Volume II: Filmography

HER FIREMAN

January 21, 1913 (Tuesday)

Length: 1 reel

Character: Drama

Cast: Marguerite Snow (Kitty, the actress), William Garwood (Tim, her fireman), Marie Eline (the little boy waif)

Notes: 1. The release of this film was originally scheduled for January 24, 1913, but after the Thanhouser fire it was rescheduled to January 21, 1913, taking the place of The Girl Detective's Ruse, originally scheduled for that time. 2. An expanded story by Edwin M. LaRoche, based upon this film, appeared in The Motion Picture Story Magazine, February 1913. This particular film must have impressed the Answer Man at that publication, for it is mentioned many times in the inquiries columns over a period of several months. However, he was quite confused about who played the title role, and in the issues of March, May, and June 1913 and February 1914 named him as William Garwood, but in the issue of April 1913 identified him as James Cruze.

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, January 25, 1913:

A kind-hearted actress who befriended a poor little waif of the street soon grew to love the child. When she went on the road she found him a home with her old nurse. She realized how much the child meant to her when he was crippled in an accident, for as soon as she heard the news she gave up her position and hurried to his side. The child loved her, too, and she finally decided to abandon the stage and secure a business position, so that she would not be separated from him. The actress had a fair knowledge of stenography and typewriting, 'brushed up' on it, and was engaged on trial by a house on Broadway, New York City. On the day she took up her new duties, city officials had arranged for a fire drill on an extensive scale, but the new employee did not know of it. When the fire alarm sounded and the engines clattered up, she was badly frightened and hardly able to follow the others who went out unconcernedly. On the street, her terror was noticed by a handsome young fireman, who reassured her by telling her it 'was only a drill.'

Later the young fireman was transferred to an engine house on the outskirts of the city, and there he and the former actress met. They were mutually attracted, and their affection grew. On one of his days off, the fireman invited the girl to go rowing on the river, and she accepted, leaving her little protegé in the care of her nurse. Through this woman's carelessness the house caught fire, and the woman ran out, shrieking with fear, forgetting the child, whose broken leg rendered him helpless. Fortunately the girl and the fireman were not far away, and from their boat on the river saw the fire. The man rowed hastily to shore and although the house was by this time all ablaze, he bravely battled his way in and rescued the child, thereby securely winning the affections of the girl he had learned to dearly love.

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, January 26, 1913:

Another topical event of interest forms the basis around which a Thanhouser production of exceeding merit is woven. This was a recent fire department exhibition given to test the efficiency of the men and apparatus. In the commencement of the story an actress adopts a poor little waif and leaves him in care of a nurse when she goes on tour. He meets with an accident and his leg is injured. She returns to him, gives up her position on the stage and takes up stenography as a vocation. The firemen's exhibition takes place, and through it she meets the man of her fate, a young fire fighter. One day they are out rowing together and the little boy is left at home with the nurse. The house catches fire and the fireman bravely rescues the child and ends the story, the romance between the actress and the man being successfully launched.

REVIEW, The Moving Picture News, January 25, 1913:

Her Fireman, with Marguerite Snow in the lead, is a careful bit of work. Pathos and human interest of a decided character is rife throughout.

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, February 1, 1913:

An entertaining photoplay, in which an actress adopts a street waif, played very naturally and pleasingly by the Thanhouser child favorite. The brave and handsome fireman appears later and saves the child from a burning house. This brings the three together at the close. The fire drill is good and the burning house figures well in the picture. A worthwhile offering.

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, January 22, 1913:

The Thanhouser Company is making the most of the pictorial possibilities of fire scenes, which, it may be said, are handled extremely well, with the help of the New Rochelle fire department. This film has a well arranged rescue for a burning house, for a climax, and prior to that there is a simple story of considerable appeal. Marguerite Snow, William Garwood and The Thanhouser Kid are featured in the picture and the playing of all three is interesting to follow. The girl is an actress, who finds a poor little waif starving on the street and takes him to her home. She becomes very fond of the little fellow, and when obliged to go on tour with the company, leaves him in care of her aunt. Word that he has fallen from a tree and broken a leg brings her back posthaste, and rather than leave the boy again she gives up her stage career and becomes a stenographer in a New York office. The meeting of the girl and Her Fireman is the most far-fetched feature in the picture. There is a fire in the building adjoining that in which the girl is employed, and when the employees march to the street the girl is assured by her fireman that there is no danger. Thereafter they are fast friends. The rescue scene comes when the boy is carried from a burning house by the fireman.

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