Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 7 (1914): December Films

The Thanhouser schedule of regular releases continued with The Center of the Web on December 1st. The Moving Picture World commented:

This two-reel picture gets special distinction from the astonishing work of a big pack of police dogs. They make it a very desirable offering, one that ought not to be missed. The story is good on its own merits and tells how a detective, captured by a gang of counterfeiters, is saved by the coming of the authorities led by the dogs. The zeal and astonishing ability of the dogs to depict each victim among the counterfeiters and to insure the capture of each and every one of them is a sure enough thrilling feature. It is a well handled and clearly pictured offering.

On December 2nd the second annual ball of the Motion Picture Exhibitors' League of Massachusetts was held at the Boston Arena. A contingent of New York film people, including Thanhouserites James Cruze, Marguerite Snow, Florence LaBadie, and Harry Benham, came on the train and stayed at the Copley Plaza Hotel. An estimated 8,000 people were in attendance by nine in the evening. Around 11 Mary Pickford arrived, followed shortly thereafter by the governor of the Massachusetts. It was not until 2:30 in the morning that dinner was served.

Around the same date, Director Howell Hansel took a company of Thanhouser players, including Frank Farrington, Harris Gordon, and Ruth Elder, to the Broadway Rose Gardens, then in bankruptcy, to film sequences for A Man of Iron, a film released on February 16th of the following year.

Next on the Thanhouser release schedule came Naidra, the Dream Woman on the 4th, a picture which told of a scientist who created a beautiful girl in his laboratory. He falls in love with her, only to be disappointed when she is attracted to a church organist. The Creator of "Hunger," a Princess film released on the same date, featured Boyd Marshall, Mayre Hall, and others. Boyd paints a picture, Hunger, which is stolen by a rival while the artist is hospitalized.

The New Rochelle Pioneer, December 5, 1914, told of a new group:

The Thanhouser Club is the newest social organization of New Rochelle, and the loft over "The Monkey House" at Chris. Krooss' is being made into beautiful clubrooms. A partition separating two rooms has been removed, electric lights are being installed instead of the present gas lighting system, and the walls decorated. A photo of each member will be secured to adorn the walls, and a piano has already been put in.

The charter members are John Lehnberg, Billy Sullivan, Gordon Hollingshead, Lord McCaskill, Frank A. Grimmer, John Sullivan, Edward Sullivan, Boyd Marshall, Charlie Mead, Phil Brady, Frank Brady, Bruce Weyman, Alfred Hall, Alfred Reich [Reitz], and Ray Dunne. Additional members were elected at the meeting held last night, too late for notice in this issue. Next week's issue will report on the election of officers and new members....

The Thanhouser Club will have a minstrel show in Germania Hall, January 6, the proceeds to be devoted to fixing up the club rooms. In addition to those mentioned in the club roster, the following will take part in the affair: Sidney Bracy, leader; James J. Dunne, James Murray, Harry Pease, Leo Post. Boyd Marshall will be interlocutor, and Dave Keleher will be one of the end men. Billy Sullivan and Gordon Hollingshead, the Thanhouser eccentric, under the management of John William Kellette, will appear for three days beginning Thursday the tenth at Loew's Theatre, in an act that comprises piano, songs, dances and chatter, and the Thanhouser Club, of which they are members, will be there strong on the opening night.

The Amateur Detective, Thanhouser's December 6, 1914 film, was a parody on Sherlock Holmes. "The plot is only a trifle, and the cast is pleasing and the photography good," noted The Moving Picture World. Throughout this period reviewers continued to find fault with the scenarios while commending the acting and camera work. Then followed the two-reel production of The Reader of Minds, released on December 8th. The Moving Picture World found Lloyd F. Lonergan's scenario to be improbable and its staging to be unsatisfactory. However, "Muriel Ostriche is the one pleasant spot in the picture."