A Stranger from Somewhere

Carl Laemmle in 1918

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Universal Logo 1915

In the book, "American Cinema's Transitional Era," the authors point out, The years between 1908 and 1917 witnessed what may have been the most significant transformation in American film history. During this "transitional era," widespread changes affected film form and film genres, filmmaking practices and industry structure, exhibition sites, and audience demographics.[3] One aspect of this transition was the longer duration of films. Feature films[lower-alpha 1] were slowly becoming the standard fare for Hollywood producers. Before 1913, you could count the yearly features on two hands.[6] Between 1915 and 1916, the number of feature movies rose 2 ½ times or from 342 films to 835.[6] There was a recurring claim that Carl Laemmle was the longest-running studio chief resisting the production of feature films.[7] Universal was not ready to downsize its short film business because short films were cheaper, faster, and more profitable to produce than feature films. [lower-alpha 2]

Laemmle would continue to buck this trend while slowly increasing his output of features. In 1914, Laemmle published an essay titled - Doom of long Features Predicted.[9] In 1915, Laemmle ran an advertisement extolling Bluebird films while adding the following vocabulary on the top of the ad.[lower-alpha 3]

Universal released ninety-one feature films in 1916[11] including fifty-four Bluebird films.[12][lower-alpha 4]

• Franklyn Farnum (1878 - 1961) was born William Franklyn Smith on June 5, 1878, in Boston, Massachusetts. The 38 year-old actor would play the dual roles of Sam Brockton and Dippy Lewis. William Smith became a vaudevillian at age twelve and started acting on the stage in 1903. Early in his career, he decided William Smith was not a proper stage name. A local cub reporter suggested he change his name to Franklyn Farnum, cashing in on the last name of the stage and screen actors Dustin and William Farnum. [17] He changed his last name to Farnum and used his middle name as his first name. Farnum was a stage actor featured in several theatrical productions, including Broadway, before becoming a silent screen actor. This film was the third picture he made in his movie career. He would wind up acting in over four hundred films. He was unrelated to brothers and silent screen actors, Dustin Farnum, William Farnum, and Marshall Farnum. Refer to the section Myths on this page.
• Agnes Vernon (1895 - 1948) was born on December 27, 1895, in La Grande, Oregon. The 20 year-old actor would play Agnes Darling, the young heiress to the Darling fortune. Starting in 1914, Vernon had acted in seventy-one short films films before taking on this role. This movie was Vernon's first feature film and her first film with Farnum. Farnum would become Vernon's introduction to comedy. This Bluebird release would be the only feature film Vernon made in 1916. During her career, Vernon would star in sixteen feature films. Franklyn Farnum would be the leading man in five of these projects. After completing this film, Vernon made her second film with Farnum, the short film "Little Partner." The film was released on December 19, 1916. During Vernon's movie career, her professional relationship with director Worthington produced twenty-two films, including six feature films.
• Claire McDowell (1877 - 1966) was born on November 2, 1877, in New York City. The 39 year-old actress would play the villainess, Olga Veloski. She had appeared in over seventy short films before her appearance in this movie. This would be her first feature and her first bluebird film. She would headline in her next Universal film - the Red Feather production of "Mixed Blood" released on December 18, 1916
• " Barney Furey" (1886 - 1938) was born Charles Manford Furey on September 7, 1886, in Boise, Idaho. He was 30 year-old actor when he played the villain, Howard Dana. Furey was active in movies between 1912 and 1937.
• " Arthur Hoyt" (1874 - 1953) was born on March 19, 1874, in Georgetown, Colorado. He was 42 years-old actor when he played Grace Darling's father, Daniel Darling. Hoyt made his Broadway debut in 1905 and his final Broadway appearance in 1911. He made his first film in 1914 and his last in 1947. During his acting career, he was a Character actor usually cast in a supporting role and acted in more than 275 films, including silents and talkies.
• " Helen Wright" (1868 - 1928) was born Helen Boyd on November 19, 1868, in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was 47 years-old when she played Grace Darling's Mother, Mrs. D. G. Darling. Wright was a well-known Universal character actress who appeared mostly in silent films between 1915 and 1930. She spent most of her career under contract at Universal. Wright would later appear with Emory Johnson in the Universal production of The Morals of Hilda released on December 11, 1916.

