Dolores Costello

Dolores Costello

Born: September 17, 1903
Died: March 1, 1979
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dolores Costello (September 17, 1903 – March 1, 1979) was an American film actress who achieved her greatest success during the era of silent movies. She was nicknamed "The Goddess of the Silent Screen". She was stepmother of John Barrymore's daughter Diana by his second wife Blanche Oelrichs, the mother of John Drew Barrymore and Dolores (Dee Dee) Barrymore, and the grandmother of John Barrymore III, Blyth Dolores Barrymore, Brahma Blyth (Jessica) Barrymore, and Drew Barrymore.

Dolores Costello was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of actors Maurice Costello and Mae Costello (née Altschuk). She was of Irish and German descent. She had a younger sister, Helene, and the two made their first film appearances in the years 1909–1915 as child actresses for the Vitagraph Film Company. They played supporting roles in several films starring their father, who was a popular matinee idol at the time.

The two sisters appeared on Broadway together as chlorines and their success resulted in contracts with Warner Brothers Studios. In 1926, following small parts in feature films, she was selected by John Barrymore to star opposite him in The Sea Beast, a loose adaptation of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. Warner Bros. soon began starring her in her own vehicles. Meanwhile, she and Barrymore became romantically involved and married in 1928.

Within a few years of achieving stardom, the delicately beautiful blonde-haired actress had become a successful and highly regarded film personality in her own right. As a young adult her career developed to the degree that in 1926 she was named a WAMPAS Baby Star, and had acquired the nickname "The Goddess of the Silver Screen".

Warners alternated Costello between films with contemporary settings and elaborate costume dramas. In 1927 she was re-teamed with John Barrymore in When a Man Loves, an adaptation of Manon Lescaut. In 1928 she co-starred with George O'Brien in Noah's Ark, a part-talkie epic directed by Michael Curtiz.

Costello spoke with a lisp and found it difficult to make the transition to talking pictures, but after two years of voice coaching she was comfortable speaking before a microphone. One of her early sound film appearances was with her sister Helene in Warner Bros.'s all-star extravaganza The Show of Shows (1929).

Her acting career became less a priority for her following the birth of her first child, Dolores Ethel Mae "DeeDee" Barrymore, on April 8, 1930, and she retired from the screen in 1931 to devote time to her family. Her second child, John Drew Barrymore, was born on June 4, 1932, but the marriage proved difficult due to her husband's increasing alcoholism, and they divorced in 1935.

She resumed her career a year later and achieved some successes, most notably in Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). She retired permanently from acting following her appearance in This is the Army (1943), again under the direction of Michael Curtiz.

In 1950 Costello divorced Dr. John Vruwink, whom she had married in 1939. She spent the remaining years of her life in semi-seclusion, managing an avocado farm.

She died from emphysema in Fallbrook, California in 1979.

Movies for Dolores Costello...

Paris Hilton Inc.: The Selling of Celebrity
Title: Paris Hilton Inc.: The Selling of Celebrity
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: November 29, 2009
Type: Movie
We are drowning in celebrity culture and certainly no tabloid topic has been as big as Paris Hilton. Her incarceration and subsequent release, then re-incarceration and her ultimate release once again-left us submerged knee-deep in the twists and turns of her life. Famous for doing nothing, she's the ultimate manifestation of our obsession with celebrity culture and the massive profits that it wields. As long as we are willing to watch and read, who can resist feeding our habit?
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Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To
Title: Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To
Character: (archive footage)
Released: June 4, 1990
Type: Movie
This tribute to Myrna Loy is organized chronologically with a few photographs, many film clips, a handful of personal appearances, and a detailed commentary delivered on camera by Kathleen Turner. Turner walks us through Loy's career as a dancer and an actress miscast as an exotic. She comes into her own as a grown-up women: shrewd, funny, decorous, and sexy - in "Manhattan Melodrama" and "The Thin Man." Her volunteer work during World War II, later stage work, and progressive politics come in for admiration as well. It's her style - seen best in her roles as a wife of charm and independence - that's captured and celebrated here.
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Magic Movie Moments
Title: Magic Movie Moments
Released: December 26, 1953
Type: Movie
A Warner Brothers Vitaphone Variety narrated short film highlighting the 1928 biblical tale of "Noah's Ark."
