Volume II: Filmography Volume II: Filmography
June 7, 1910 (Tuesday)
Length: 1,000 feet
Character: Drama
Cast: Marie Eline (Tony, an Italian boy), Frank H. Crane (Tony Prolo, young Tony's father), Anna Rosemond (Tony Prolo's wife)
Notes: 1. In this film Marie Eline was billed as The Thanhouser Kid for the first time. The origin of the nickname was told in a brief article reprinted below from The Moving Picture World, June 4, 1910. 2. This Tuesday release marked the first of the "two a week" Thanhouser schedule. An article in The New York Dramatic Mirror, June 11, 1910, describes the new situation: "The Thanhouser Company commences the release of two reels per week this week, the first one being The Two Roses, June 7, and The Writing on the Wall, June 10. The first named is a love story of Little Italy and the latter a Western drama."
ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, June 11, 1910:
"A powerful, pathetic, pretty story of life in Little Italy."
ARTICLE, The Moving Picture World, June 4, 1910:
"'The Thanhouser Kid!' of course she is Marie Eline, the tot who made a hit in The 29-Cent Robbery and Jane Eyre. She is now a regular member of the Thanhouser acting staff and we are indebted to S.H. Clark, the manager of the Bijou Theatre, Corning, New York, for her novel title. 'She is known as the Thanhouser Kid here,' wrote Mr. Clark to the Thanhouser Company. The latter said, 'Why not?' So if you want to call Miss Eline 'The Thanhouser Kid' you have the Thanhouser Company's full permission. Go ahead and do your darndest! By the bye, this same 'Thanhouser Kid' renounces her girlishness and becomes a boy - an Italian boy - in The Two Roses, a drama released on June 14 [sic]. She makes a dandy 'Dago' boy, too, with her rich black hair and her great black eyes. Maybe you'd never recognize her if we did not tip you off. Don't pass the tip to others in your place, but see if their little favorite doesn't fool them completely in her masculine makeup."
SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, June 11, 1910:
"Tony Prolo, a poor laborer, lives happily, despite his poverty, with his wife and their child, whose is named after his father. Tony is employed with other laborers on railroad construction work, little Tony brings him his lunch every day. The boy has carried father his lunch as usual one noon, in crossing the road fails to notice the approach of a large automobile. He is knocked down. Mr. Sears, the owner of the car, tries to aid the boy and seeks to comfort his father. But the excited laborer spurns a rich man's sympathy, picks the child up in his arms and carries him home. Arriving at his own residence, Mr. Sears receives a letter signed 'Black Hand' demanding $10,000. He is to give the money to a man who will meet him at a certain street corner, and who will carry a white rose. Sears takes the letter to the police and a trap is laid for the Black Hand man.
"In the meantime, Tony, who has been to see the doctor, stops at a florist and purchases a white rose for his suffering son, who is passionately fond of flowers. Unhappily for him, he passes the place picked out by the Black Hand. The police think his rose is the signal rose. He is promptly arrested, but when he tells his story, Sears and his wife induce the police to investigate him. They find Tony has told the truth. The repentant Mr. Sears presents him, by way of recompense, with a pretty cottage in the country where white roses are so plentiful that little Tony can't even begin to keep track of them."
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Copyright © 1995 Q. David Bowers. All Rights Reserved.