William Worthington (1872 - 1941) was born on April 8, 1872, in Troy, New York. He was 44 years of age when he directed this film. Worthington started his career as a opera singer and stage actor, then began acting in movies in 1913. He directed his first short film in 1915. Before directing this feature, most of his directorial experience was directing short films. He continued to direct films until 1925. Worthington would continue to perform as an actor until he died in 1941.[18]

Willis Woods Ad

Willis

Woods

F. McGrew Willis (1891-1957) and Walter Woods (1881-1942) were scenarists. Their business advertisements in the trade journals would advertise themselves as "Willis - Woods Photoplaywrights," adding to the copy "Collaborating for Better Results." Thus, when they jointly wrote a Screenplay, they would use the pseudonym Willis Woods. The copyright for this film reads, "Credits: Willis Woods."[19] After the completion of this project; the team went on to write a script for The Devil's Bondwoman released by Universal on November 20, 1916. Both were contract members of the Universal cadre of screenwriters.

F. McGrew Willis was born Frank McGrew Willis in Pleasanton, Iowa, on August 18, 1891. He was 25 years old when he worked on this project. In 1914, after experiencing a brief stage career with various traveling companies, he became a freelance screenwriter focusing on scenarios for short films. His first screen credit for a feature film came after writing the "The Quest" scenario in 1915.[20]

Walter Woods was born in Pennsylvania on January 14, 1881. He was 35 years old when he worked on this script. Woods started as a leading man in several stock and road productions, eventually becoming a manager and director of stock productions. After he joined Universal, one of Woods's most significant projects was writing 20 two-reel episodes for the serial movie Graft. He wrote scripts for 76 films between 1915 and 1938.[21]

The November 11, 1916 article The Moving Picture Weekly stated that Franklyn Farnum played a dual role and appeared in 340 of the 350 scenes in the movie "A Stranger From Somewhere."[22]

When films enter production, they need the means to reference the project. A Working title is assigned to the project. A Working Title can also be named an Alternate title. In many cases, a working title will become the release title.
Working titles are used primarily for two reasons:

• An official title for the project has not been determined
• A non-descript title to mask the real reason for making the movie.

The working title for this film was - In Love.[1]

Post-production is a crucial step in filmmaking, transforming the raw footage into the finished product. It requires skilled professionals working together to create a film that meets the director's vision and engages audiences.

The movie theater release of this film comprised five reels or roughly five thousand feet of film. The average time per reel is between ten and fifteen minutes. As a result, they estimated the total time for this movie to be between fifty and seventy-five minutes.[23]

Universal produced and distributed this film. The interiors were filmed in the studio complex at Universal Studios located at 100 Universal City Plaza in Universal City, California.[1]

This film was copyrighted to Bluebird Photoplays, Inc., on October 30, 1916.[lower-alpha 5] The official film release date to U.S. theaters was November 13, 1916.[1]

Burton Rice at work 1916

Rice poster for this movie

Advertising is essential for the success of a movie because it helps attract paying customers to the theater, resulting in higher box office revenues. A successful marketing campaign increases the hype by informing potential stakeholders about plotlines, actors, release dates, and other important information. Armed with this knowledge, a theater owner was better prepared to make a booking decision in a competitive market. In 1916, the most successful advertising for a movie was word-of-mouth, newspaper ads, and movie posters. [lower-alpha 4] In short, effective promotion tactics had to convince potential customers to visit the movie house.

Movie posters are a specific form of poster art that advertises a certain film. Advertising movies in magazines can be an effective way to appeal to a viewership and theater owners. The Bluebird Photoplay ads signaled the start of a new period of creativity in the movie ad industry.[24] Chicago graphic artist Burton Rice became part of the Universal advertising department.[25] He was 21 years of age.

