Volume II: Filmography

A MILITANT SUFFRAGETTE

December 29, 1912 (Sunday)

Length: 1 reel

Character: Comedy

Cast: Marguerite Snow (Mary Dout, the militant suffragette), James Cruze (John Strong, her fiancé), Mrs. Lawrence Marston (Mrs. Henry McGuire, who converted her husband), Riley Chamberlin (Henry McGuire, who was converted), Ann Drew (president of the Suffragettes' Club)

Notes: 1. Some trade notices (in The Moving Picture News, for example) stated that While Mrs. McFadden Looked Out and His Uncle's Wives were scheduled for release on this date; these films were rescheduled to February 2 and February 7, 1913. 2. This is the first Thanhouser film distributed by the Mutual Film Corporation as a separate entity; not with the Film Supply Company of America. 3. An expanded story by Raymond L. Schrock, based on the plot of the film, appeared in The Photoplay Magazine, January 1913.

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, December 28, 1912:

"The course of true love was running very smoothly until the girl became interested in the cause of votes for women. Her fiancé did not approve of it. There was a quarrel, and the engagement ring was haughtily returned. The young woman not only stubbornly refused to make up, but decided to become a really truly militant suffragette. One of the Amazon leaders from England was in New York at the time, preparing for the kind of revolution that is so popular in London. Under the banner the girl enrolled, pledging herself to 'annoy, harass and intimidate tyrant men, until we are permitted to vote.' In pursuance of this purpose the militants went out on a little window smashing expedition one day. The girl was arrested, but the others escaped. One of the fugitives met the ex-fiance and told him the horrible details. He went to the rescue in a taxi cab, became peevish when held up for speeding, attacked a policeman and was arrested. In the police court the former lovers met and were reconciled. Even-handed justice gave them equal rights, 10 days in jail each. They did not want their friends to know the facts, so before being led to their respective cells, they were hastily married, and the girl's father received word that they were on their honeymoon and would return in 10 days. He had planned a big church wedding and was naturally upset, but, as he said, 'it is hard to understand young folks these days.' And the truth of this most peculiar honeymoon never came out."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, December 29, 1912:

"No more original comedy drama has been seen for some time and the ending is unique as can be imagined. A young man and a girl break off their engagement because he does not believe in women's rights and she is a convert to the new thought. She goes on a rampage with her women compatriots and when window smashing in true, militant fashion, is arrested. He goes to her rescue, but his auto is stopped for speeding and he is dragged to court. There they meet and their quarrel is over. Both are sent up for ten days and so they decide to marry at once before being locked up. They send word to her father that they have eloped and are on a ten-day honeymoon. Thus society and their respective families are kept in ignorance of the true state of matters. The play is very entertainingly done and the suffragist scenes, the police court, the other action, all call for praise. It is another Thanhouser production that folks will go home and talk about."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, December 28, 1912:

"A farce comedy, fresh, lively and funny enough to tickle real laughter out of any normal audience. We don't think that real militant suffragettes will like it wholly, it's a bit too sharp for that; but it is good tempered, if it is witty, and was made for the average spectator. If cranks see themselves in it as others see them, so much the better. Marguerite Snow plays, with her usual grace and charm, a society girl. She meets the Chugworths, a man and wife. They are English militant suffragettes, whom it would be fun to meet anywhere. These two players are clever enough to keep from burlesquing the cranks too much and they make them seem like real people. The outcome of this meeting is very laughable, perhaps not because it is humanly probable, but because it is acted naturally by all in the cast. James Cruze plays the heroine's fiancé. It's a real comedy, worked out with a great deal of brilliance and will make a first-class offering."

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