Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 5 (1912): Early 1912 Releases

The first Thanhouser Film Company releases of 1912 were from the inventory made in New Rochelle during the preceding months. The offering for January 2nd was The Passing, a fanciful tale of a mother who, after her beloved son dies, continues to communicate with him in the spirit world. The film's subject of life after death was taken up by certain clergymen, including Father Greene of St. Gabriel's Church, New Rochelle, who stated: "It is good to know that when we die we are united to our dear ones who have gone before, and in its conveyance of this The Passing appeals to me greatly." Note "Weird," "uncanny," and "spiritual" were among the adjectives used by reviewers.

A Columbus Day Conspiracy, issued on January 5, 1912, featured a scenario built around the Columbus Day parade in New York City the preceding October. Among city officials shown was Mayor William J. Gaynor, who was a firm advocate of the desirability of motion pictures as a worthwhile influence on society, and whose views, parallel to those of the editor, were often quoted in The Moving Picture World. The director of the film must have been doing a lot of "weaving," for The Morning Telegraph, The Moving Picture World, and The New York Dramatic Mirror commented respectively as follows: "Again the Thanhouser Company has cleverly woven an entertaining story around a public celebration," "The skill with which the producer has woven the climax of his story around the reviewing stand, where the mayor's flag is fluttering and Mayor Gaynor is reviewing the passing troops, deserves to be pointed out," and "The story around this event has been carefully and dramatically woven in and makes from the manner in which it is done an exceptionally entertaining picture."

Next on the Thanhouser schedule came Just a Bad Kid, released on January 9th. The New York Dramatic Mirror reviewed the film:

Of course, it is Marie Eline, the ever pleasing and captivating little girl of this company, who plays the bad child of this film - bad because she knows no better, until later when placed in the right surroundings there comes an awakened conscience, the suffering that it brings, and then the readjustment. The little girl plays with her usual vivacity and intelligence presenting a most entertaining performance. The film is put on with care and drives home its moral in a convincing and telling manner. The "bad kid" is a little girl of the slums and has spent all her life with a drunken hoyden of a mother. The child is taken from the woman and placed in an institution, but here her behavior so scandalizes the good matron that she has her sent to relatives in the country. They, too, are much distressed at her ways, until after she has run away they learn that the true motives of her heart are good. She is found by the old farm dog that has loved her and is given a chance to start life anew.

Thanhouser advertisement in THE MOVING PICTURE NEWS, December 30, 1911. Just a Bad Kid, The Twelfth Juror. (Courtesy of Bebe Bergsten) (F-170)

The Twelfth Juror, released on January 12, 1912, was another "circumstantial evidence question" film of the sort that Thanhouser had released earlier. Note Apparently, someone at the Thanhouser Company, and scenario writer Lloyd F. Lonergan is an obvious choice, considered the misuse of gathered evidence to be a pressing social problem. In the present film, the twelfth juror steps forward at the last minute and, as his fellow jurors are about to convict an innocent man from what seems to be incontrovertible circumstantial evidence, confesses that he is the guilty one.

Of all Thanhouser films of the era, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, released on January 16, 1912, is one of the most memorable. Note James Cruze took the part of the respectable Dr. Jekyll and, alternately, the fiendish Mr. Hyde, while Florence LaBadie was Dr. Jekyll's sweetheart. Until recent times it was assumed that Cruze played both leading male parts, and reviewers made much of the remarkable change from Jekyll to Hyde made possible by clever camera work. However, decades later Harry Benham told film buff Clark Wilkinson that it was he, not Cruze, who played the crazed Hyde in several scenes. It was easy to do, as Hyde was made up in disguise anyway, and as he and Cruze were about the same build.

