The Making Of A Man - 1911 - USA

The Making Of A Man - 1911 - 5/10

The acting troupe makes a whistle-stop in a small town.
And the lead actor makes an impression on a star struck girl.
So much so, that before you know it, they are hitched.

 
“Yes, I have the license here, so … what … she’s how old?”
True love is crushed again.  Only then, nine months later, whoops!
Decent Biograph melodrama has little to do with “the man” and more with the girl (15 year old Blanche Sweet).
An early silent, I suspect most of actors had toured theatrically for years and knew this tale too well.

The Lonedale Operator - 1911 - USA

The Lonedale Operator - 1911 - 6/10

 
Father ailing, his daughter (15 year old Blanche Sweet) takes over the whistle stop telegraph office.
And receives the payroll, from the weight of the bag, in gold.
Never noticing two shiftless vagabonds rolling out from under the train.
Trapped young girl, bag of gold, desperadoes!
Within a minute, I recognized this as an earlier version of The Girl And Her Trust (1912).

Watching this solved an enduring childhood mystery for me.
From age 3 to 12, I was always shipped off to my grandparents for a month in the summer.
This was the old C&O line and the trip took about 5 hours.
(Yes, I cannot imagine current parents sending unaccompanied tots off on trains or planes.)
The train platform had baggage wagons.  Huge steel wheels, the bed three feet off the ground.
Why so high, I always wondered.
In this short, one saw trunks and boxes being shoved off freight cars onto “same height” baggage wagons.