Volume II: Filmography

 

MR. CINDERELLA

 

October 25, 1914 (Sunday)

Length: 1 reel (900 feet)

Character: Juvenile

Director: W. Eugene Moore

Scenario: Lloyd F. Lonergan

Cast: Nolan Gane (Jimmy, alias Mr. Cinderella), Mildred Heller (Queen of the Popcorn Trust), J. Turner (stepbrother), J.E. Myers (stepbrother), Fan Bourke (stepmother), Riley Chamberlin (fairy godfather)

Location: Westchester County (New York) Fair

Notes: 1. J. Turner is listed as "E. Turner" in a Thanhouser advertisement in The Moving Picture World, October 24, 1914. Reel Life, October 10, 1914, lists J. Turner and is the source of the above cast data. 2. One credit listing gives a role to "E. Myers." It is believed that J.E. Myers was intended.

 

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, October 10, 1914:

"Jimmy was called Mr. Cinderella because his life was just as unhappy as that of the poor little girl in the fairy tale. He lived with his stepmother and two bulky [sic] stepbrothers whom the mother believed to be all that was fine and glorious in the world. The stepbrothers did everything that they could to make Jimmy's daily lot miserable, and so worked upon their mother that when the county fair came round, he was made to stay home and chop wood, while they went to the fair and enjoyed themselves. Now Jimmy had a fairy godfather, a jovial old gentleman, who was always wandering along, smoking a cigar, and looking sharply at all the little boys he met. He pitied Jimmy, so he changed his ragged clothes into a brilliant uniform, and Jimmy went off to the fair in great shape. There he met the Queen of the Popcorn Trust - and the rest of the story - well, it turns out just the way you would want it to."

 

REVIEW, The Bioscope, March 11, 1915:

"A fanciful light comedy, telling in modernized form, the story of a masculine Cinderella - the fairy prince being exchanged in this version for the fair daughter of an American sausage king! It is all very pleasantly presented, and some additional charm is derived from the various pictures of a country fair introduced in the course of the tale. A pathetic interest attaches to this film in the fact that the very promising young actor, Mr. Nolan Gane, who appears in the title role, has since died. Those who know will sincerely regret his loss to the art of the screen."

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Copyright © 1995 Q. David Bowers. All Rights Reserved.