No. 16 Martin Street

If Bess Meredyth needed inspiration for this movie's storyline, she needed to look no further than the pamphlet quoted in the box. The "Dope" evil was a scourge sweeping Hollywood and the country in 1916. Drug use and debauchery would peak in Hollywood in the 1920s. Hollywood made hundreds of films based on drug use and their associated crimes. The reader will notice this movie covered the pamphlet's cocaine warnings of "homicide" and "loss of moral and social sense."

According to the book - The Story, Carl Laemmle (1867-1939) produced around 91 movies in 1916.[6] Lloyd B. Carleton (c. 1872–1933) started working for Carl Laemmle in the Fall of 1915.[7] Carleton arrived with impeccable credentials, having directed some 60 films for the likes of Thanhouser, Lubin, Fox, and Selig.[8] Between March and December 1916, 44-year-old Lloyd Carleton directed 16 movies for Universal, starting with The Yaqui and ending with The Morals of Hilda. Emory Johnson acted in all 16 of these films. Of Carleton's total 1916 output, 11 were feature films, and the rest were two-reel shorts.

In 1916, Carleton directed all 13 films pairing Dorothy Davenport and Emory Johnson. This film would be the seventh in the 13-film series. These totals show Carl Laemmle was clearly giving the Davenport-Johnson pairing one of his elite directors from the working cadre of universal directors to produce the screen chemistry Laemmle was seeking.

All players in this film were under contract with Universal.

• Dorothy Davenport (1895-1977) was an established star for Universal when the 21 year-old actress played Cleo. She had acted in hundreds of movies by the time she starred in this film. The majority of these films were 2-reel shorts, as was the norm in Hollywood's teen years. She had been making movies since 1910. She started dating Wally Reid when she was barely 16, and he was 20. They married in 1913. After her husband died in 1923, she used the name "Mrs. Wallace Reid" in the credits for any project she took part in.[9] Besides being an actress, she would eventually become a film director, producer, and writer.[10][note 5]
• Emory Johnson (1894-1960) was 22 years old when he starred in this movie as Jacques Fournier. Carl Laemmle of Universal Film Manufacturing Company thought he saw great potential in Johnson, so he chooses him to be Universal's new leading man. Laemmle's hope was Johnson would become another Wallace Reed. A major part of his plan was to create a movie couple that would sizzle on the silver screen. Laemmle thought Dorothy Davenport and Emory Johnson could create the chemistry he sought. Johnson and Davenport would complete 13 films together. They started with the successful feature production of Doctor Neighbor in May 1916 and ended with The Devil's Bondwoman in November 1916. After completing the last movie, Laemmle thought Johnson did not have the screen presence he wanted. He decided not to renew his contract.[11][10] Johnson would make 17 movies in 1916, including 6 shorts and 11 feature-length Dramas. 1916 would become the second-highest movie output of his entire acting career. Emory acted in 25 films for Universal, mostly dramas with a sprinkling of comedies and westerns.
• Gretchen Lederer (1891-1955) was a 25 year-old actress when she landed this role as Audrey Devine. Lederer was a German actress getting her first start in 1912 with Carl Laemmle. At the time of this film, she was still a Universal contract actress. She had previously acted in two Bosworth-Johnson projects preceding this movie - The Yaqui and Two Men of Sandy Bar. She would unite with Emory Johnson in the 1916 productions of A Yoke of Gold and The Morals of Hilda.
• Alfred Allen (1866-1947) was 50 years old when he played Brown. He got his start in the film industry at Universal city in 1913. He landed his first role in 1915. His roles were character parts, and he played mostly fathers, villains, or ranch owners. Alfred Allen appeared in 69 features from 1916 through 1929. After making Heartaches, he would appear in four more Davenport-Johnson projects: A Yoke of Gold, The Unattainable, The Human Gamble and Barriers of Society.[12]
• Jack Abbot (1886-1964) was 29 years old when he played Max. Jack was an actor, eventually becoming a writer and assistant director. The bulk of his roles during his acting career were in short subjects. He spent all of 1916 under contract with Universal. This role was his only known associateship with Lloyd B. Carleton production in 1916.[13]

Bess Meredyth (1890-1969) was 26 years old when she created the screenplay for this film. She would become one of the most successful women screenwriters of her time. She began as a short story writer for various newspapers, then became an extra at D.W. Griffith's Biograph Studios in New York. She moved to Los Angeles in 1911. Meredyth worked as an actress, subsidizing her income with screenwriting. She wrote stories or screenplays for 24 movies in 1916. Between 1914 and 1920, she wrote two hundred original stories while she worked at Universal. It should also be noted; she was one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[14]

The official copyrighted title of this photoplay is No. 16 Martin Street.[15]

There is no known reference of the working title for this film. There are newspapers and magazine listings of:

• Number 16 Martin Place[16]
• No. 16 Martin Place[17]
• 16 Martin Street[18]

Universal Ad on the future of short films

Based on an American Film Institute standard, films with a running time of forty minutes or longer are considered feature films.[19]

By 1915, feature films were starting to become more the trend in Hollywood. While advertising this film, a Universal ad is shown in the graphic, also expounds on short films.