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The Golden Twenties
Title: The Golden Twenties
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: April 8, 1950
Type: Movie
Feature-length compilation of 1920s newsreel footage, with commentary about news, sports, lifestyles, and historical figures.
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This Is the Army
Title: This Is the Army
Character: Mrs. Davidson
Released: August 14, 1943
Type: Movie
In WW I dancer Jerry Jones stages an all-soldier show on Broadway, called Yip Yip Yaphank. Wounded in the War, he becomes a producer. In WW II his son Johnny Jones, who was before his fathers assistant, gets the order to stage a knew all-soldier show, called THIS IS THE ARMY. But in his pesonal life he has problems, because he refuses to marry his fiancée until the war is over.
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The Magnificent Ambersons
Title: The Magnificent Ambersons
Character: Isabel Amberson Minafer
Released: July 10, 1942
Type: Movie
The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.
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Outside These Walls
Title: Outside These Walls
Character: Margaret Bronson
Released: May 4, 1939
Type: Movie
Walen plays Dan Sparling, a convicted embezzler who becomes editor of his prison newspaper. After serving out his sentence, he sets up an independent newspaper devoted to attacking corruption in public life, encountering various difficulties due to his being an ex-con and opposition from the incumbent administration.
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Whispering Enemies
Title: Whispering Enemies
Character: Laura Crandall
Released: March 24, 1939
Type: Movie
Meet the man who stayed just inside the law with a brand new racket...
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King of the Turf
Title: King of the Turf
Character: Eve Barnes
Released: February 17, 1939
Type: Movie
Mason is a former race-horse owner who gave up everything and started to drink after the death of one of his jockeys. One day he meets Goldie who has run away from home, hoping to find a job around horses; his biggest hobby. When he finds out the real identity of Mason, Goldie takes care of him. The two find an occasion to buy a horse for only two dollars, and start entering competitions. Goldie is an instant celebrity, but his mom reads the newspapers and tracks him down. Mason is very surprised to see her, his ex-wife, and even more astonished to hear that Goldie is his own son. However, Goldie must go back to school and so they decide to keep the secret. Since Goldie does not want to leave Mason behind, he goes to the bookies and fixes the next race, hoping to disappoint Goldie by asking him to lose on purpose.
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Breaking the Ice
Title: Breaking the Ice
Character: Martha Martin
Released: September 22, 1938
Type: Movie
The story begins while Tommy Martin and his mother, Martha Martin say goodbye to Henry and Reuben Johnson. After having stopped by the Mennonite farm, where Tommy and Martha stay with the William and Annie Decker, the Johnsons are headed back to their hometown of Goshen. The balance of the film is concerned with both trying to get the necessary train fare and with Tommy clearing his name over a misunderstanding.
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The Beloved Brat
Title: The Beloved Brat
Character: Helen Cosgrove
Released: April 30, 1938
Type: Movie
Roberta Morgan is being raised in a wealthy home where her mother is occupied with her society-club activities and her father is immersed in his business activities. She also feels that the household staff is against her and that no one understands her needs and problems. Things spiral out of control.
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Yours for the Asking
Title: Yours for the Asking
Character: Lucille Sutton
Released: July 23, 1936
Type: Movie
Casino operator Johnny Lamb hires down-on-her-luck socialite Lucille Sutton as his casino hostess, in order to help her and to improve casino income. But Lamb's pals fear he may follow Lucille onto the straight-and-narrow path, which would not be good for business. So they hire Gert Malloy and Dictionary McKinney, a pair of con-artists, to manipulate Johnny back off the path of righteousness.
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Little Lord Fauntleroy
Title: Little Lord Fauntleroy
Character: 'Dearest' Erroll
Released: March 6, 1936
Type: Movie
An American boy turns out to be the heir of a wealthy British earl. He is sent to live with the irritable and unsentimental aristocrat, his grandfather.
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Expensive Women
Title: Expensive Women
Character: Constance 'Connie' Newton
Released: October 24, 1931
Type: Movie
A wealthy young woman struggles to find love while surrounded by possible suitors.
