Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 7 (1914): An Outlaw Comes to Town

On Wednesday, May 6th, a gala event took place in Thanhouser's city, as reported on the 9th by The New Rochelle Pioneer:

Mrs. Temple's Telegram, a farce in three acts, was produced by the Thanhouser Stock Company, at Germania Hall, Wednesday evening, to one of the largest audiences that ever attended an event of this kind. The affair was held under the auspices of Huguenot Lodge, F. & A.M. No. 46, for the benefit of the organ fund, and as a result the fund will be largely augmented [by nearly $1,000, according to a report in The Moving Picture World, May 23, 1914].

Following a few words of greeting by Al Jennings, of Oklahoma, the famous outlaw, the curtain rose on the first act. It was one of the brightest and wittiest of present-day comedies, filled with cleverly written lines and scores of humorous situations. The cast was made up entirely of the Thanhouser actors and included Riley Chamberlin, Marguerite Snow, Mignon Anderson, Jim Cruze, Lucy Payton, Sidney Bracy, David Thompson, Fanny Bourke and Frank Farrington. Their work was excellent, and the ladies were indeed deserving of the many bouquets which were handed over the footlights as a token of appreciation for their excellent acting.

Between the acts Harry Benham and Frank Farrington sang several songs. Both before and after the play Thanhouser motion pictures were shown. The most interesting were those showing members of Huguenot Lodge, the past masters and present officers. Applause greeted the picture of Lloyd Lonergan, through whose efforts the entertainment was made possible. After the play Miss Helen Badgley, the Thanhouser Kidlet, appeared with her dolls, and she was shown in the picture, The Tin Soldier and the Dolls...and, without a doubt, she was the most popular actress of the evening. Roy Hauck was also pleasing in songs.

After the entertainment proper, the floor was cleared for dancing, and Mrs. Harry Benham and Charles Mead gave an exhibition of fancy dancing. Their dancing was very graceful and deserving of the hearty applause which followed their exhibition. Later there was general dancing and, when the lights were lowered and many colored lights were thrown on the dancers, the scene was indeed pretty and completed a most unusual and delightful evening.

Al J. Jennings, who addressed the audience, was without a doubt one of the most colorful characters ever to come to New Rochelle. A former outlaw with armed robberies and other dastardly deeds to his credit, he had been sentenced to life imprisonment at the Ohio State Penitentiary. Through the intervention of industrialist Mark Hanna he was pardoned, after which he embarked on a new career, including acting in films and running for the governorship of Oklahoma.

Jennings was enjoying the publicity surrounding his return to society, and the year before he had been the subject of a feature in The Saturday Evening Post. Thanhouser contracted with him to supervise the production of Beating Back, which was to tell of Jennings' "beating back" to achieve acceptance by society. All of this was done amid much pressagentry. At the Plaza Hotel, one of New York City's watering holes for society, a luncheon was held by Hite in honor of Jennings and the new film. Note Invited were members of the press and various notables, including Katherine Bement Davis, Commissioner of Corrections of New York, who obligingly commented: "Not to give Mr. Jennings every courtesy and accord him every right would be to take away that which society has given back to him. We would be criminals then, and we alone."

Bement was furthering her own career, and, like so many others in the political arena, enjoyed having her picture taken, so much so that she appeared in a Reliance serial episode with Norma Phillips, the actress known as "Our Mutual Girl." Motion picture photographers took footage in Bement's office on the 24th floor of the Municipal Building, New York City, and at the prison on Blackwell's Island.

Jennings was creating quite a bit of attention at the Thanhouser studio, and in May 1914 he discussed with various actors the idea of forming a mounted troop for service in the war then going on in Mexico (and being filmed by Mutual). It seems that Morris Foster, among others, signed up, after which James Cruze took a more practical view and suggested that the would-be soldiers join the local volunteer fire company instead, commenting: "Then if a call to arms actually comes, they will be immune."

At noon Tuesday, May 19th, James Durkin, husband of Maude Fealy, hosted a banquet for the former outlaw at Hoppe's restaurant on Main Street in New Rochelle. Thanhouser executives, directors, and assistant directors were invited. Two days later Jennings left New Rochelle to begin his campaign for governor of Oklahoma. Note

In the meantime, Thanhouser was stirring up interest in The Million Dollar Mystery, scheduled for release at the rate of two reels each week, beginning on June 22, 1914. Harold MacGrath was quoted in a publicity release:

I have interviewed every person in the cast for The Million Dollar Mystery, and I congratulate the Thanhouser Film Corporation and Mr. Hite for having brought together such an array of talent. The Million Dollar Mystery has the tremendous incentives The Adventures of Kathlyn lacked - the capital prize of $10,000 and an installment released each week. We know how successful the Kathlyn series is, and it is only reasonable to expect that this great photo-drama, backed by a big prize offer, will crowd theatres to their capacity.

The story of The Million Dollar Mystery was conceived by Lloyd F. Lonergan, who also wrote the scenarios for the serial episodes. Harold MacGrath adapted and novelized Lonergan's story for use in newspapers and in a 299-page book of the same title published in 1915 by Grosset & Dunlap. The title page of the book states that the story was "novelized from the scenario of F. [sic] Lonergan by Harold MacGrath." However, certain publicity incorrectly credited MacGrath as the creator of the plot.

"Exhibitors may obtain these films regardless of the program they may be using," a Thanhouser advertisement noted hopefully, suggesting that a theatre owner did not have to be part of the Mutual Program to run the serial. In breathless prose, spiced by exclamation points and lots of capital letters, an advertisement endeavored to create what publicist Bert Adler hoped would be a self-fulfilling prophecy:

"Very soon we shall print the names of newspapers that have agreed to print the story of 'THE MILLION DOLLAR MYSTERY,' while theatres are showing it. YOU WILL BE STRUCK DUMB BY THEIR IMPORTANCE AND STANDING! Each is the best newspaper in its community. Every exhibitor of the serial, therefore, combines Thanhouser prestige and Harold MacGrath prestige with BIG NEWSPAPER PRESTIGE. No wonder they will crowd their theatres week after week RIGHT THROUGH THE SUMMER. No wonder the three New York picture-vaudeville circuits are fighting like mad for booking this very minute!" Claims of newspaper serialization quickly became ridiculous, and the next year Universal boasted that 2,000 journals were printing episodes of The Black Box. Note

At the studio, players congratulated the recently-arrived Irving Cummings on his engagement to leading actress Mignon Anderson. Note However, the arrangement did not work out, and in the following year she married Thanhouser actor Morris Foster instead.

Around the same time, Thanhouser actress Carey L. Hastings told a reporter that she didn't worry "about theories of life, death, immortality, or sociology, now that spring has come to the Thanhouser studios." An article in Reel Life went on to relate that "for the last two years she has been acting before the camera, which gives her plenty of the sort of exercise she enjoys - swimming, automobiling, walking, and boating. Miss Hastings is one of those fortunate beings who works only about five hours in a day."