Margaret Seddon Movies
An established stage actress, Margaret Seddon made the transition to films in 1915. During the silent era, Seddon alternated between motherly roles and haughty matronly types; one of her best parts of the 1920s was Miss Trafalgar Gowes in The Actress, a 1927 adaptation of Arthur Wing Pinero's Trelawny of the Wells. Active until 1951, she essayed minor roles in everything from Gone With the Wind (1939) to the Dr. Kildare films. Margaret Seddon earned an honored spot in the annals of film history as Jane Faulkner, one of the two "pixilated" Faulkner sisters, in Frank Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936); she later toured with her Deeds co-star Margaret McWade in a vaudeville act called "the Pixilated Sisters." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1921
In addition to her illustrious career as a screenwriter, Frances Marion also directed a few pictures. This one, based on a Fannie Hurst story that was published in the Saturday Evening Post, is typical of Marion's sentimental tastes. Since the screenwriter had worked quite a bit with Mary Pickford, it's not surprising that Sigrid Holmquist was cast to star here -- she had gained a reputation in her native country as "the Swedish Mary Pickford." Ma Birdsong, a widow (Margaret Seddon), is devoted to her two teenage children -- Jimmy (Lewis Sargent) and Essie (Holmquist). They live on New York's Lower East Side, and against her mother's wishes, Essie gets a job as a theater usher. The girl becomes involved with Joe Ullman, a young man of questionable morals (Edward Phillips). Mrs. Birdsong wants to meet Essie's sweetheart, but Ullman does everything he can to avoid this. Finally, when her mother is dying, Essie realizes how neglectful she has been. Still, Ullman refuses to come to Mrs. Birdsong's bedside. But Essie finds a kind stranger (Fred Thomson) who offers to play her boyfriend. Mrs. Birdsong dies believing that her daughter will be taken care of. And she's right -Essie and the stranger fall in love. Actor Fred Thomson, incidentally, was Frances Marion's husband. Later in the decade he became a cowboy star. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Seddon, Lewis Sargent, (more)
- 1921
Frederick Osborne (Harry T. Morey) is a self-made man whose wife, Frances (Kathlyn Williams), is a naive but eager social butterfly. She heads off for New York and Atlantic City and befriends a couple, Cordelia and Jack Wilson (Grace Valentine) and Roland Bottomley). What she doesn't realize is that they're crooks who prey on the nouveau riche, and they've all but blackmailed Arthur Lynn (Matt Moore), who is engaged to Frances's daughter, Lucy (Faire Binney). When Osborne discovers that his wife is getting into trouble, he orders to return home to Toledo, but she insists on inviting her supposed friends along. A family rift explodes when Osborne orders the Wilsons out of his home. But Cordelia has a change of heart and decides not to ruin the family members lives. As she leaves, she gives Osborne a stern lecture about the necessity of being a more understanding husband. He takes her words to heart and his family benefits from his improved attitude. This drama was based on the play by Anna Steese Richardson and Edmund Breese. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry T. Morey, Kathlyn Williams, (more)
- 1921
Romaine Fielding produced, directed, and starred in this drama, which was based on the famous poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Don Word (Fielding) is the "man who can face trouble with a smile," and since he faces quite a lot of trouble, he's challenged to keep smiling. He lives in the Canadian wilds and works for a company run by the Loring family. The Loring son inherits the business and forces Word's fiancée, Cecile (Peggy Parr), to marry him instead. Loring then sends Word to prison on a trumped-up charge. Word spends seven years behind bars, but while he's there his cheerful manner helps to reform the inmates. On the outside, Loring leaves Cecile, who is pregnant with his son. She becomes a dressmaker to support the boy (Lawrence Johnson). The child is unhappy because his schoolmates, who doubt his legitimacy, taunt him. Cecile searches for Loring so she can prove the boy has a father, but it turns out that he has been killed by an angry French Canadian whose sweetheart he had wronged. When Word gets out of prison, he and Cecile reunite. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lawrence Johnson, Eugene Acker, (more)
- 1921
Popular early 20th century author Winston Churchill should not be confused with the English statesman of the same name. Many of Churchill's books were made into motion pictures, and this one is a fierce indictment of Christian hypocrisy. John Hodder (William P. Carleton) is the new rector at St. John's, a church in a fashionable section of town that isn't so far away from the misery of poverty-stricken Dalton Street. It doesn't take Hodder long to discover the true nature of his supposedly pious congregation. Primary among them is Eldon Parr (David Torrence), a bank president whose daughter, Alison (Edith Hallor), leaves to perform settlement work. Eldon's son, Preston (Jack Bohn), has deserted the family because of his father's treatment of the poor girl he loved, and is now living a life of degradation. Hodder is disgusted by the cruelty of Parr and others who attend St. John's, and he exposes them all from the pulpit. He refuses to resign after his tirade and goes about correcting all the wrongs perpetrated by his parishioners. This wins Alison's heart. One of Parr's disgruntled former workers shoots him and then himself. Parr survives just long enough to make amends for all he has done, and to unite his family once again. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William P. Carleton, David Torrence, (more)
- 1917
Viola Dana, Metro Studios' favorite leading lady, stars in A Girl Without a Soul. Dana essays a dual role as twin sisters who not unexpectedly are as different as night and day. Priscilla, an aspiring artist, is ruined by scurrilous Russian musician Ivor (Fred Jones). Meanwhile, Priscilla's sister Unity settles down for a wholesome small-town existence with village smithy Hiram Miller (Robert Walker). Ultimately, Unity's husband is blamed for a crime committed by the craven Priscilla. Girl Without a Soul was directed by Viola Dana's talented husband John H. Collins, whose promising career was tragically cut short by the Influenza epidemic of 1918. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Dawn of a Tomorrow was another winner from the felicitous writer-star team of Frances Marion and Mary Pickford. "America's Sweetheart" plays a girl of the London slums whose sweetheart David Powell is in danger of succumbing to a life of crime. Our Mary puts Powell on the right track, then assures her financial future by rescuing millionaire Forrest Robinson from drowning. Dawn of a Tomorrow was adapted from a play by Frances Hodgson Burnett, of Little Princess and Little Lord Fauntleroy fame. As a result of this and other Pickford hits, the 21-year-old actress soon found herself the highest-paid woman in America. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