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Second Choice
Title: Second Choice
Character: Vallery Grove
Released: January 4, 1930
Type: Movie
Vallery Grove is in love with Don Warren but her mother opposes the match because he is poor and has no social standing. Don decides to terminate his engagement to Vallery after attending a party where he meets a spoiled rich girl who is interested in him.
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Show of Shows
Title: Show of Shows
Character: Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number
Released: November 21, 1929
Type: Movie
Now hear this. The studio that gave the cinema its voice offered 1929 audiences a chance to see and hear multiple silent-screen favorites for the first time in a gaudy, grandiose music-comedy-novelty revue that also included Talkie stars, Broadway luminaries and of course, Rin-Tin-Tin. Frank Fay hosts a jamboree that, among its 70+ stars, features bicyclers, boxing champ Georges Carpentier, chorines in terpsichore kickery, sister acts, Myrna Loy in two-strip Technicolor as an exotic Far East beauty, John Barrymore in a Shakespearean soliloquy (adding an on-screen voice to his legendary profile for the first time) and Winnie Lightner famously warbling the joys of Singing in the Bathtub. Watch, rinse, repeat!
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Hearts in Exile
Title: Hearts in Exile
Character: Vera Zuanova
Released: September 14, 1929
Type: Movie
In this romance set in Russia, a fisherman's daughter is jilted by her true love and instead marries a baron. Time passes and the two men meet each other in Siberia where they have both been exiled. When the poorer man has the opportunity to come home, he changes places with the baron so that he can return to his wife. Unbeknownst to him, she has gone to the frozen wasteland to search for him.
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Madonna of Avenue A
Title: Madonna of Avenue A
Character: Maria Morton
Released: June 21, 1929
Type: Movie
A young woman is shocked to discover that her mother, who she always believed was a stylish and successful member of upper-crust society, is actually a dance-hall "hostess" at a low-class nightclub. Wanting revenge on her mother, she marries a brutal bootlegger, which causes her mother to do something that turns out to have dire consequences for everybody. This is reportedly a lost film.
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Glad Rag Doll
Title: Glad Rag Doll
Character: Annabel Lee
Released: May 4, 1929
Type: Movie
She sought to conquer...but found Cupid her master! This is one of many lost films of the 1920s, no prints or Vitaphone discs survive, but the song with the same title and the trailer survives.
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The Redeeming Sin
Title: The Redeeming Sin
Character: Joan Billaire
Released: February 16, 1929
Type: Movie
The Redeeming Sin (1929) is a crime drama part-talking silent film with Vitaphone music and sound effects. It was produced and distributed by Warner Bros. and stars Dolores Costello. This film is currently a lost film.
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Noah's Ark
Title: Noah's Ark
Character: Marie / Miriam
Released: November 1, 1928
Type: Movie
The Biblical story of Noah and the Great Flood, with a parallel story of soldiers in the First World War.
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Glorious Betsy
Title: Glorious Betsy
Character: Betsy Patterson
Released: April 25, 1928
Type: Movie
Vitaphone production reels #2471-2478; third Warner Bros. feature film - the first being The Jazz Singer and the second Tenderloin - to include talking sequences, along with the by now usual Vitaphone musical score and sound effects. A copy of this film survives at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., but the sound disks are lost.
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Tenderloin
Title: Tenderloin
Character: Rose Shannon
Released: March 14, 1928
Type: Movie
Rose Shannon, a dancing girl at "Kelly's," in the 'Tenderloin' district of New York City, worships at a distance Chuck White, a younger member of the gang that uses the place as their hangout. Chuck's interest in her is only just as another toy to play with. Rose is unknowingly placed in a position in which she is implicated in a crime which she knows nothing about.
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The Circus: Premiere
Title: The Circus: Premiere
Character: Self
Released: January 13, 1928
Type: Movie
Footage from the premiere of Charlie Chaplin's 1928 film 'The Circus'.
