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The Blood Red Tape of Charity

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The Blood Red Tape of Charity
A film still from the lost film
Directed byEdwin August
Written byEdwin August
Produced byPat Powers
StarringEdwin August
Distributed byUniversal Film Manufacturing Company
Release date
  • September 26, 1913 (1913-09-26)
CountryUnited States
LanguagesSilent
English intertitles

The Blood Red Tape of Charity is a 1913 American silent short drama film written, directed and starring by Edwin August and produced by Pat Powers. August wrote the scenario with the intent to highlight the evils of organized charity while entertaining the viewers. The film focuses on William Weldon, a telegraph lineman who is injured on the job and cannot work for several weeks. The family seeks aid from charity organizations, but "red tape" regulations prevent the family from receiving timely assistance. A gentleman thief named Marx decides to do one last job for the benefit of the family. Marx forces a doctor to treat the Weldon's invalid daughter Alice before proceeding to rob a charity ball's attendees. Marx pawns the stolen articles and saves the family before turning himself into the police.

The film was released on September 26, 1913 and played in theaters throughout the United States. The unbilled cast list has been stated to include Lon Chaney in the role of the pawn broker. The propaganda film was billed as a popular love story by theaters, but the production was the subject of much concern by organized charities. The Charity Organization Societies sought to produce a film to counter the negative portrayal of charities in The Blood Red Tape of Charity. P. L. Whitney stopped short of directly calling the film's portrayal dangerous, but advocated that charity members use the media to highlight the film's faults and exaggerations. Patricia Erens would use the surviving film still of the pawn broker, claimed to be Lon Chaney by scholars, as an example of Jewish character archetypes that were prominent in silent films. The film is now considered lost.

Synopsis

The film's plot survives because of Universal's publication of the details in Moving Picture News. The official description is as follows, "Charity, through excessive organization, often defeats its own purpose. William Weldon, a telegraph lineman, is the father of a large family, and finds it a hard struggle to make ends meet on his small wages. By a fall from a telegraph pole one afternoon he sustains injuries which force a lay-off for several weeks. His family is left destitute and, after a time, seek aid from various charity organizations. In each case the organization promises to make a full investigation and do what they can, but by the time all the red tape and rules are complied with, the family would starve. In the meantime, Marx, a gentleman thief who has a secret retreat in the same building in which the Weldon family live, meets the invalid daughter, Alice Weldon. She tells him of the family's condition and Marx endeavors to aid her, although at the time he is out of ready cash himself. Taking desperate measures, he holds up a doctor and forces him to attend to Weldon. Then, in company with the female leader of the gang, he attends the charity ball. There he makes a haul — plucking jewelry and trinkets from every one with whom he comes in contact. He pawns the stolen articles and uses the money to help the Weldons. After the family has recovered, through Marx's aid, the charity organizations finally send a few dollars and a skimpy supply of food. Marx decides to reform — in fact, his reformation has been intended for some time, and his last "job" was only the outcome of his desire to do a worthy charity. He goes to the police, declares himself, and surrenders. Marx is sentenced, and while sitting in his cell a vision of Alice appeared before him, repaying him for his sacrifice and charity."[1]

Cast

It is possible that Mary Charleston was a part of the cast due to the Edwin August having been noted as working with her in Powers' productions.[3]

Production

According to an interview with Dorothy Donnell, Edwin August wrote The Blood Red Tape of Charity with an intent on showing the evils of organized charity.[4] August would also direct the production.[2] Within months of completing this production, August would leave Universal. Donnell stated that August was tired of earning money for other people when he would make more under his own brand.[4]

The film's cast and credits were unbilled and very few details emerged, but the film has been claimed to have featured Lon Chaney by two scholars. Jon Mirsalis states that Lon Chaney has an unbilled part as a pawnbroker.[2] Michael Blake also notes that Lon Chaney had a role in the film, but Blake also states that the film had only one reel and lists the production code as 0119. Blake's claim that it was a single reel is the subject of dispute because the release was originally as a two reel production in publications and many advertisements for the film.[5][6]

Release

Contemporary newspaper advertising a double feature with The Blood Red Tape of Charity.

The two-reel film was released on September 26, 1913 by Universal Film Manufacturing Company under the Powers label.[6] On August 15, 1913, prior to the film's release, the Daily Capital Journal of Salem, Oregon contained a brief section on Edwin August which lists The Blood Red Tape of Charity as one of his latest successes.[3] This occurs more than a month prior to the film's release, is not known to have appeared in any other source or any known pre-release viewing event. After the film was released nationwide, advertisements for its viewing included newspapers in El Paso, Texas,[7] Chicago, Illinois,[8] Indiana,[9] Iowa,[10][11] Ohio,[12] Nebraska,[13] Kansas,[14] and Pennsylvania.[15][16]

Reception

Jon C. Mirsalis's website cites a review in Moving Picture World which states "There is considerable strength in the offering, but it has some bad faults. One of these is melodramatic and insincere acting. The photography is good and in spite of numerous absurdities the picture has strong moments."[2] Descriptive ads for the film were often informative, an ad by the Crystal Theater would indicate that August wrote and acted in the film, but also did not shy away from film's depiction of charity organizations and instead promoted the films defining message as "Charity Organizations Pay Dearly for Incompetency".[10] Another advertisement would cite the New York World review detailing the propaganda film's intent to gain public attention to incite a "regeneration" of charitable organizations.[17] An advertisement in the El Paso Herald by the Alamo Theater described the film as "a beautiful story of love, devotion and charity. It is a strong moral lesson and should appeal to the "charity workers" in this country."[7] The advertisement would also say the film would make viewers more charitable and good,[7] but the film's critique on charity workers in particular would be far from appealing or well received.

