Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 10: 1917 Big Plans

An article in the April 1, 1917 edition of The Morning Telegraph told of pretentious plans in New Rochelle:

When asked whether his engagement of directors Van Dyke Brooke and Emile Chautard presaged costlier Thanhouser productions, Edwin Thanhouser admitted that such was the case.

"The business done by Pathé on such Thanhouser features as Saint, Woman and Devil, Note The Shine Girl, The World and the Woman, and The Vicar of Wakefield has shown us that the largest profits are in the costlier pictures," stated Mr. Thanhouser. "Pictures like the aforementioned play the best theatres in the country and the production cost, no matter what it is, is well spent. Hereafter there will be no Thanhouser productions whereof the production cost does not come up to a certain figure.

"Nor will our features hold to a five reel length hereafter. The Vicar of Wakefield is in seven reels. We are just finishing an eight-reel production There will be sumptuous six- to ten-reel productions whenever we evolve stories that are big enough. The engagement of Messrs. Brooke and Chautard for the producing staff is in line with the new policy."

By early April, Thanhouser director William Parke was on loan to Astra, where he was producing a serial for release through Pathé. Soon other Thanhouser employees were sent to Astra on what was said to be a temporary basis, but which became permanent. Eventually Gladys Hulette, J.H. Gilmour, Doris Grey, Kathryn Adams, Gerald Badgley, William P. Burt, Tula Belle, and Inda Palmer, among others, made the move. By October 1917 the Astra Film Corporation was using four studios in Fort Lee and Jersey City, New Jersey.

Beginning in the summer of 1917, many Astra-for-Pathé films featured erstwhile Thanhouser players and were directed by William Parke. Titles included The Cigarette Girl, The Last of the Carnabys, The Streets of Illusion, Miss Nobody, A Crooked Romance, and Over the Hill. Edwin Thanhouser acted as an advisor for many of these films, although the pictures did not bear the imprint of the Thanhouser Film Corporation. Note

Mary Lawson's Secret, a Thanhouser film released in five reels on April 1st, featured Charlotte Walker in the title role. Miss Walker, a well-known stage personality, was widely heralded as a new Thanhouser star in news releases of the time, but it was much ado about nothing, for she only appeared in a single film.

Variety reviewed the picture:

A pretty story, prettily told is this Thanhouser (Pathé) five-reel feature written by Lloyd Lonergan and directed by John B. O'Brien. Note It is a little slow in spots, but puts over the "punch" in good shape at the right time.

Dr. Brundage has come to the little village of Smithfield, and with his up-to-date methods has taken away the practice of the old village physician, Dr. Kirk. Mary Lawson's mother has faith in the new doctor, who makes advances to the daughter. In repulsing him she makes a remark which, when Brundage is found dead in his room later, with Mary standing over him with a knife in her hand, is repeated by a jealous nurse at Mary's trial for murder, and results in her conviction.

Sentenced to state prison for life Mary escapes through the aid of a cripple whom she had befriended, and in a distant city obtains work in a factory, where she meets and marries a fellow worker, John Harlow, who turns out to be a millionaire clubman working on a wager. She is happy until Dr. Kirk, down and out, sees her and forces her to take him into her home as her uncle under threat of telling her story to her husband. A photograph of a lawn group in a Sunday paper leads detectives to Mary's home, and seeing them Mary tells her story to her husband, who assists her to escape in a swift launch. A storm in the night drives the boat ashore, and in the morning Mary comes to on the rocks, but her husband is nowhere in sight. While there she overhears voices speaking of the other body, and she goes to the house for a last look at her husband, intending to give herself up to the police. Detectives have entered the house in time to hear the confession of Dr. Kirk, who was the murderer of his rival. Kirk kills himself, and the detectives, finding her in the room with the casket, tell her his story. The clouds cleared away, the husband and wife are happy. There is some very good photography in the water and storm scenes, and the picture shows fine care in details. It should draw well as a program feature, and will be released April 1.

When Love Was Blind, released on April 15, 1917, was directed by Frederick Sullivan and featured Florence LaBadie as Eleanor Grayson, who is stricken blind. The picture received mixed reviews, most of which disliked the scenario but praised the acting. Exhibitors Herald commented:

As a whole: fair studio drama; story: conventional; star: very good; support: adequate; settings: fitting; photography: good.

The story of When Love Was Blind has been told upon the screens, with variations many, many times, and what value it has is due to the direction and the fact that little Helen Badgley and Florence LaBadie are in the cast. Frederick Sullivan directed and Agnes C. Johnston wrote it. The action is slow and the picture fails to hold one's interest throughout by reason of this, and there is considerable padding.

The story: Eleanor Grayson, the baby daughter of an artist, is left in the tender care of a housekeeper when he seeks health in the mountains. Upon returning finding that she has been stricken blind, the shock kills him. Another artist, Burton Lester, takes the studio, and Eleanor, now grown to womanhood, visits him frequently. He paints the squalid surroundings in most glowing colors when asked to describe them by the poor blind girl, and soon their friendship ripens into love. Burton marries a wealthy girl, but returns to his studio and has a physician examine Eleanor's eyes. Her sight is completely restored by an operation, and when she learns that Burton is a married man she leaves at once. A period of five years elapses, in which she has become famous as an artist. She meets young Hargraves, but when he proves to be a scoundrel she turns to Burton, who has been divorced by his wife, and they announce their engagement to an aroused household at the dead of night. Exhibitors booking When Love is Blind should build their advertising around Miss LaBadie, the star, rather than anything in the story, for a "pull" power.

The Woman and the Beast, released on April 17th, was directed by Ernest C. Warde and featured Marie Shotwell, a stage actress whose coming to New Rochelle was highly publicized, but who did relatively little once she arrived. Appearing as double for Alphonse Ethier in an animal training scene was Capt. Jack Bonavita, who, working elsewhere, was killed by a lion before the film was released. This picture, whose working titles included Through the Open Door and The Man She Made, was produced during the previous summer. The Pathé Exchange film review committee rejected it as a Gold Rooster Play, and it was released on a states rights basis by Graphic Features. As was the case with numerous undistinguished states rights releases of the time, the film was ignored by reviewers.

The picture remained in distribution for many months. An article in The Moving Picture World, July 7, 1917, told of progress in this regard:

Graphic Features announces the closing of the following territories on The Woman and the Beast during the past week: Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, to Southwestern Art Dramas, Dallas; California, Nevada, and Arizona, to Peerless Feature Film Company, with offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco; Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia to the Hudson Feature Film Company, Pittsburgh, and Eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and District of Columbia, and Virginia to Philadelphia Ideal Film Exchange, of Philadelphia.

Sales manager W. Ray Johnston says: "This leaves very little territory unsold. We have closed about everything now, or are awaiting the final signed contracts, and I think next week we can give a buyers' list that will show every district in the country distributing The Woman and the Beast. This achievement would not make it appear that there is a summertime lull in the states rights market. As a matter of fact, I think the states rights exchanges are doing a bigger business than ever."

On April 24th the annual meeting of the board of directors of the Pathé Exchange, Inc. was held at 25 West 45th Street, New York City. Note All officers were re-elected as follows: Charles Pathé, president; J.A. Berst, vice president; J.L. Madieu, treasurer; Paul Brunet, assistant treasurer; and A.E. Rousseau, secretary.

It was said that Pathé Exchange business was excellent and that the program had doubled in size from the preceding year, accompanied by an increase in quality. Thanhouser stars Gladys Hulette, Florence LaBadie, and Frederick Warde were mentioned as Pathé stars along with numerous other players.