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The College Widow
Title: The College Widow
Character: Jane Witherspoon
Released: October 15, 1927
Type: Movie
Following another instance of the perennial defeat of the Atwater College football team, President Witherspoon is told that unless better athletes can be induced to come to Atwater, he will be asked to resign. Acting upon the suggestion of Professor Jelicoe, Jane, the professor's beautiful daughter, uses her personal charm to draw noted football stars from neighboring schools by a series of ruses at a vacationing spot. Billy Bolton, son of a financial magnate, falls for Jane and to prove himself registers under another name and works his way through school, attaining scholastic and athletic honors. Through the jealousy of another girl, Billy learns of Jane's trickery and persuades the athletes not to play;
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Old San Francisco
Title: Old San Francisco
Character: Dolores Vasquez
Released: September 4, 1927
Type: Movie
In San Francisco, a villainous landowner with underworld connections seeks to steal the property of an old Spanish family.
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When a Man Loves
Title: When a Man Loves
Character: Manon Lescaut
Released: August 21, 1927
Type: Movie
A nobleman studying for the priesthood abandons his vocation in 18th Century France when he falls in love with a beautiful, but reluctant, courtesan.
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The Heart of Maryland
Title: The Heart of Maryland
Character: Maryland Calvert
Released: July 13, 1927
Type: Movie
At the outbreak of the War Between the States, Maryland Calvert is loved by Maj. Alan Kendrick, son of a Virginia general, and Capt. Fulton Thorpe. Nancy, whom Thorpe has loved unwisely, follows him to Washington and commits suicide when she learns he will not marry her; as a result, Alan is forced to request his resignation. When Fort Sumter is fired upon, Alan, who admires Lincoln's principles, joins the Union Army though his father is among the Secessionist leaders; as a result, he is estranged from Maryland. Thorpe, who has joined the Confederacy as a spy, is responsible for Alan's arrest, but Maryland victoriously comes to his aid by ringing the alarm bell.
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A Million Bid
Title: A Million Bid
Character: Dorothy Gordon
Released: May 27, 1927
Type: Movie
To satisfy her controlling mother and secure both of their futures, a daughter hesitantly enters a loveless marriage to a wealthy businessman. Years later, after she has uncovered and overcome her mother's deceptions and manipulations, her newfound happiness is threatened with the appearance of a mysterious "man from the sea."
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The Third Degree
Title: The Third Degree
Character: Annie Daly
Released: December 1, 1926
Type: Movie
Alicia, a circus artist, deserts her husband and child to elope with Underwood, her handsome lover. Fifteen years later, Annie Martin, Alicia's deserted daughter, is a trapeze performer in a sideshow at Coney Island, operated by Mr. and Mrs. Chubb, and has married Howard Jeffries in spite of opposition by his wealthy parents. Jeffries, Sr., hires a man (Underwood) to separate the young couple. Underwood convinces the newlyweds that each is being unfaithful to the other, and consequently, he is threatened by Howard. Driven to fury by Underwood's uncontrollable demands, Alicia shoots him in a quarrel and makes her escape just as Howard enters; despite his innocence, Howard confesses to the crime when subjected to the third degree. Annie, realizing her mother's guilt, claims to be guilty, but Alicia then confesses. Annie is saved from suicide by Howard, and they are united by love.
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The Little Irish Girl
Title: The Little Irish Girl
Character: Dot Walker
Released: March 6, 1926
Type: Movie
Beautiful Dot Walker is part of a ring of crooks in San Francisco, who use her to lure impressionable young men into a crooked card game. Young Johnny has come to the big city to sell his grandmother's hotel back in his home town, but he falls under Dot's spell, gets suckered into the game and loses all his money. He asks his newfound "friends" to come back to his hometown to buy the hotel. They accept but are actually planning to swindle Johnny's grandmother out of her hotel. It turns out that Granny isn't quite the easy mark they thought she would be.
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Bride of the Storm
Title: Bride of the Storm
Character: Faith Fitzhugh
Released: February 20, 1926
Type: Movie
An American ship is wrecked off the coast of the Dutch East Indies, and little Faith Fitzhugh and her mother have washed ashore on a rocky island that supports only a lighthouse. Faith's mother lives only long enough to inform the three Dutch lighthouse keepers that her daughter is the heiress to a large fortune. Years pass and Faith grows to womanhood. Jacob Kroon and his son, Piet, then conspire to marry Faith to Piet's idiot son, Hans, in order to bring her fortune into the family. Dick Wayne, a sailor on an American cruiser that is repairing a damaged cable in the waters of the lighthouse, learns of Faith's captivity and comes to her rescue. Piet kills Jacob in a fit of jealousy, and Dick then kills Piet in a fight. Hans sets the lighthouse on fire and incinerates himself. Dick and Faith make it back to the cruiser.