Adapted from one of Robert Louis Stevenson's yarns, the film was advertised by Thanhouser: Note "This is the famous story of the physician who tasted of the drug that changed one from a good man to an evil one. A conscientious man who has devoted his life to the saving of human life, a swallow of the drug makes him a beast who would destroy all within his reach, and another swallow restores him to his normal balance. But one day the drug bottle breaks while he is in the evil state, and he can't GET the OTHER swallow! The film tells the thrilling rest."

A Niagara Honeymoon, released on January 19, 1912, featured views of a train trip to the falls via Port Jervis, as well as the attraction itself. A Message From Niagara, released on February 23rd, was filmed on the same trip. The first film was described in an article in The Moving Picture News: Note

The Thanhouser offices announce that they have received the first negative produced by their special Niagara Falls company and will put the reel on the market as a regular release Friday, January 19, under the title of A Niagara Honeymoon. This is the company that was sent to the Falls with the best plots on hand at the Thanhouser, to play them with the 'world's greatest cataract' as a backdrop. The first release is a comedy drama. Its locale is all the way from New York to Niagara. Beginning in the railroad depot in the metropolis the story takes you to every point of the famous falls. The situations are worked out in the spots that have been snapped by a million still cameras, and these spots are caught as only a motion camera could catch them. One happy scene has the Horseshoe Falls as a background; another, the American Falls; another, Prospect Point; another, Whirlpool Rapids; another, Goat Island; another, the Suspension Bridge. The reel will cause a sensation in houses numbering lovers of nature amongst its patrons.

The January 20th issue of The Moving Picture News called readers' attention to the impending 100th anniversary of Charles Dickens' birth, on February 7, 1912. Columnist William Lord Wright noted that Edison, Vitagraph, Thanhouser, and others had earlier dramatized for the screen certain of Dickens' better known works, and that the forthcoming anniversary would probably be marked by more, but, regrettably, no one had considered filming The Pickwick Papers, obviously an oversight. "We cannot understand why the rotund Mr. Pickwick has not been invited to perform on the screen. He would prove to be an instantaneous hit." Vitagraph would rise to the challenge with a two-reel effort, but not until the following year, 1913.

From THE MOVING PICTURE NEWS, January 13, 1912. East Lynne. (F-200)

This trade announcement for EAST LYNNE, in The Moving Picture News, January 13, 1912, gives information concerning several other Thanhouser releases as well. EAST LYNNE was one of the favorite melodramas on the American stage during the late 19th century. Thanhouser and other companies dramatized versions for the screen. In the illustration above, James Cruze is seated, holding Marie Eline. The fireplace in the background, with the lion statue on the mantel, was seen in numerous Thanhouser films. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, East Lynne.

Her Ladyship's Page, distributed on January 23, 1912, was followed on the 26th by East Lynne, a two-reel production - with both reels released in all markets at the same time. The story was adapted from one of the most famous of all stage melodramas, a tearjerker which told of how a wife imagined that her loyal husband was unfaithful, left her home and husband behind, and later returned in disguise as a servant in her former home where she could love her little son, Willie. Darling little Willie becomes ill, and despite hope against hope, he dies. Then, revealing her true identity to her former husband who is by now remarried, she dies, in a violation of the standard Thanhouser happy ending. However, Lloyd F. Lonergan didn't invent the plot; Mrs. Henry Wood, an English novelist, did, and, unlike what he did with The Pied Piper, Lonergan didn't change it. Reviewers were enthusiastic.

An article told of special advertising prepared for the film: Note

When the Thanhouser Company put out their Romeo and Juliet last summer, they issued three-sheet lithos with the picture, making it the first regular-release-day film ever to carry that size "paper." That the innovation met with success became apparent when She came out last month with three-sheet billing matter. Finally, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was announced, with eight sheets in addition to the three sheets. So substantial was the demand for both varieties of billing that the latest Thanhouser feature, East Lynne, is now also slated to carry three and eight sheets. Certainly, the motion picture has attained high standing in the community when it is considered important enough to bill as big as the largest of legitimate attractions.

