Daddy-Long-Legs (1919 film)

A police officer finds a baby in a trash can, and Mrs. Lippett, the cruel matron at an orphanage where children are made to work, names her "Jerusha Abbott" (she picks "Abbott" out of a phone book and gets "Jerusha" from a tombstone). The orphan, who comes to be called Judy, does what she can to stand up for the younger children, frequently clashing with both Mrs. Lippett and the cold hearted trustees. At one point she leads a rebellion against being served prunes with every meal and at another, steals a doll from a selfish rich girl to lend to a dying orphan.

Years later, wealthy Jervis Pendleton, a mysterious benefactor, pays to send Judy, now the oldest and most talented child in the orphanage, to college. He insists, however, that Judy must never try to contact him in person. Judy calls him "Daddy-Long-Legs," and writes to him, however. Judy proves popular with her wealthier and more "aristocratic" classmates, and writes a successful book to repay "Daddy-Long-Legs" the money he spent on her. She is generally happy but misses not having any real family members to take pride in her accomplishments. Judy also finds herself caught up in a romantic triangle with the older brother of a classmate and an older man (who is, unknown to her, her mysterious benefactor). She eventually chooses the older suitor and is delighted to learn that he is her "Daddy-Long-Legs."

• Mary Pickford as Jerusha "Judy" Abbott
• Milla Davenport as Mrs. Lippett
• Miss Percy Haswell as Miss Pritchard
• Fay Lemport as Angelina Gwendolin Rosalind "Angie" Wykoff
• Mahlon Hamilton as Mr.Jervis Pendleton
• Lillian Langdon as Mrs. Pendleton
• Betty Bouton as Julia "Julie" Pendleton
• Audrey Chapman as Sallie "Sally" Mc Bride
• Marshall A. Neilan as Jimmie Mc Bride
• Carrie Clark Ward as Mrs. Semple
• Wesley Barry as Orphan Boy (uncredited)
• True Eames Boardman as Orphan Boy (uncredited)
• Jeanne Carpenter (uncredited)
• Estelle Evans (uncredited)
• Fred Huntley (uncredited)
• Frankie Lee (uncredited)
• Joan Marsh (uncredited)

The plot uses a series of episodes, some separated by time gaps, many humorous, that often pose opposites, like rich and poor or male and female, to advance the story.{{Citation |last=Tieber |first=Claus |editor-last=Bull |editor-first=Sofia |editor2-last=Widding |editor2-first=Astrid Söderbergh |title=Not so Silent: Women in Cinema before Sound |place=Stockholm, Sweden |publisher=Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis |series=Stockholm Studies in Film History |year=2010 |chapter=Not Quite Classical Hollywood Cinema: the Narrative Structure of Frances Marion’s Screenplays |pages=96–98, 101–102 |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/417336 |chapter-url-access=registration |isbn=978-91-86071-40-0}} The treatment of the orphanage is modern and not sentimental, the hard life there is not funny. However, Judy is not an active agent in the story in that, while trying to make the best of her situation, things happen to her beyond her control.

{{reflist}}

• {{commons category-inline|Daddy-Long-Legs (1919 film)}}
• {{wikisource-inline|Daddy-Long-Legs (film)|single=true}}
• {{IMDb title|0010040|Daddy-Long-Legs}}
• [http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/D/DaddyLongLegs1919.html Daddy-Long-Legs] at silentera.com
• {{Internet Archive film|JohannaEnlists1918MaryPickfordWilliamDesmondTaylor|Daddy-Long-Legs}}

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Category:1919 films

Category:1919 comedy-drama films

Category:1910s English-language films

Category:American silent feature films

Category:American black-and-white films

Category:Films based on American novels

Category:Films shot in California

Category:Articles containing video clips

Category:First National Pictures films

Category:Films directed by Marshall Neilan

Category:1910s American films

Category:Silent American comedy-drama films

Category:Daddy-Long-Legs (novel)

Category:English-language comedy-drama films