Volume II: Filmography

DOTS AND DASHES

September 30, 1910 (Friday)

Length: 950 feet

Character: Drama

Scenario: Lloyd F. Lonergan

Cast: Anna Rosemond (May Wilson)

Note: This film represents an early appearance of the character names of Jack and May, which were to be used with great frequency by Lloyd F. Lonergan.

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, October 1, 1910:

"Dots and Dashes will dot your seats with breathless, thrill, plotting spectators and dash its novelty deep into your jaded self. Yes, you will clap hands along with the rest...."

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, October 1, 1910:

"May Wilson and Jack Preston are employed at a downtown brokerage office, she as telegraph operator of the private wire of the firm, and he as head bookkeeper. The young people are fond of each other, and at the opening of the play have just made an engagement to spend the evening in each other's company at one of the theatres. May has been teaching Jack mysteries of the Morse Code and is greatly pleased when she finds that he has so far mastered it as to be able to rap back an answer to her messages. After May has left the office for the day, the head of the firm calls Jack into his private office and there confides to him that there is something wrong with the books of the concern, and tells Jack to investigate. On looking into the matter, Jack discovers that his fellow worker, Carson, is the defaulter, and accuses him to his face. Alone in the office, Carson begs Jack to shield him, while Jack insists that he must make their employer conversant with the facts. As Jack leans far into the large safe to deposit the ledgers of the firm, Bill thrusts him inside, and turning the knob entombs him alive in the steel prison. Trembling with fear at his act, Bill steals cautiously from the office.

"May, becoming impatient when theatre time arrives and Jack fails to call for her, decides that he must still be working at the office, forgetful of the lateness of the hour. She proceeds to the office to remind him of his appointment, and finding it deserted, she is about to leave, when muffled groans reach her from the safe. She realizes that it must be her sweetheart who is imprisoned, and that unless she can free him in short order, he will surely die of suffocation. Not knowing the combination of the safe, and being unable to reach by telephone her employer, she suddenly conceives the idea that if by telegraphic signal she can make known to the man in the safe that she is there, trying to help him, he in his turn can in the same code give her the combination of the safe. This plan works out successfully, the two lovers tapping out their messages against the steel sides of the safe. The door of the safe finally yields to the combination, and Jack's apparently lifeless body rolls to the floor of the office. May revives him, and amid tears and laughter they rejoice over Jack's narrow escape. Haunted by the fear of what he has done, Bill creeps stealthily back into the office, opens the door of the safe, impelled to learn its horrible secret. As the door opens he is confronted by two officers of the law, who place him under arrest."

SYNOPSIS, The Bioscope, December 15, 1910:

"In an office a pretty girl is operating upon a telegraph apparatus, when her lover, the chief clerk, leans caressingly over her chair. Later her lover shows her some tickets for the theatre, and she consents to go with him. His employer calls him into a private office, and tells him that one of the clerks has been robbing the firm. Back into the office goes the chief clerk. Later, after his employer has left, a clerk fetches a ledger from the safe. After carefully comparing the writing the chief clerk finds that the guilty man is before him. The chief carefully takes the ledger into the strong room, and while inside the guilty man shuts the massive iron doors upon him. The air in the strong room begins to give out, and the chief struggles for breath.

"In her home the young lady is waiting and wondering what is delaying her lover. She decides to call at the office, and upon arriving there she looks carefully for her lover. She cannot find him, and thinking she hears a faint groan proceed from the strong room, she telephones the police. A sudden thought comes to her - why not try the 'dots and dashes?' As soon as this is done with the aid of a pencil, answering taps come back to her, and by this means she learns the word necessary to unlock the strong room, and when her lover falls out exhausted the police arrive, followed soon after by the guilty man, who is quietly captured."

REVIEW by Walton, The Moving Picture News, October 8, 1910:

"A rattling good story; scrub woman you're a dandy! Now I'm going to be critical; whoever saw a telegraph manager's office in a branch, that had two clerks and one operator, like that one? More, even on Broadway in the head offices, where is this one? I was put out by someone in the theatre who made the dots and dashes. He followed you, on the screen, but neither spelt the words as an operator would. The general public - excluding such cranks as I am - will enjoy your honest work."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, October 8, 1910. The following was written by a reporter who visited the studio and saw the film there:

"Dots and Dashes is a clever little sketch containing the choicest elements of dramatic effect. If May Wilson had not taught her admirer the telegraphic code, he (Jack Preston) would have suffocated inside a vault. This in a few words is the idea of Dots and Dashes. There is a defaulter in the case whose shortages are discovered by Jack, and incidentally here may be remarked that the said defaulter is some actor. May is the telegraph operator in a broker's office, and it is plain to be seen that Jack is in love with her. They use up a good deal of the firm's time practicing telegraphy, while the defaulter is bending over the desk, defaulting like a good fellow. Finally the head of the firm gets wise that he is being double crossed all around and sends for Jack and puts him on the trail. The defaulter, being the only other employee around the place, it is a cinch for Jack to get him with the goods, simply by opening a book and doing some wonderful stunts and rapid addition. In a couple of minutes he has the defaulter begging for mercy, which he cannot give. For this he is shoved into the vault by the defaulting clerk, and the heavy doors are closed upon him.

"Jack and May were going to the theatre that evening, and the reason Jack did not show up at the house was the same reason that brought May back to the office. Finding the theatre tickets on the floor gives her the inkling that something is wrong, and a moment later a faint tapping from the vault is heard. At this point the novelty of the story is brought well into play as the two lovers begin to telegraph to each other by tapping on the iron door of the vault. It is rather to be regretted that the Thanhouser people did not make the most of this climax by introducing telegraphic dots and dashes in a manner to create suspense. By this is meant that had a few lines of dots and dashes been flashed on the screen, word by word, and with each word spelled out in letters beneath each dot and dash, it would have given a telegraphic semblance or realism to the scene.

"The acting was well done, especially the defaulter, who is totally unlike the stereotyped stage villain. He gave the true impression of a man who is not wholly bad, but who yielding to temptation was duly harassed by his conscience. The comedy scrubwoman had only a little to do, but we can see in her work the makings of a big scream when they furnish her with a comedy scenario and let her be the principal. The leading lady of the Thanhouser stock company is a well-trained actress and a very pretty girl. It is quite easy to imagine the yell of surprise from the audience when the police come out of the vault and nab the defaulter, who is returned, conscience-stricken, to the scene of his crime. He wants to see if his victim is still alive. Those of us who saw it were wondering where the cops were all the time. We asked Mr. Thanhouser where they were and he said he guessed he had forgotten about them. A moment later when the defaulter opened the vault, the police stepped out of it and arrested him, and the laugh was on us."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, October 5, 1910:

"The villain locks the hero into a vault and the heroine lets him out. She learns the combination from the hero by means of the telegraph code; hence the title. The story is clear and interesting, and the acting is excellent. Perhaps the best actress of the lot is the vivacious scrubwoman, although she has the easy comic role. Good as the acting is, it does not cover up several improbabilities in the plot. It takes the hero a marvelously short time to find out who has been tampering with the books of the company, and he foolishly lets the villain lock the vault doors upon him. A real girl would never have set out to find her escort to the theatre, even if he was late; least of all would she have gone unchaperoned to the office at night. The villain would not have returned to discover the fate of the hero; he would lose no time in getting miles away from the scene of his crime. Dots and Dashes is well mounted."

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