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The Sea Beast
Title: The Sea Beast
Character: Esther Harper
Released: January 15, 1926
Type: Movie
Based on Herman Melville's novel "Moby Dick."
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Mannequin
Title: Mannequin
Character: Joan Herrick
Released: January 11, 1926
Type: Movie
Adapted from the Fannie Hurst story of the same name, Mannequin is the story of Joan Herrick, kidnapped in infancy from her wealthy parents and raised by a slatternly slum woman. The film is still extant.
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Bobbed Hair
Title: Bobbed Hair
Character: (uncredited)
Released: October 25, 1925
Type: Movie
Mystery of bootleggers, hijackers, a girl with bobbed hair, and a talented bull terrier.
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Greater Than a Crown
Title: Greater Than a Crown
Character: Isabel Frances / Princess of Lividia
Released: July 12, 1925
Type: Movie
Tom Conway, a wealthy American from Yonkers, saves a girl from assailants while in London and, with the help of a friend, Tiger Bugg, finds her lodging for the night with Molly Montrose, their actress friend. The following day, Molly discovers that both her jewels and the girl are missing, and Tom supposes that the strange girl, who gave her name as Isabel Francis, is responsible for the theft. Tom later learns that Isabel is the Princess of Lividia, who has run away from her country rather than marry King Danilo (who has also run away and is in London, paying court to Molly Montrose). Danilo and Isabel are kidnapped by agents of Lividia and taken home to be forcibly wed. Tom and Molly follow them, and Tom prevents the marriage.
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Lawful Larceny
Title: Lawful Larceny
Character: Nora the maid
Released: July 22, 1923
Type: Movie
During his wife's absence, Andrew Dorsey is snared by Vivian Hepburn, owner of a crooked gambling house, and her silent partner, Guy Tarlow. Dorsey loses so much money that Vivian persuades him to give her one of his firm's checks for a large sum of money. Hearing her husband's confession, Marion Dorsey, returned from Europe, determines to retrieve the check.
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The Glimpses of the Moon
Title: The Glimpses of the Moon
Character: Secondary Role
Released: March 25, 1923
Type: Movie
The film is based upon the 1922 Edith Wharton novel The Glimpses of the Moon.
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The Heart of Jim Brice
Title: The Heart of Jim Brice
Released: April 1, 1915
Type: Movie
Jovial and big-hearted, Jim Brice, of the Howard Detective Agency, is sent to trap bribetakers in a nearby city.
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The Evil Men Do
Title: The Evil Men Do
Character: David - as a Little Boy
Released: January 19, 1915
Type: Movie
As childhood sweethearts, David Horton and Beatrice Elton are inseparable. Fifteen years later Beatrice goes abroad and while there is heartbroken to learn that David has married Margaret Forsythe, a social climber, Margaret starts to entertain on a lavish scale.
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Too Much Burglar
Title: Too Much Burglar
Released: November 19, 1914
Type: Movie
An exceptionally capable girl, Trixie Joyce, proves a great help, to her mother, a widow with a large family of girls. They receive a proposition from Henrietta Joyce, Mrs. Joyce's wealthy sister-in-law, to take Trixie as a companion, feed and clothe her and in place of wages, send her mother an allowance sufficient to support the rest of the family. Both realize it is the solution of a hard problem, and Trixie accepts the offer. Henrietta is close-fisted and selfish in money matters, but she also has a strain of morbidly-romantic sentiment in her nature, so the largest part of Trixie's work is reading aloud to her mistress quantities of swashbuckling, mid-Victorian novels.
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Etta of the Footlights
Title: Etta of the Footlights
Released: May 23, 1914
Type: Movie
Etta Lang, a chorus girl, is the principal support of an invalid mother and her sister and brother, not only working at the theater, but looking after their small boarding house. Among their lodgers is Brutus Bellamy, an old actor. He becomes interested in the girl, and offers to teach her acting. She learns rapidly. She arrives at the theater late and is abused by the stage manager, Joseph Burton. Cecil Wentworth, one of the backers of the theater, takes her part and becomes interested in her.