The film provoked a response by the Charity Organization Societies because the film's melodramatic and exaggerated depiction of the family's suffering due to regulation delays. The response to letters about the film the Charity Organization Bulletin wished for a scenario to be written and produced to "give a true picture of the work done by organized charity."[18] In the book, The Charity Organization Movement in the United States: A Study in American Philanthropy, Volume 19, the film said to be to an attack on organized charity by a distortion of the facts.[19] These characterizations were accurate as August's intention to instruct and entertain audiences of the evils of organized charity makes The Blood Red Tape of Charity a propaganda film by definition.[4] Another response by P. L. Whitney, Extension Secretary of United Charities, stopped short of calling the film outright dangerous, but noted its intent and the "poetic justice" that surrounds the two secretaries, one of whom results in Marx postponing his retirement, and later takes their jewelry to provide for the family. Whitney advised the editor and readers to keep watch for the film and use the media to highlight its faults and exaggerations.[20]

Patricia Erens would use the film still of the pawnbroker, claimed by Mirsalis to be Lon Chaney, as an example of the common depictions of the Jews in her book The Jew in American Cinema.[2][21] The film is now considered lost.[22] It is unknown when the film was lost, but if it was in Universal's vaults it would have been deliberately destroyed along with the remaining copies of Universal's silent era films in 1948.[23]

References

  1. ^ "Moving Picture News (Jul - Oct 1913) (Jul - Oct 1913)". Cinematograph Publishing Company. 1913. p. 444. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Mirsalis, Jon. The Blood Red Tape of Charity. Lon Chaney.org.
  3. ^ a b "Screen Favorite is clever Photoplay Artist". Daily Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon). August 15, 1913. p. 4. Retrieved September 12, 2014 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b c "The Motion Picture Story Magazine (Feb-Jul 1914) (Feb-Jul 1914)". The Motion Picture Publishing Co. 1914. p. 845. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  5. ^ Blake, Michael F. (2001). The Films of Lon Chaney. Madison Books. p. 2.
  6. ^ a b "Exhibitors' Times (May-Sep 1913) (May-Sep 1913)". Wm. A. Johnston. 1913. p. 28. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  7. ^ a b c "(El Paso Herald Ad)". El Paso Herald (El Paso, Texas). September 26, 1913. p. 5. Retrieved September 12, 2014 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Linden Photodrome". Suburbanite Economist (Chicago, Illinois). September 26, 1913. p. 3. Retrieved September 12, 2014 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Edwin August at the Colonial". The Huntington Herald (Huntington, Indiana). September 26, 1913. p. 5. Retrieved September 12, 2014 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ a b "(Crystal Theater Ad)". The Evening Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa). September 26, 1913. p. 11. Retrieved September 12, 2014 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "(Grand Ad)". The Perry Daily Chief (Perry, Iowa). October 20, 1913. p. 2. Retrieved September 12, 2014 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "American Theatre Open From One Till Eleven O'Clock Monday". The Chronicle-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio). September 29, 1913. p. 1. Retrieved September 12, 2014 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "(Crystal Theater Ad)". The North Platte Semi-Weekly Tribune (North Platte, Nebraska). October 3, 1913. Retrieved September 12, 2014 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "(Lyric Theater Ad)". The Ottawa Daily Republic (Ottawa, Kansas). October 20, 1913. p. 3. Retrieved September 12, 2014 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "(Colonial Ad)". The Indiana Gazette (Indiana, Pennsylvania). November 6, 1913. p. 1. Retrieved September 12, 2014 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "(Gem Theater Ad)". The Daily Republican (Monongahela, Pennsylvania). November 12, 1913. p. 1. Retrieved September 12, 2014 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "(The Patee Ad)". Lawrence Daily Journal-World (Lawrence, Kansas). October 25, 1913. p. 5. Retrieved September 12, 2014 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Charity Organization Bulletin]". Charity Organization Department of the Russell Sage Foundation. 1913. pp. 165–167. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  19. ^ Watson, Frank Dekker (1922). "The Charity Organization Movement in the United States: A Study in American Philanthropy, Volume 19". Macmillan. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  20. ^ The Survey: Social, Charitable, Civic : a Journal of Constructive Philanthropy, Volume 31. Charity Organization Society of the City of New York. 1914. pp. 207–208.
  21. ^ Erens, Patricia (1988). The Jew in American Cinema. Indiana University Press. pp. 70, 108.
  22. ^ "Silent Era: The Blood Red Tape of Charity". Silent Era.com. Retrieved June 10, 2008.
  23. ^ Ohlheiser, Abby (December 4, 2013). "Most of America's Silent Films Are Lost Forever". The Wire. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
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