The moving picture business is here to stay. That you must admit despite carping critics and blundering sore-heads. True, some exhibitors have found business so good lately — but if you get down to facts when you look for a reason why, it's a 100 to 1 shot that they are, and for some time have been, dallying with a feature program. Some of these wise ones will tell you that business has picked up since they went into features, — BUT — ask them whether they are talking NET or GROSS. They will find they have an immediate appointment and terminate your queries unceremoniously. Funny how we like to kid ourselves, isn't it? The man who is packing 'em in and losing money on features is envied by his competitor, who is laying by a bit every day, and has a good steady, dependable patronage but admits to a few vacant seats at some performances. When this chap wakes up, he will realize that he has a gold mine and that good advertising will make it produce to capacity. The moral is that if you can tie up to the Universal Program, DO IT. If you can't NOW, watch your first chance. Let the people know what you have, and let the feature man go on to ruin if he wants to. You should worry![20]

The movie was filmed at the studio complex at Universal Studios located at 100 Universal City Plaza in Universal City, California

As part of Universal's in-house publication The Moving Picture Weekly, a section was devoted to proposing musical selections for specific movies. The musical selections were "Specially Selected and Compiled by M. Winkler." The music recommended for this film were:[21]

The copyright was filed with U.S. Copyright Office and entered into the record as shown:

This film was officially released on July 13, 1916.

Try this look!

In Universal's trade journal magazine, The Moving Picture Weekly a new advertising section was started titled - PUTTING IT OVER. The section heading reads as follows:

Are you "Putting 'em Over," friend Exhibitor? Are you taking advantage of this new department of advertising suggestions and making a noise in your town that echoes in the tinkle of coins at the box office?

The July 1, 1916 issue of The Moving Picture Weekly had the following advertising suggestions for 16 Martin Street:

A detective story that immediately suggests a Sherlock Holmes make-up as illustrated. Get a man dressed in a long and loud Ulster coat or Mackintosh, with a long mustache, a fore-and-aft cap, a big pipe, and a placard on his back with the name of the photoplay as shown. On his breast, let him show a placard with your theatre name and date. People will see that first as they meet him. and they will turn to rubber, getting a flash at the title then.[18]

The newspaper ad displayed in the film's infobox shows No. 16 Martin Street playing with two other films. The details of the other two films are:

• Adele Farrington and Pat Rooney starring the one-reel comedy The Belle & the Bell Hop.[22]
• Lucille Young and Jack Nelson starring the one-reel drama A Man's Hardest Fight.[23]

Referencing "The Universal Program" detailed above, this is an example of a "diversified program."

Lengthy detailed reviews for short films were not commonplace in 1916. The trade journals devoted lengthy critical reviews, and detailed plot outlines to feature films while giving short films abbreviated summaries and reviews. Unlike other short movies, No. 16 Martin Street was favored with several long film reviews. Critical reaction to the film seemed mostly favorable, as seen below.

In the July 15, 1916 issue of the Moving Picture News, quoted from the Tabloid Reviews for the Busy Exhibitor:[1]

Detective pictures, much on the order of detective stories, are either good or bad - there is no between. No. 16 Martin Street is good. It holds the attention every minute, which is the best thing that can be said of it.

In the July 15, 1916 issue of The Moving Picture World, quoted from the section - Comments on the Films - Exclusively by our own Staff:[24]

Dorothy Davenport does pleasing work as the girl who aids the detective. The story deals with sordid types but is well handled and makes altogether quite a strong offering.

In the July 8, 1916 issue of The Moving Picture Weekly, a slightly biased review published in the Universal weekly film periodical states:[25]

NO. 16 MARTIN ST. combines two significant phases of modern life; one is the rise of the science of criminology, and the other the prevalence of a new vice, the "dope" evil. In this picture, the "movie fan" is given a treat that has long been known to the readers of A. Conan Doyle and Craig Kennedy. In addition, the cover of metropolitan life is ripped off, and the seamy side is laid bare. A drama of vice and crime and their detection.

Starks, Michael (1982). Cocaine Fiends and Reefer Madness--an Illustrated History of Drugs in the Movies 1894-1978. Ronin Publishing Inc. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-57951-189-0. Retrieved May 10, 2021. Quick Watson, the Needle! As a practicing physician in the 1880s, Arthur Conan Doyle had ample opportunity to learn about the stimulant and euphoric properties of cocaine, which by 1885 was being touted as a panacea. It is not too surprising then to find the hero of his early novels, Sherlock Holmes, using cocaine. . .