Gerda Holmes Movies
Maid Marian to William Russell's Robin Hood in 1913, brunette Gerda Holmes had made her stage debut in Denmark, the home country of both her parents. She returned to America at the age of 16 to study music and then starred as Echo in the Klaw and Erlanger production of The Round Up, a role she would recreate many times between screen assignments in the future. Married to stage actor Rapley Holmes, she made her screen bow with the Thanhouser company in 1913, remaining with the New Rochelle, NY, firm for a mere five months. By late 1913, she had become the leading lady of the Chicago-based Essanay company, where a neophyte actress named Gloria Swanson supported her in Elvira, Farina and the Meal Ticket (1914), a comedy based on a George Ade fable. Holmes played a blind girl who discovers the beauty of her own voice in A Song in the Dark (1914) and according to some reports, the actress stood in the wings and sang to her celluloid image at the film's Chicago premiere, apparently not an uncommon occurrence in the early years of film exhibition. Leaving Essanay in early 1915, Holmes co-starred with her husband in The Victory of Virtue, a moralistic melodrama produced by another Chicago firm, the United Photoplay Company. She then found a berth with the New York-based World Film Corporation, who cast her opposite Molly McIntyre, "Scotland's Greatest Actress," in Her Great Hour (1916). She did a couple of popular programmers with Robert Warwick, played villainesses in both As Man Made Her (1917) and The Iron Ring (1917), and was Madge Evans' mother in Wanted -- A Mother (1918), her final film. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi- 1917
Alice Brady plays the lead in this adaptation of Frou Frou. Frou Frou (Brady) agrees to marry the man chosen by her father, the Marquis de Sartorys (George MacQuarrie), even though she knows her sister Louise (Gerda Holmes) loves him. But Frou Frou is a frivolous girl, and when Louise comes to visit, she ultimately takes her sister's place. Finally Frou Frou sees the error of her ways, but when her husband won't take her back, she runs off with the Comte de Valreas (Edward Langford). Eventually de Sartorys follows and kills de Valreas in a duel. Then Frou Frou comes back home to beg her husband's forgiveness before she dies. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi
- 1917
This film, made a couple of years before Prohibition went into effect, was basically prohibition propaganda posing as entertainment. John Smith (Robert Warwick) is a dope fiend and drunkard who decides to reform. He travels to a mission in Cincinnati and straightens up, but he cannot remember his past. Nevertheless, he becomes a prohibitionist leader. In Washington, he falls in love with Edith Mallon (Doris Kenyon), whose senator father is controlled by the Whiskey Trust. Senator Mallon and his cronies want very much to pin a scandal on John Smith so that the Prohibition movement will be discredited. They believe they have done this when a man and woman from Smith's past appear, and the woman fabricates some stories about him. Eventually, though, she admits to her lies, and Smith finally recalls his past. As it turns out, the only scandalous aspects of it were his already-known drink and drug addictions. Since these have been cured (at least that's the way they saw it in the days before 12-step programs), he is free to be with Edith. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi
- 1917
Given the ludicrous nature of The Iron Ring, it is little wonder that Charles Stokes Wayne, the author of the story upon which the film was based, elected to use the pseudonym of Horace Hazelton. Though she loves her husband Aleck (Edward Langford), Bess Hulette (Gerda Holmes) cannot pass up the opportunity to "fool around" with handsome Jack Delmore (Arthur Ashley). Likewise inclined to wander astray from her marriage vows is Mrs. Georgie Leonard (Alexandria Carewe). While Bess realizes the error of her ways before it is too late, Georgie does not, and the sorry result is the suicide of Mrs. Leonard's husband Ellery (Herbert Frank). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1917
Mason Forbes (Frank Mills) seduces schoolgirl Claire Wilson (Gail Kane) and brings her to Broadway. But eventually he tosses her aside and instead marries the frivolous Grace Hughes (Gerda Holmes). Claire, in turn, marries Mason's younger brother Harold (Edward Langford). Mason's marriage is a failure, while Claire and Harold happily have a child. Claire, however, is still out for revenge, and entices Mason into falling for her again. He begs her to run away with him, but she stays with her husband. In a fit of anger, Mason reveals Claire's past to Harold, but when Harold hears his wife's version of the story, he takes her in his arms and tosses his brother out the door. The upbeat ending was unusual for this era, as most of Middle America in the 'teens would have preferred to see someone like Claire ostracized. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi
- 1916
Not to be confused with the 1918 Harry T. Morey vehicle of the same name, the 1916 western All Man was adapted by Frances Marion from a story by Willard Mack. The title refers to hero Jim Blake, played by Robert Warwick. To prove his worth to his highly judgemental father, socialite Blake heads to Montana, Where Men are Men (and women, presumably, are very happy). In his efforts to make good, Blake befriends sisters Ethel and Alice Maynard (Gerda Holmes, Mollie King), adding a dash of romantic intrigue to the stew. Though set in the Wide Open Spaces, All Man was all too obviously filmed in New Jersey, headquarters of the World Film Corporation. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1916
When Virginian Judge Lee Sands (Charles Brandt) is ruined by a Wall Street manipulator, his daughter Beulah (Gerda Holmes) heads north to New York City and obtains work as a stenographer. But she's not just trying to make her way in a cruel world; she's working for Peter Brownley (Clarence Harvey), the man who double-crossed her father. She sneaks around to help get investment information for her father -- and also evidence to destroy Brownley. But she also falls in love with her employer's son, Robert (Robert Warwick). Robert catches her at her tricks and locks her in his office until the close of the stock market. She confesses all and he forgives her. The couple's love helps reconcile their warring fathers. This picture was based on a story by Thomas W. Lawson. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi
- 1916
Long before she became a top character actress, Alice Brady was the in-house ingenue for the World Film Manufacturing Company. The fact that Brady's father, theatrical producer William H. Brady, was the head man at World might have been a contributing factor to the actress' prolific output for the studio. In The Gilded Cage, Alice plays Princess Honore, who falls in love with a handsome prince who doesn't know her true identity (nor does she know his). Scripted by Frances Marion from a story by J. I. Clarke, the film was sort of a distaff version of The Prisoner of Zenda. If Gilded Cage ever becomes available again, it might be interesting to find out why Clara Whipple's character was named "Lesbia the Goose Girl"! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1915
Penelope Brantford (Gerda Holmes), the naive daughter of a wealthy man (J.H. Gilmore), is dazzled by the charming Langdon Grier (Wilmuth Merkyl). She falls in love with him, but he's just looking for another conquest. He courts her expansively and she falls for it, agreeing to have dinner alone with him at his home. This is where Grier plans to make his move -- but then the plot virtually dissolves into a strange allegory involving the Grove of Daphne and the wild revels of Baccus. Although this kind of symbolism looks ridiculous now, it was done frequently in the 1910s. As can be guessed by the picture's title, virtue eventually wins out. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi
- 1914
While gathering ideas for a new book, an author (Francis X. Bushman) falls into a precipice in this typical outdoors melodrama produced near Chicago by the Essanay Company. The author is saved by a beautiful sculptress (Irene Warfield), with whom he falls in love. Their romance, innocent as it is, comes to an end when the author feels dutybound to return home to the little wife (Gerda Holmes). She, however, has conveniently taken a lover, allowing Bushman to return to both the wilderness and the sculptress. The trade paper Variety liked the film, but accused the handsome and rather flamboyant Bushman of too much posing. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
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