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Some Steamer Scooping
Title: Some Steamer Scooping
Character: The Little Stowaway
Released: February 12, 1914
Type: Movie
The Baron Lafitte is in love with and proposes to Adelaide Burton, daughter of Andrew Burton, a wealthy manufacturer. Clara Lane, a newspaper reporter, has been assigned to watch the movements of the Baron. She is further instructed to make a scoop of their movements. Tom Drake is in love with Clara, and is her persistent follower throughout.
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Fellow Voyagers
Title: Fellow Voyagers
Character: Little Dolores Gray
Released: November 26, 1913
Type: Movie
Miss Marbury comes on deck and looks haughtily at Mrs. Cray, an attractive young widow, half suspecting that she has her steamer chair. When she finds that she is mistaken, she ties a large red ribbon upon her own chair, which is situated between Mrs. Gray on her left and Mr. Martin, on her right. Miss Marbury is quite annoyed when little Dolores and Helen, Mrs. Gray's two playful children, come to settle a dispute over the ownership of a tennis ball. Tom Blake stops to greet Mrs. Gray and plays with the children, making them forget their animosity.
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In the Shadow
Title: In the Shadow
Character: Neighbor Girl
Released: October 28, 1913
Type: Movie
Thousands of persons would die in the present if it were not for the memories of the past. Old Mrs. Merkle has one cherished reminder of bygone days, her wedding gown.
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The Hindoo Charm
Title: The Hindoo Charm
Character: Dolores Tilbury - the Older Child
Released: September 17, 1913
Type: Movie
Advised by his friends to seek a second wife so that his children, Helen and Dolores, may know a mother's care, Sir Edward Tilbury marries Phyllis, the daughter of Lady Olivia Gower, a leading social light in Calcutta.
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A Birthday Gift
Title: A Birthday Gift
Released: March 18, 1913
Type: Movie
Left alone by the death of her mother and the imprisonment of her father for theft, little Alice goes to live with her uncle and aunt. The latter does not take kindly to the child. The little one longing for a mother's love determines to give her aunt a birthday present.
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Ida's Christmas
Title: Ida's Christmas
Character: Ida - the Little Smith Girl
Released: December 24, 1912
Type: Movie
A poor young girl finds a purse and returns it to its owner, who decides to reward her honesty.
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Song of the Shell
Title: Song of the Shell
Character: Little Bess M.
Released: December 13, 1912
Type: Movie
Suffering with ennui, bored by society, Annie Bradley, a wealthy girl, is anxious to make her time more profitable by doing something worthwhile.
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The Toymaker
Title: The Toymaker
Character: Little Dot Avery
Released: October 24, 1912
Type: Movie
An old German toymaker, Hans Greyburg, living in a little flat on the east side of New York, while engaged one day making and dressing dolls, is visited by Dot Avery, the little girl from the flat above. He is fond of children and makes friends with her and gives her an old doll.
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The Irony of Fate
Title: The Irony of Fate
Character: Fourth Child
Released: September 28, 1912
Type: Movie
Virginia Jameson, a girl of lovely disposition, is wooed by a man much older than herself whom she very much dislikes, but who stands very high in the favor of her parents. She might have married another man had not fate decreed otherwise. She meets and accidentally escapes the man she could have loved and would have married; she stooped to tie her shoe-strings, diverting her attention from him. Had their eyes met, both their lives would have been different. Leroy Farley, the man favored by her parents, prevails and she marries him. Her life is unhappy, notwithstanding his great riches and social prominence.
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Bobby's Father
Title: Bobby's Father
Character: Bobby Ramsay
Released: September 23, 1912
Type: Movie
Dick Ramsay is a "cracksman" and burglar. His wife, Jane, is a good woman and tries to persuade her husband to give up his dishonest ways. They have one child two years old, Bobby. One night before going out on a "job," Dick makes a present to the child of a lucky sixpence with his name engraved on it, hung on a silver chain. Jane does not want the child to have it at first, but Dick declares he has had it made for the child. He then bids them good-bye. A few days later, Jane receives a letter from him saying that he has been caught in the act and sent to prison for a year.