An anonymous contributor to The Moving Picture News, who styled himself as "An advertising man," sent a letter to the editor: Note

Passing through New Bedford, Mass. yesterday, I was more than surprised to see how the manager of the Comique Theatre of that city has billed East Lynne, a Thanhouser picture play. I surely saw over 50 lithographs, one-half and one sheets, and due credit should be given to that hustler, as all of them were in good spots and surely will get some business.

Every once in a while it was a slow time for news at the New Rochelle studio, and publicity director Bert Adler would scratch his head and come up with a story about something obscure, as this item, which was published in The Moving Picture World, Jan 27, 1912:

The whole dratted Benham family is better. Just as they all went "under the weather" simultaneously, so have they all hit the road to Wellville together. By the Benham family we mean, of course, the tribe of Harry Benham, the Thanhouser player. So, now, girls it's out! Handsome Harry is a family man. And so strong a family man is he that when he gets sick, his family gets sick; and when his family gets sick, he gets sick. And, not a portion of his family, either; it's the whole family or nothing. First, Harry cut his hand while working in a Thanhouser playlet, and then his youngest contracted the measles. Then Mrs. Benham caught a severe cold, and the oldest boy, Leland, had to get the measles, too. The whole blamed bunch were on the sick list! And now, praises be, it is announced that the Benhams are better - again in a bunch.

As It Was in the Beginning, released on January 30, 1912, was directed by George O. Nichols and featured Mignon Anderson and Florence LaBadie. The scenario is a fantasy of a society girl who is transported back in time to a prehistoric era where she consorts with cave men. Note Reviewers for The Moving Picture World and The New York Dramatic Mirror both found the scenes from the dawn of mankind to be well carried out.

On Probation, released on February 2, 1912, received mixed reviews, including one somewhat on the negative side by C.H. Claudy, reviewer for The Moving Picture World, who had condemned The Railroad Builder the year before:

I would I had space for a lengthy review of Thanhouser's On Probation. I haven't, and so I won't hurt anyone's feelings (supposing any feelings can be hurt by what happens in this column). But in the reaching after effect here, it seems to me as if a very slight alteration in the plot - even in the titles, would have saved this film from an atmosphere of gross improbability.

Here sister has brother accused of theft he didn't commit - nay, has him arrested before a dinner party - to gain another and supposedly dead brother's income. Here great aunt treats with great cruelty her grand-niece for no special reason except she wants to. Why have this person a sister? Why not a cousin, or a dead daughter's dearest friend? Such animosity, such criminal willingness to destroy one's own flesh and blood for the sake of money, we see in court now and then - but do we look for it in everyday life? No. And it is the life of every day, on the screen, which we find convincing.

One must, however, pay one's respects to the cast - the supposed weak brother, who is idle and not trusted, shows himself rather a sweetnatured chap and in a very artistic manner - the two children are sharply contrasted in nature and acting, the Thanhouser Kid attractive and rather grown-up in action as usual, but very dramatic - the bad boy distinctly a badly spoiled child - the villainous sister most unusually well played with no histrionics at all, and the rest of the cast acceptable.

But the "theft" was very amateurish. You can't put a metal bag, even a small one, into a man's coat pocket and he not feel it - and when he has to swing his arm away from his body so he won't accidentally feel it, the effect is very bad. Please, Mr. Director, why couldn't it be slipped in an overcoat pocket and found there by a servant?

It had been a long time since a Thanhouser film was dissected in this manner. And yet, most of the criticisms seem well founded, that is, if the actions in the film corresponded to those described, and there is no reason to doubt that they did. Directing films at Thanhouser wasn't yet an art, at least not completely so. Rather, it was an occupation, a piece of work, a task to be accomplished within a given time, say five days, with a minimum expenditure of film stock. Retakes were few and far between, and when a film was done, it was done, and while a few scraps were tossed on the proverbial cutting room floor, most of the footage photographed, good or bad, with mistakes or without, was seen on nickelodeon screens a few weeks later.

