." Note Max Wants a Divorce and Max and His Taxi followed. In response to the Essanay campaign, Pathé announced in March that it had a number of Max Linder comedies on hand, imports from France, some of which had never been released.

On March 17th a dinner was held at the Hotel Astor in New York City to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Moving Picture World. Among those in attendance was Edwin Thanhouser. Note During the decade of its existence the publication had bested all of its competitors to become the industry's leading journal.

In New Rochelle players and directors continued to come and go. Edwin Thanhouser's undisguised eagerness to retire from the studio could not have given a sense of security to the employees there, but a job was a job, and he had no difficulty in signing personnel for his films. By this time Florence LaBadie was the only leading player from earlier years who remained with the company. How she viewed her future was never stated, at least not in print.

The New Rochelle Evening Standard, March 21, 1917, told of changes at the studio:

The Thanhouser Film Corporation has taken on two new directors in the place of Gene Moore and Frederick Sullivan, and both are working their hardest at the New Rochelle studio. They are Emile Chautard and Van Dyke Brooke. It is reported there will be six directors by May 1st and a correspondingly large acting force.

Mr. Chautard comes from the World Film, where he directed a number of releases.... He was born in Paris, France, and he was educated in his native land. In Paris he was a success on the stage, but a few years ago he abandoned it for the silent drama.... His first screen work was with the Eclair Company, Paris.... He is to direct Frederick Warde in Iron-Hearted Pemberton, Note the story of a businessman who lets nothing interfere with money making until he is well beyond middle age and then finds that although he has time to play, the hour has passed. J. Ewens is assistant to Mr. Chautard.

Mr. Brooke was one of the pioneers from the legitimate to the movies, having been in stock on the road and in important metropolitan productions before he joined the Vitagraph Company in 1909. He remained with that company until he resigned to accept the Thanhouser offer. It was he who was responsible for the development of many actors and actresses now stars, including Maurice Costello, Lillian Walker, Anita Stewart, Norma Talmadge, and Dorothy Kelly.

He has as his first Thanhouser star Gladys Leslie, who will appear in An Amateur Orphan, a story by Agnes C. Johnston, this city. Miss Leslie's first screen experience was gained at the Edison studio. She left there to come to Thanhouser. Note Her latest part is that of the younger daughter of the old clergyman in The Vicar of Wakefield. Mr. Brooke's assistant is George Grimmer. The Vicar of Wakefield is having a big run in Cleveland, Ohio, where it was brought through the local clubs of the Federation of Women's Clubs.

Miss Jeanne Eagels, who was playing with George Arliss in The Professor's Love Story at the Knickerbocker Theatre in New York City, is leading with Frederick Warde in a new feature picture and is at the Thanhouser studio on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Thanhouser is producing a new eight-reel picture, the name of which has not been made public. Note Bert D. Carber, formerly technical man at the studio, is now at the Mutual Studio, Glendale, New Jersey.

On March 4, 1917 Her Beloved Enemy was released in the usual format of the time, as a five-reel Gold Rooster Play. The New York Dramatic Mirror commented:

Her Beloved Enemy is a naive little melodrama in which a daughter's direful revenge sweetly turns to love and mutual forgiveness. It makes no claim whatever to probability, but unfolds its somewhat adolescent story with a blissful disregard for facts.

We first see the little daughter as a young girl at school living under the shadow of some mystery connected with her father's past. When she returns home as a grown-up young lady this mystery still saddens her life with her father, and one day, while they are motoring together in the park, he suddenly draws a revolver, fires at a man in another car and with his dying breath gasps, "He ruined my life, revenge me." The daughter takes him quite simply at his word and sets out to hound down the villain, of whom she knows nothing except that her father wished him out of the way. Of course, he is really not a villain at all, but a secret service man, who allows her to betray him to the police and then explains to her that her father was a convict whose life deserved to be ruined, and that her excellent intentions were worthy of a better cause.

A little more attention to details in the action would have strengthened the plot and made it a really thrilling story of love and vengeance. As it stands it cannot be taken seriously but must be recognized as an amusing and pretty combination of romance and detective work. Doris Grey as the daughter makes a charming picture, but it is almost impossible to associate her baby face with the grim determination that role is supposed to express. Wayne Arey as her lover and the object of her vengeance is a mysterious and reserved figure, and the remainder of the cast is satisfactory. Exhibitors should feature the "heart interest" in this play rather than the melodramatic elements, which are too gentle to satisfy a true detective fan. - A.G.S.

The next Thanhouser film was Pots and Pans Peggie, released on March 18, 1917. In early publicity the picture was known by its working title, Kate o' the Kitchen. Could the title change have been inspired by Polly-of-the-Pots-and-Pans, a 1915 Lubin film? Of all Thanhouser films of the time, this was one of the most favorably reviewed.

Edward Weitzel's commentary in The Moving Picture World is representative:

The information that the title of the picture is Pots and Pans Peggie and that Agnes C. Johnston wrote it is equivalent to saying that however much of age and long use belong to the material employed, the author has brightened it up with the same youthful energy displayed by Peggie in polishing her cooking utensils.

Peggie is a little Irish servant girl of such diversified and unbelievable desirability that if she were to be found in the books of a New York employment office, it would need all the police reserves to keep back the mob of frantic housewives that would storm the place. In spite of the high cost of onions and the still higher cost of good servants, Peggie scorns the call of the Bridgeport ammunition factories and the chance to acquire great wealth, and accepts a position in a family where she performs the offices of a full staff of skilled help, straightens out the love affair of the daughter of the house, and also her own; reforms the son of the family, saves him from disgrace and, incidentally, the United States government from being cheated out of a valuable implement of defense; cooks a nine-course dinner, jumps into one of the daughter's frocks and impersonates an Irish lady of title at the same dinner, and then slips on an apron and washes up the dishes - all this for $25 a month! Goodness gracious Agnes, are there no bounds to your imagination?

"To put it concisely, Pots and Pans Peggie is quite as enjoyable as the preceding picture written by Miss Johnston and acted in by Gladys Hulette, and that's praise enough to bestow upon any two young women. Others that assist in the good work are director W. Eugene Moore, Wayne Arey, George Marlo, Kathryn Adams, Grace Henderson, Arthur Bauer, and Lord McCaskill."