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Captain Barnacle's Legacy
Title: Captain Barnacle's Legacy
Character: Ruth - Barnacle's Adopted Daughter
Released: September 4, 1912
Type: Movie
Captain Barnacle receives a letter telling him that Mr. Markham, a South African whose life he saved some years ago, has died, leaving him a legacy in money and some property and jewels in South Africa. The will stipulates that he shall visit the property in person.
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Her Grandchild
Title: Her Grandchild
Character: Little Janet - the Grandchild
Released: August 19, 1912
Type: Movie
Mrs. Grant, a widow, has one son, Donald. He is not really a bad fellow, but is full of devilment and always getting himself into mischief. One day, he visits the village inn and follows this up by pinning a caricature of Elder McWirther on that gentleman's gate. It is decided by the deacons to expel him from the church.
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Vultures and Doves
Title: Vultures and Doves
Character: Mrs. Hanley's Little Girl
Released: August 14, 1912
Type: Movie
"Thirty per cent dividend! Is your money supporting you? If not, call and see us. Rising Sun Copper Company." This is the bait that the vultures throw out to catch the "doves," widows and orphans.
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Wanted... a Grandmother
Title: Wanted... a Grandmother
Released: August 9, 1912
Type: Movie
Kitty Mallory, the young actress, finds herself in straightened circumstances. Looking for the immediate dollar, she sees an "ad" in the newspaper, for an elderly lady as companion to a little invalid boy. She answers it and receives a favorable reply. She makes herself up to fit the requirements and is selected for the position from a number of applicants.
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A Juvenile Love Affair
Title: A Juvenile Love Affair
Character: Jane - Alvin's Sweetheart
Released: July 30, 1912
Type: Movie
Two little children, who think themselves very much in love with each other, imbued with the ideas of their elders, plan a romantic marriage. Alvin Strong, the boy, confides his intentions to the family's servant, Jaspar. Alvin arranges with Jane, his sweetheart, to elope in the usual way, through a window, with the assistance of a ladder.
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The Money Kings
Title: The Money Kings
Released: July 15, 1912
Type: Movie
The Money Kings is a 1912 silent short film.
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The Troublesome Step-Daughters
Title: The Troublesome Step-Daughters
Released: July 6, 1912
Type: Movie
A widower with four grown daughters remarries and brings his new wife home to meet them. The girls set out to make life as difficult as possible for their new mother.
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Lulu's Doctor
Title: Lulu's Doctor
Character: Lulu
Released: June 9, 1912
Type: Movie
Magde leaves her fiancé Lewis in order to take care of Lulu, the child of her deceased sister, in New York. After some time, chance brings the two lovers together again.
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She Never Knew
Title: She Never Knew
Character: Mr. Blinn's Granddaughter
Released: April 2, 1912
Type: Movie
Left with the care of his little grandchild through the death of his daughter, old Mr. Blinn tries in every way to give her the cure and attention which she needs.
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For the Honor of the Family
Title: For the Honor of the Family
Character: Alice - the Child
Released: January 27, 1912
Type: Movie
On account of his extravagance and dissipation, Col. Ryder disowns his son and casts him off. Guy, resolved to redeem himself, joins an Indian regiment as a private, and leaves England.
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The Meeting of the Ways
Title: The Meeting of the Ways
Character: One of Tom's Children
Released: January 12, 1912
Type: Movie
Tom and Dick are brothers and are being educated at the same college. Tom is a studious fellow and graduates with honors, while Dick is expelled from college through misbehavior. Dick is ashamed to go home, but before leaving Tom gives him a locket containing a picture of their mother. Ten years later Tom, who is a successful lawyer, is married and has two little children. Dick, who has now been reduced through personal neglect to a derelict, overhears a plan to rob his brother's house. Making up his mind to prevent it, Dick climbs through the nursery window, catches the burglars, but effects their escape. His two little nieces, who have been watching him, kiss and hug him before he makes his exit. When their parents return from the reception they attended, the children relate to them what had happened. Dick gets into a scrape with a gambler a month or two later, who laughs at the miniature of his mother that Dick puts up in lieu of cash.