The Morning Telegraph reviewed Thanhouser's release of February 6th, The Trouble Maker:

Thanhouser and railroad trains seem to go hand in hand, and it must be granted that as travelers the company are excellent companions and journey only on good trains and in comfortable fashion. All of which is meant to infer that as productions they are most creditable, even if shown several times in the past. The story holds well until the finish and then it ends in a weak fashion with no real cause for the reconciliation between the husband and wife, who had separated because of the infatuation of the latter for her husband's secretary. She should show some real contrition to re-establish herself in the graces of her friends before the screen. As hinted at before, it is a fine production as such, and its story is entertaining though not remarkable.

Around late January or early February there was a shuffle at the Thanhouser studio, and John Noble, a stage manager in New Rochelle, said goodbye and headed for the Solax Company in Fort Lee. Carl LeViness, who had been a stage manager with the Keith & Proctor vaudeville circuit, came aboard as an assistant director to Lucius J. Henderson. Another director was hired, making three employed by the company, in anticipation that the Thanhouser Company would soon be releasing three reels each week. For a long while Thanhouser had been issuing its products at the rate of two each week, one reel on Tuesday and the other on Friday, although a three-reels-per-week schedule had been hoped for ever since 1910. New equipment was added to the Thanhouser plant to enlarge the film developing and printing capacity. At the time Henderson was continuing to direct in New Rochelle, and George O. Nichols was taking care of the St. Augustine players.

The Signal Code, released February 9, 1912, was filmed on the Hudson River when the Atlantic naval squadron dropped anchor in New York City. One can imagine that Lloyd F. Lonergan, who attended the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, would have known better, or perhaps this film was from one of the few scripts written by someone else, but the idea of a temptress visiting a naval officer aboard ship, seeing a code book, and then, as the printed synopsis put it, "asking her admirer, as proof of his love, to permit her to retain it until the next day," is patently absurd. The New York Dramatic Mirror suggested that "it rather fails to convince the thoughtful spectator that such things could be. Indeed, men do portray all sorts of weaknesses led on by the wiles of a lady, but our young lieutenant in this film really did not seem to be the sort of chap to let the girl so easily run away with the United States government's secret signal code book, at least not in such an open manner. Perhaps the play was made to order and marked 'rush.'"

The Silent Witness, a courtroom drama released on February 13, 1912, featured Florence LaBadie, William Russell, and other stock company players. As a member of the jury Edwin Thanhouser himself made a cameo appearance. Reviewers praised the film.

Surelock Jones, Detective, billed as a drama but seemingly a comedy, was released on February 16th. "Surelock Jones," master detective, joined the list of parodies on A. Conan Doyle's Baker Street sleuth, a roster which included Picklock Holes, Holmlock Shears, and Champion Photoplays releases featuring Sherlocko and Watso. Presumably, Doyle collected no royalties from Thanhouser or others who satirized Sherlock Holmes. Reviews were uniformly enthusiastic.

Washington in Danger, released February 20, 1912, a couple of days before Washington's birthday, featured Marie Eline in the role of a little black boy who plays a pivotal part in saving the Father of Our Country. As might be expected from a Thanhouser scenario, General Washington rewarded him by giving him his freedom from slavery. According to the synopsis, the little boy not only grew up and lived many years, but was happy and well-to-do besides. A reviewer for The Moving Picture World ventured the opinion that "the story is not at all convincing and is probably not historical. This alone keeps the picture from being either educational or a safe feature."

A Message From Niagara, released on the 23rd, was another product of Thanhouser's itinerant Northern Company. An imprisoned girl puts a message in a bottle, throws it into the Niagara River, and it is fished out at Whirlpool Falls by - whom else? - her lover. Not unexpectedly, two reviewers found it "not very convincing" and "implausible," but The Morning Telegraph felt quite differently and considered it to be "logical."