Christine Rayner decorates a feeble Christmas tree in a bare flat for her daughter and reminisces of the days when she was the leading dancer in the theater ... until she inured her ankle. Now she is a scrubwoman in the same theater, and Edna Flugrath is the lead dancer, the company's Harlequin her jealous boyfriend. Miss Rayner conceives of a gift for her daughter; after the company is dismissed for the evening, she will sneak her daughter into the theater and dance for her.
Edna Flugrath was not only the First Columbine in this four-reel movie, she became the wife of the director, Harold Shaw, and was the sister of Viola Dana and Shirley Mason. This sad and sentimental Christmas movie may not seem like a feature to modern sensibilities, but it was for 1914, and its short length aided its parallel and intersecting stories in keeping them concise and to the point... an issue which modern blockbusters, which seem to drag on for forty minutes past their time (more than an hour, if you stick around for the credits) might do well to take note of.
Edna Flugrath was not only the First Columbine in this four-reel movie, she became the wife of the director, Harold Shaw, and was the sister of Viola Dana and Shirley Mason. This sad and sentimental Christmas movie may not seem like a feature to modern sensibilities, but it was for 1914, and its short length aided its parallel and intersecting stories in keeping them concise and to the point... an issue which modern blockbusters, which seem to drag on for forty minutes past their time (more than an hour, if you stick around for the credits) might do well to take note of.
