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Little Sister
(1909) United States of America
B&W : One reel / 975 feet
Directed by [?] Edwin S. Porter?
Cast: Ethel Browning (Fay Tincher) [the little sister], Bertram Yost (Barry O’Moore) [Dick, the brother], Tefft Johnson [Mr. St. Clair], Josephine Fox [Mrs. Manning], Maggie Weston [Mrs. McGlynn]
Edison Manufacturing Company production; distributed by Edison Manufacturing Company. / Scenario by Edward W. Townsend. / © 14 September 1909 by Edison Manufacturing Company [J131808, J131809, J131810]. Released 14 September 1909. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Every great city has some particular section that stands out clear and distinct from all others because of the peculiar characteristics of its denizens in their daily walks of life. London has her West End, Paris her Latin Quarter and New York her East Side. It is from the latter that material for our silent drama was drawn, and no one is more competent to correctly picture the life and habits of the denizens of the crowded East Side tenement district than Edward W. Townsend, the famous author of “Chimmie Fadden;” for he has made an exhaustive study of the underworld where virtue and vice walk hand in hand with poverty and crime. In the opening scene of “Little Sister” Mr. Townsend introduces us to what is commonly called the “sky parlor” of the tenement district, the roof of a house. Here we see Jew and Gentile, foreigner and native, mingling in a common fellowship, all because of the crying need of that community, want of God’s fresh air. We are shown the silent, pathetic figure of a youth who, though naturally good at heart, because of his association and environments is losing the great battle of life. Already he has slipped into the class called, “suspects” by the Central Office men. His faculties dwarfed by his constant contact with misery and crime, Dick has ceased to strive for an honest means of livelihood. Embittered by his lot, he regards society as his natural enemy and ekes out his precarious living without the effort of labor, though with the full knowledge that in doing so he is hourly gambling with the price of liberty. All this is unknown to “Little Sister,” who dearly loves him and for whom he entertains an affection strikingly at variance with his evil habits. We see her in the small but neat room over which she presides as housekeeper, alternately fondling her doll and preparing a meal in fond anticipation of Dick’s return; while at the same time we witness his theft of a pocketbook from an aged member of the group on the tenement roof. The theft traced to Dick through the suspicion that is ever attached to his presence, she refuses to believe his guilt but determines, with a precocity born of hard knocks, to thereafter follow and guard his footsteps lest he succumb to temptation. Along the crowded streets Dick prowls, with ever-shifting eye alert for opportunity to pick a pocket or steal a valuable, the pathetic figure of his little guardian angel, with rag doll clutched tightly in her arms, ever close by. His opportunity comes in front of a theater, but the attempt is clumsy and the watch on which his fingers close for an instant is jostled from his grasp and falls to the sidewalk, where it is recovered. Wandering along the residential portion of Fifth Avenue, an open window attracts his attention. A momentary glance up and down the street and he mounts the iron railing and climbs into the house of wealth, observed by none but “Little Sister,” who is crouching in the shadow of a neighboring stoop. Once in the room, he hides behind a screen and waits for a propitious hour to carry out his plans. Chance does not favor him, for the master of the house, while in the act of closing the window, discovers his presence, overpowers him and sends for the police. While awaiting their arrival Mr. St. Clair is astonished to see the window raised and an elfish figure, doll in arms, climb through and gaze enquiringly about. Discovering their presence and realizing what arrest will mean to the brother she loves so dearly, “Little Sister” throws herself on her knees and pleads for his release. Struck by her resemblance to his own little girl whom death has taken from him, and moved by the sincerity of her pleading, his captor not only grants her request but gives the youth a fresh start in life, far from the temptations of the city. The story closes with scenes of “Little Sister” and her now reformed brother enjoying the simple and wholesome life of the country.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 14 April 2024.
References: Pratt-Spellbound p. ? : Website-AFI; Website-IMDb.
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