Erstwhile Susan
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Erstwhile Susan
| image = File:Erstwhile Susan (1919) - 19.jpg
| caption = Advertisement for the film
| director = John S. Robertson
Shaw Lovett (assistant director)
| producer = Realart Pictures
| writer = Kathryn Stuart (writer)
| starring = Constance Binney
Mary Alden
| music =
| cinematography = Roy Overbaugh
| editing =
| distributor = Realart Pictures
| released = {{Film date|1919|11|16}}
| runtime = 6 reels (1639.02 meters)
| country = United States
| language = Silent (English intertitles)
| based_on = {{based on|Barnabetta|Helen Reimensnyder Martin}}
}}
File:Erstwhile Susan (1919) - 3.jpg
Erstwhile Susan is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by John S. Robertson, produced and distributed by Realart Pictures. It is based on a 1914 novel Barnabetta by Helen Reimensnyder Martin and later Broadway play Erstwhile Susan by Marian De Forest. Minnie Maddern Fiske starred in the Broadway play in 1916. This film version stars Mary Alden and Constance Binney, then an up-and-coming young actress. This film version, once thought to be lost, survives at the Museum of Modern Art.The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1911-20 by The American Film Institute, c. 1988[http://ibdb.com/production.php?id=8261 Erstwhile Susan as produced on Broadway at the Gaiety Theatre, January 18, 1916 to June 1916, 167 performances; IBDb.com][http://www.google.com/search?q=constance+binney&btnG=Search+Books&tbm=bks&tbo=1 Silent Players: A Biographical and Autobiographical Study of 100 Silent Film actors and actresses; by Anthony Slide, pp. 21-24 c.2002]
Erstwhile Susan was the first film by Realart Films, Adolph Zukor's offshoot affiliate of his Famous Players–Lasky enterprise.
Plot
As described in an adoption in the November 1919 issue of the film magazine Shadowland,{{cite journal |last=Ward |first=Jane |title=Erstwhile Susan |publisher=M. P. Publishing Co.|journal=Shadowland |volume=1 |issue=3 |date=November 1919 |location=New York |pages=35–38, 67, 72 |url=https://archive.org/details/shadowland01mppu}} Barnabetta (Constance Binney) dreams of furthering her education, but her Mennonite father Jacob (Bradley Barker) disapproves. Jacob later marries Erstwhile Susan (Mary Alden), who has money and changes the family relationships, and sends Barnabetta to college. After graduation, she helps David Jordan (Jere Austin) run for the Senate, who then professes his love for her.
Cast
- Constance Binney as Barnabetta Dreary
- Jere Austin as David Jordan
- Alfred Hickman as Dr. Edgar Barrett
- Mary Alden as Erstwhile Susan
- Anders Randolf as Barnaby Dreary
- Georges Renavent as Emanuel Dreary
- Bradley Barker as Jacob Dreary
- Leslie Hunt as Albert Buchter
- Clare Verdera (unidentified, uncredited role)
Preservation
A copy of the film survives at the Museum of Modern Art. Erstwhile Susan is the only Constance Binney film that survives in a complete form.{{cite book |last=Slide |first=Anthony |author-link=Anthony Slide |title=Silent Players: A Biographical and Autobiographical Study of 100 Silent Film Actors and Actresses |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |chapter=Constance Binney |year=2010 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=plpL_xdI6NoC |isbn=978-0-8131-2249-6}} All of her other work has been lost except for a single reel from First Love (1921).
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Erstwhile Susan}}
- {{IMDb title|0010090}}
- Martin, Helen Reimensnyder, [https://archive.org/details/barnabetta00martiala Barnabetta], New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1914 edition illustrated with scenes from the play Erstwhile Susan
{{John S. Robertson}}
Category:American silent feature films
Category:Silent American drama films
Category:Films based on American novels
Category:American films based on plays
Category:Paramount Pictures films
Category:Films directed by John S. Robertson
Category:American black-and-white films
Category:Films based on multiple works
Category:1910s English-language films
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