Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 5 (1912): Laughter on the Screen

In the meantime, the Mutual Film Corporation was seeking new horizons. Since its formation earlier in the year the company had been busy with its exchange business. The idea of releasing its own films under its own name was tested in May with Dora Thorne, but as the film received little attention in the marketplace the experiment was not soon repeated. In November 1912 the idea was revived, but in a somewhat different form. A new brand of comedy films was to be launched on December 5th, with a split-reel offering combining The Two Chefs and His Dress Suit. Every Thursday thereafter was to be the release day for another split-reel comedy in the slapstick vein. Such actors as Herbert Rice, Nettie Grant, Charles Weston, Jimmie Rosen, Martha McGraw, Billy DeWolff, and Clifford Saum were to be featured. The Thanhouser Film Corporation was not involved.

Meanwhile, Thanhouser was dedicating Sunday as comedy day. An advertisement Note suggested: "Start each week with a sparkling Sunday comedy, enacted by the best film comedians known. So know all ye exhibitors that our Sunday release is always a comedy release, and insist on your exchange supplying it." Whether Thanhouser had the best film comedians known is an arguable point, but this was in the day when Charlie Chaplin was still in vaudeville and had yet to be seen on the screen, and when America's best known funnyman was John Bunny over at the Vitagraph studio. Bunny, a jolly, Note rotund fellow, was to be seen in dozens of comedies with Flora Finch during the next several years, and in 1913 was to lend a hand at an entertainment event in New Rochelle. To a modern viewer, Bunny is more amusing, mildly so, than hilarious, but in his time he was a prime drawing card, and upon his death from Bright's disease in 1915 over 50 theatres changed their names to Bunny in his honor.

On Sunday, December 1, 1912, Thanhouser's entry with "the best film comedians known" consisted of Mignon Anderson, who played the cook, and William Garwood, her lover, in a one-reel comedy, Standing Room Only. Mignon, daughter of the warden, took the position of cook in a quiet country jail that was infamous for its poor food. With Mignon at the stove, meals of gourmet quality were served, and soon citizens from miles around begged for the chance to be locked up, so many that the cells were full, and the warden had to post a "Standing Room Only" sign out front. Then Mignon departed to marry her sweetheart, and one by one the prisoners filed out, leaving an empty jail and a dejected warden.

Although one doesn't think of Mignon Anderson and William Garwood as comedians, at least not primarily, Standing Room Only was considered by The Morning Telegraph to be "one of the most amusing comedies recently released." On the other hand, The New York Dramatic Mirror didn't have its funnybone tickled: "As a comedy the picture fails to induce any undue amount of laughter." However, for the same reviewer there were apparently a few comic spots: "Occasionally one is forced to smile at some outlandish situation that is outlandish in itself and not through any effort of the director or players."

Thanhouser players were busy meeting their audiences, as The New York Dramatic Mirror Note reported: "At a benefit, in the aid of a public charity, Wednesday, December 4th, conducted by the East Side Beauty Theatre, 235 Avenue A, New York City, Flo LaBadie and William Garwood, of the Thanhouser players, appeared by permission of C.J. Hite. The small theatre was jammed to the doors, and the New Rochelle stars were given an ovation as they entered. Miss LaBadie was suffering from a cold and could not address the audience, but Mr. Garwood made a speech from the stage. On leaving the theatre Mr. Garwood found that his automobile, which he had left in front of the main entrance, had been decorated with American flags by admirers while he was addressing the crowd inside. The Thanhouser film, Under Two Flags, which showed Mr. Garwood and Miss LaBadie working together, was projected after Mr. Garwood made his address. Bert Adler introduced Garwood to the assemblage."

Next on the Thanhouser release schedule was A Will and a Way, on December 3rd, followed on the 6th by A Romance of the U.S.N., a drama centered upon the visit of the naval fleet to the Hudson River. Then came the next Sunday comedy, At Liberty - Good Press Agent, released on December 8th. The Morning Telegraph enjoyed it: "Perhaps this may prove more amusing to one who has been a press agent or who has enjoyed the lot of a touring thespian than to the average picture gazer. That it is highly laughable there can be no doubt, and that it is original in idea there can also be small doubt.

A press agent is back on the Rialto seeking employment. He tells how with a certain attraction he won fame for his star, but the reverse for himself. They struck a town where there was a smallpox scare, and then he put a story in the papers that the star was the one unafraid among all the players of the company, having kissed the fevered brow of a patient and nursed the ill one the long night through. But the ungrateful authorities straightway quarantined the whole company, and then when the press agent got them out of the house and onto a freight train, each one in the role of a swathed ghost, he was kicked out by the players. Thus his skill and ingenuity were recognized. The experiences of agent and company are vividly pictured.

Aurora Floyd, released in two reels on December 10, 1912, featured Florence LaBadie in the title role of a film adapted from M.E. Braddon's novel. The Morning Telegraph felt that the subject could have been treated adequately in a single reel, and, moreover, that Thanhouser had to "force an issue for the sake of the so-called happy ending." In The Moving Picture World Louis Reeves Harrison gave a lengthy review that was on balance favorable, while The New York Dramatic Mirror noted that the same theme had been used by several other companies recently and that, in any event, the story was distasteful, which was "not the fault of the producing company; they have done more than their share in promoting its success as a melodrama."

Following on the Thanhouser schedule was Brains vs. Brawn, a Sunday comedy released on December 15th, featuring Riley Chamberlin, Marguerite Snow, and Harry Benham. Most reviewers liked it. Then came The Other Half, issued on December 17th, followed by The Race on the 20th and The Repeater on the 22nd. With The Other Half Thanhouser again offered a social problem film. The Moving Picture World Note reported: "The New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor announces that in cooperation with C.J. Hite they have produced a Thanhouser film entitled The Other Half, which, it is thought, will help reduce the number of street beggars and point out the evil effect of indiscriminate almsgiving. The Association feels that through motion pictures it can emphasize the fact that helping the other half to help themselves will bring happiness to many persons who seem to be headed for the prison or the almshouse."