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Captain Jenks' Dilemma
Title: Captain Jenks' Dilemma
Character: One of Widow Brown's Children
Released: January 8, 1912
Type: Movie
Mrs. Brown, who is a widow, finds it a rather difficult matter to clothe and feed her large family of children, so when she becomes acquainted on the beach with Captain Jenks she is not slow in inviting him to her house. That evening the Captain calls with an engagement ring. He asks the widow to become his wife, but just as he is accepted Mrs. Brown's numerous offspring come running into the room. Upon being told that they are her children the Captain nearly faints and does not know how to break the engagement.
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Some Good in All
Title: Some Good in All
Character: Betty Lane - John's Daughter
Released: December 25, 1911
Type: Movie
John Lane is a prosperous businessman, a widower, who lives in a large house with his seven-year-old daughter Betty. Lane has an enemy, one Ben Hartley, who, by the aid of some forged papers, threatens to expose Lane and put him in prison. The night of the story opens with Lane receiving a letter from Hartley, who demands $10,000, to be paid at midnight, that night. Lane has not that much ready money in the house, and no way to get it. He thinks it all out and decides to commit suicide. He stands before a mirror and is about to pull the trigger, when Bill, the burglar, steps into the room, stopping him.
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A Reformed Santa Claus
Title: A Reformed Santa Claus
Character: The Widow's 1st Child
Released: December 22, 1911
Type: Movie
The employees of Harrison's mine have been out on strike for a long time. The men wait for him until he is leaving his office in the evening. They try to state their case but he entirely ignores them. They attack him. In terror, he flees before them, escaping by entering the home of a poor widow with two children.
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His Sister's Children
Title: His Sister's Children
Character: Buster aka Budge
Released: September 26, 1911
Type: Movie
Harry Burton's sister and her husband are suddenly called away for a few days on business and telegraph him to come to their home and take care of their two little boys, "Toddie and Budge." He at once complies, and is soon with the children, assuming his duties as "governor." Helen Manton, stopping in the same town, thinks a great deal of Harry Burton, and naturally he of her.
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The Child Crusoes
Title: The Child Crusoes
Released: September 13, 1911
Type: Movie
Jack, a little orphan, is anxious to become a sailor, and although Captain Rhines refuses to take him aboard his ship, manages to sneak in as a stowaway. When out to sea a few days, he is discovered, and is about to be disciplined, when the captain's daughter, May, intercedes. A terrific storm strikes them, and the ship is dashed to pieces. The captain, with the assistance of Jack, builds a little raft, and with little May, they set out for an island which they can hardly discern, as it is so many miles away. After drifting for many hours, they at last reach the island, which is inhabited by a savage tribe.
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The Geranium
Title: The Geranium
Released: July 15, 1911
Type: Movie
One glance at the poor and disordered home of the Tunisons shows us there is something still lacking. Mrs. Tunison is obliged to provide for her crippled daughter Ethel, her son, who does what he can to help her and her older daughter, who aids in every way possible. Daniel Briton, a young peddler, notices Ethel as he passes by, and gives her one of his wares, a geranium, for which she is very thankful. On successive days as the young peddler passes she waves her hand to him. One day he brings with him a doctor, who takes her to the hospital where she will get good care and attention. After a few weeks, Ethel is carried home in the arms of her generous friend, entirely restored to health. Everybody is made happy, and more so with Daniel, who marries one of Ethel's sisters.
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Consuming Love; or, St. Valentine's Day in Greenaway Land
Title: Consuming Love; or, St. Valentine's Day in Greenaway Land
Released: February 14, 1911
Type: Movie
Tommy and Jimmy are very much in love with Dolly. Their appetites however, very much overbalance their affections. Joe, who is not over blessed with this world's wealth, but who is bountifully blessed with chivalry, is favored by Dolly. Tom and Jim decide to get her a valentine.
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The Telephone
Title: The Telephone
Character: Daughter
Released: October 29, 1910
Type: Movie
An impressive Vitagraph short, one of many popular firemen-to-the-rescue films of the time.
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A Midsummer Night's Dream
Title: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Character: Fairy
Released: December 25, 1909
Type: Movie
An early film adaptation of the Beard's comic fantasy-- and perhaps the first screen adaptation of a Shakespeare play.