Chicago lost one of its cleverest younger artists when the advertising department of the Universal home office induced Burton Rice to take up his residence in New York and be one of its staff. Mr. Rice’s work in modern art has been among the notable achievements of Chicago’s commercial art circles. His poster designs especially have been the cause of much favorable comment. Although always a creative department and the home of much unique ad copy, the Universal advertising department is now turning out its best work—and it is of the kind which compels attention. In Mr. Rice, Nat G. Rothstein and Ray Cavanaugh find a most capable co-worker.
— Motography - February 19, 1916, Burton Rice Now Universal Artist, [26]

Most of Universal's 1916 bluebird advertisements featured Rice's abstract poster art and his inserts gathered worldwide attention. His brief tenure ended in December 1916, when he set sail for Europe to become an Ambulance driver in World War I. Media related to Category:Artworks by Burton Rice at Wikimedia Commons

Movie reviews were critical opinions for theater owners and fans. Critiques of movies printed in different trade journals were vital in determining whether to book or watch the movie. Movie critics' evaluations of this film were mixed. When critics have divergent reviews, deciding whether to see or book the movie can be challenging, especially since mixed reviews do not mean it is a bad movie. In the end, it boils down to personal choices and how much value you place in the movie review and the reviewer.

Common adjectives used to review Melodramas in 1916
Term	Definition
Heart- *tugging *wrenching	One's deepest emotions or inner feelings. to tug at one's heartstrings
Histrionics	Exaggerated, overemotional behavior, especially when calculated to elicit a response; melodramatics
Hokum	(An instance of) excessively contrived, hackneyed, or sentimental material in a film
Mawkish	Excessively or falsely sentimental; showing a sickly excess of sentiment.
Meller	A melodrama.
Melodrama	A drama abounding in romantic sentiment and agonizing situations, with a musical accompaniment only in especially thrilling or pathetic parts.
Pathos	The quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions and passions, especially that which awakens tender emotions, such as pity, sorrow, and the like; contagious warmth of feeling, action, or expression; pathetic quality.
Pretentious	Marked by an unwarranted claim to importance or distinction
Sappy	Excessively sweet, emotional, nostalgic; cheesy; mushy.
Sentiment Sentimental	Feelings, especially tender feelings, as apart from reason or judgment, or of a weak or foolish kind
Tearjerker Tearful	An emotionally charged film, novel, song, opera, television episode, etc., usually with one or more sad passages or ending, so termed because it suggests one is likely to cry during its performance
Weepie	A sad or sentimental film, often portraying troubled romance, designed to elicit a tearful emotional response from its audience.
	All definitions were derived from the online Wiktionary – the free standard dictionary

• Peter Milne reviewed the movie in the November 18, 1916 issue of the" Motion Picture News," stated:[27]

  The direction was in charge of William Worthington who had as his principals Agnes Vernon and Franklyn Farnum. Miss Vernon is quite genuine in her role, while Mr. Farnum has two on his hands and does both nicely, drawing a distinct dividing line between them. The scenario was arranged to put out all thoughts of possible confusion regarding the stranger and the crook. And there is no double exposure either, which is a good thing.

• The reviewer in the November 16, 1916 issue of Wid's observed:[28]

  It can be readily seen that this is about as impossible a bunch of junk as was ever offered as a scenario. It is decidedly to the credit of Mr. Farnum and Miss Vernon that the production will register as fair entertainment with the average audience, even though they refuse absolutely to consider it any way convincing. There was a sweetness and sincerity about Miss Vernon's work which made this little beauty register as decidedly pleasing. Mr. Farnum had the challenge of making two distinctive characterizations register when wearing the same clothing. Many a bad play has been saved by the personalities of the hero and heroine, and consequently, this one has a fighting chance despite its faults.

• The reviewer in the November 4, 1916 issue of Motion Picture News, announced:[29]

  The play starts as a drama, and when everything is ready for serious business the complications run into comedy finishing with a surprise.

Universal focused on producing and distributing films for small-town venues. Unlike major Hollywood studios, Universal owned no movie theaters and depended on the movie house proprietors renting their films from worldwide exchanges. Before leasing a film, picture house owners were concerned if the film was a potential moneymaker in their locale. Proprietors would subscribe to trade journals to assist them in making these financial judgments. Movie magazines would show the film's branding, critical reviews and publish other managers' viewpoints, including attendance numbers and revenue. Universal and owners alike depended on these movie reviews and movie house experiences. This is one of the printed experiences of a theater owner.

• Fred McCoy, Rex Theatre  Gallup, New Mexico population 3,900[30]

  Letter to Bluebird Exchange
  Gentlemen - Enclosed find a check for service, also the contracts for "Hell Morgan's Girl." I used "A Stranger from Somewhere" on Sunday, and will say it was the best picture since "Love's Lariat," and  ...