Volume II: Filmography

TREASURE TROVE

July 30, 1912 (Tuesday)

Length: 1 reel

Character: Drama

Cast: Marie Eline (the gold-seeking country boy), William Garwood (John Sterling, the young broker), Edmond J. Hayes (Jud, the successful lover), Mignon Anderson (the country girl)

ARTICLE, The Moving Picture News, July 27, 1912:

"The smiling bonneted girl in the next 'happy moment' [shown in a photograph accompanying the article], from Treasure Trove, July 30, is the sister of the little chap who has discovered a gold mine. The tiny, lucky brother has just brought her news of his great find, but she continues at her simple duties around the old homestead, the only change in her caused by her good fortune being the happy smile that glows from her face. She doesn't know that the mine was 'planted' by a wealthy man who had courted her unsuccessfully. Even with his suit rejected, the rich man still loves her, and with her life happiness in view, buries a small fortune and then contrives that the little brother locate the burial place."

SYNOPSIS, The Bioscope, February 20, 1913:

"A millionaire goes on a walking tour in disguise, and is taken to a small farmhouse when he sprains his ankle. The occupants are in needy circumstances, the boy trying to restore the family fortune by searching for the hidden treasure. The millionaire falls in love with the boy's sister, but learns that she has a poor suitor, who has been given a position in a foreign land. Putting aside his own feelings, the millionaire resolves to make the family happy, and 'plants' a large sum of money where he knows the boy will find it."

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, July 27, 1912:

"The millionaire, who had lived an idle, selfish life, was shocked and surprised when his doctor told him that his physical condition was such that he must abandon his city pleasures and lead a simple existence. On the advice of the physician the millionaire started out on a long walking tour, and there was nothing about him to indicate that he was a man of wealth. In the course of his journeying, he sprained his ankle, and was given open-handed hospitality at a little farmhouse. His hosts were an old woman and her two children, a beautiful daughter, and a small and very energetic son. The family fortunes were not flourishing, and the boy was convinced that he would be able to restore them by discovering buried treasure. It afforded the millionaire much amusement, but he did not tease the boy, and almost from the start they became great friends. The beautiful daughter made a great impression upon the millionaire, and before he realized it, he was hopelessly in love. He dreamed of winning her as a poor man, and then after their marriage, having the delight of telling her that all the money she wanted was hers. But his dream was not to be. By accident the millionaire learned that the girl had an accepted suitor, a poor young man, who had just been forced to accept a position in a foreign land, which meant that the lovers would be separated for an indefinite time.

"The millionaire was a man in a million. He realized that the girl he loved was not for him, but he determined that she should be happy, no matter how he might suffer himself, and little brother's hunt for treasure trove showed him how he could accomplish it. The millionaire sent to the city for $5,000 in gold, and when it arrived he carefully 'salted' the place where the little brother was digging. The child brought the money to his sister and her sweetheart, and they accepted it as a fortune. All their troubles were wiped away. They married, and it is presumed lived happily forever afterward. As for the millionaire, he started out alone in the search of health and happiness, but he would have bartered all his millions had he been able to win the love of the girl who was not for him."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, August 4, 1912:

"Worn out by his labors a young banker is advised by his physician to take a cross country tramp for a few weeks. The next day he packs a kit and sets forth. He travels that day and makes camp at night, and continues his jaunt the following day, when in crossing a stream he slips and sprains his ankle. He calls to a little boy, who aids him to limp to a nearby farmhouse. There he is cared for until his foot mends. He and the little boy become chums, while his sister proves a true friend. The little fellow is reading Stevenson's Treasure Island, and so decides to hunt for a hidden treasure. In a daisy field he and the banker dig, the latter considering it amusing pastime. Returning to the farmhouse he finds the girl has been weeping, and in a summer house he picks up a letter she has dropped, which he reads. It is from her sweetheart, postponing their marriage because of his being called to Australia, a position his present financial status forces him to take. The banker goes to the village and wires his bank to send a man out with $5,000 in gold. The next day he meets the clerk, takes the gold, after receipting for it, and walks to the field, where he hides the bags in a hole. He then tells the little boy to go to the spot and dig, taking the directions in the book as a sort of means of locating the hidden treasure. The boy begins, and the banker makes his adieus to all. The gold is found, and the girl and her lover are shown it, the latter having arrived to bid her farewell. The banker continues his walking as the picture fades out. Only one fault lies in the matter of showing such small bags and so few of them to make up so large a sum. Otherwise, the play is delightfully done in every sense, and the beautiful rural scenes are finely taken."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture News, July 27, 1912:

"Intermingles heart interest with childhood dreams. The Thanhouser Kid more than fulfills what could be expected of a child in this production, and when the banker, out on his vacation in the country, drops the bags of gold into the hole dug in the ground by the child with its little shovel, where he is seeking for hidden treasures, and the child's eyes grow wide with astonishment and pleasure, we are satisfied with the dreams we, too, have woven in childhood."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, August 3, 1912:

"A picture with an unusual and pretty ending, which among other good actors the Thanhouser Kid does its share. A banker is sent to the country for his health and falls in love with a girl he meets in his travels. He does not get peevish, however, when he finds someone has 'beat him to it.' He sends to his bank for $5,000 in gold, and so arranges matters that the money falls into the girl's hands. He goes back home, alone."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, July 31, 1912:

"A simple and pleasing romantic tale has been developed in this film, with a great deal of character and nature. The picture is especially successful in its choice of backgrounds and the assemblage of suggestive and delicate views it has managed to make. The simple, direct appeal which the company knows so well help to make the development of plot and the work of players also apparent. William Garwood is the young broker, who is unusual enough not to marry the girl in trouble. Edmond Hayes is the successful lover, and Mignon Anderson is the country girl, while Marie Eline, the Thanhouser Kid, makes the most interesting and capable country boy, who imagines himself on a desert island searching for gold. The young banker is told that in order to recuperate his health he must have a trip in the country, and accordingly starts forth on a walking trip. He sprains his ankle on the second day and seeks help from a farmer boy. He is cared for at the farmhouse, and after his recovery lingers, as he is evidently fascinated with the life, with the country maid, and the boy. He helps the boy to look for treasure hunting, according to the direction of Treasure Island, which the boy is reading. Later the broker learns that the maid has another lover, who must leave for Australia, because he cannot make a living here. Their marriage must be delayed. The broker telegraphs for gold, buries it where the farmer boy is digging, and goes forth upon his way."

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