Volume II: Filmography

A DISCIPLE OF NIETZSCHE

September 25, 1915 (Saturday)

Length: 3 reels

Character: Drama; Than-O-Play

Scenario: Philip Lonergan

Cast: Marshall Welch (the father), Lorraine Huling (the daughter), Florence LaBadie (one of the unfit), Harris Gordon (the gangster), Boyd Marshall (the factory foreman), Nellie Parker Spaulding

Note: This film was billed as the first "Than-O-Play," a designation for a three-reel film type to be released every third week.

BACKGROUND OF THE SCENARIO: Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was one of the best known philosophers of his century. "Superman" was the name he gave to a higher type of humanity, which he felt was the goal of evolution. Among his major works are Thus Spake Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil, and Genealogy of Mortals. Nietzsche believed that the pre-Socratic Greek period laid the foundation for individuality and culture. In later Western civilization the high values of mortals, religion and philosophy were weakened. Countering this, Nietzsche proposed a conscious effort to self-improvement in order to counter the unfortunate circumstances of the surrounding world. In the era during which the Thanhouser film was produced, Nietzsche's philosophies were controversial and widely discussed.

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, September 18, 1915:

"'That the lifting up of the weak, in the long run, is an unprofitable and useless business, is evident upon very brief reflection. Philanthropy, considered largely, is inevitably a failure. Nothing is more patent, indeed, than the fact that charity merely converts the unfit - who, in the course of nature, would soon die out and cease to encumber the earth - into parasites, who live on indefinitely, a nuisance and a burden to their betters.' The professor of philosophy closed the book he had been reading, and pondered over the teachings of Nietzsche, the German philosopher. He, too, believed as the German did, that only the strong were of any consequence. As the professor pondered, his daughter came into the library, bringing with her a poor, emaciated, hungry-looking bit of humanity. 'Oh, father,' she said, 'this poor little girl lost her position in the factory, and is nearly dead from hunger. I've brought her home to stay with me a while.'

"The professor's daughter was no weakling, and he was used to letting her have her own way. And so, much against his will, he let her bring the little factory girl into the house. As the girl grew stronger, the professor's daughter, thinking she would give her a chance to improve her ability as a seamstress, gave her several of her beautiful dresses to make over. Untrained as a skilled dressmaker, however, she ruined the shimmering gowns. Her sorrow did not impress the professor, who only saw that again had Nietzsche's theory been proved. He told his daughter that she was 'one of the unfit.' The girl had heard the professor's remarks, and, stung by their unfairness, left the house. Life then became a struggle for the untrained factory girl. One day, as the professor's daughter was working among 'her people,' as she called the poor of the Lower East Side, a notorious gangster saw her.

"Shortly after, the young settlement worker came upon two rough men mishandling a cripple. She ran to the victim's aid, but the men thrust her aside. Before the sick man could be seriously injured, a big, handsome fellow arrived on the scene, and put the bullies to flight. The rescuer was the gangster, and before the professor's daughter left him to escort the cripple home, he had promised to come to the settlement house school, and learn to be a better man. At the settlement the gangster progressed so rapidly, and seemed so truly reformed, that before she realized it, the professor's daughter had promised to become his bride. In the meantime, affairs had progressed brightly for the little factory girl. A new foreman had come to the factory. He was a clean-minded, intelligent young fellow, and before long they planned an early marriage. The professor was completely stunned when he received word that his daughter had promised to marry a 'reformed' gangster, an ex-convict. He stormed and threatened, and in his hour of sorrow, he remembered one of Nietzsche's quotations, which seemed to mock him - 'The strong must grow stronger,' it ran, 'and that they may do so, they must waste no strength in the vain task of trying to lift up the weak.'

"Down on the East Side lived a little factory girl, once weak, but now strong. It was she who came to him in his hour of need and offered her assistance. 'Bring your daughter to my house tonight,' she said. 'I can save her.' That evening the professor asked his daughter to take him on a visit to the East Side. Surprised, the girl assented. He evinced considerable interest in the little factory girl. 'Would you like to see her?' asked the surprised daughter. 'Let me take you to her home.' The two climbed the tenement stairs to her rooms. Soon a knock came at the door, and the loud voice of the gangster resounded through the rooms. He was half drunk, and between loud jesting and roars, he confessed that he did not care for the professor's daughter, he wanted her money. Suddenly the door opened and the foreman burst in. Certain that his sweetheart was untrue, he gave the man a blow which sent him reeling against the wall, denounced her bitterly, and turned to go. His progress was arrested by the professor's daughter, who had heard all. She told him what had occurred, and he begged his sweetheart's forgiveness. As the professor and his daughter left the tenement, the scholar said: 'Nietzsche has lost one disciple. Never more will I despise the weak.'"

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, September 26, 1915:

"The busy and alert scenario writer, having extracted much useful material from stage plays, popular novels, newspaper reports and well known classics, now turns his attention to unexplored library shelves and looks for plots of philosophy. In this case the writer is Phil Lonergan. He takes a hard and unmanageable old philosopher like Friedrich Nietzsche, who has baffled countless university professors, domesticates him and puts him on the screen in docile and tractable form. The Disciple of Nietzsche would not be over the head of anyone capable of following a plot. The situation is simply this. A young girl is charitably inclined, but her father, who believes that those who cannot take care of themselves should be allowed to die, opposes her philanthropic endeavors. The girl becomes entangled with a gangster and her father tries in vain to break off the engagement. A young sewing girl, whom the father had previously classed as 'unfit,' succeeds in showing the girl the mistake she will be making if she should marry the crook. The father becomes convinced that Nietzsche's theories are dangerous when put into practice.

"The picture is the first of the Than-O-Plays and is well acted by a cast of capable Thanhouser players. Florence LaBadie wins sympathy as the friendless sewing girl and Lorraine Huling is pleasing as the daughter. The introduction of the love affair between the daughter of a family of wealth and undoubted 'kultur' and an ex-convict of the saloon-haunting variety is a weak point in the story. The clash between the father and daughter makes an interesting and at times unusual drama. As the writings of the Polish [sic; actually German] philosopher have often been denounced in articles and editorials as the cause of the European war, the picture may be said to have a certain value as a timely offering."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, October 2, 1915:

"A three-reel production which practically refutes the teaching of Nietzsche. The story is not an especially strong one, nor is its development altogether easy, but there is considerable food for thought contained within it. Florence LaBadie and other well known players of the Thanhouser Company appear in the picture."

REVIEW by George Blaisdell, The Moving Picture World, October 2, 1915: This review is reprinted in the narrative section of the present work.

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