Daddy-Long-Legs | |
---|---|
Directed by | Marshall Neilan |
Written by | Agnes Christine Johnston |
Story by | Jean Webster |
Based on | Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster |
Produced by | Mary Pickford |
Starring | Mary Pickford Milla Davenport Mahlon Hamilton |
Cinematography | Charles Rosher Henry Cronjager (uncredited) |
Production company | |
Distributed by | First National Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 85 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
Box office | $1.25 million [1] |
Daddy-Long-Legs is a 1919 American silent comedy-drama film directed by Marshall Neilan, and based on Jean Webster's 1912 novel Daddy-Long-Legs . The film stars Mary Pickford. [2] [3]
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."
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. [4] 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. [4]
Daddy Long Legs (1955) is a musical comedy film set in France, New York City, and the fictional college town of Walston, Massachusetts. The film was directed by Jean Negulesco, and stars Fred Astaire, Leslie Caron, Terry Moore, Fred Clark, and Thelma Ritter, with music and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The screenplay was written by Phoebe Ephron and Henry Ephron, loosely based on the 1912 novel Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster.
Marshall Ambrose "Mickey" Neilan was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, whose work in films began in the early silent era.
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is a 1917 American silent comedy-drama film directed by Marshall Neilan based upon the 1903 novel of the same name by Kate Douglas Wiggin. This version is notable for having been adapted by famed female screenwriter Frances Marion. The film was made by the "Mary Pickford Company" and was an acclaimed box office hit. When the play premiered on Broadway in the 1910 theater season the part of Rebecca was played by Edith Taliaferro.
Daddy-Long-Legs is a 1912 epistolary novel by the American writer Jean Webster. It follows the protagonist, Jerusha "Judy" Abbott, as she leaves an orphanage and is sent to college by a benefactor whom she has never seen.
Jean Webster was the pen name of Alice Jane Chandler Webster, an American author whose books include Daddy-Long-Legs and Dear Enemy. Her best-known books feature lively and likeable young female protagonists who come of age intellectually, morally, and socially, but with enough humor, snappy dialogue, and gently biting social commentary to make her books palatable and enjoyable to contemporary readers.
Joan Marsh was an American child actress in silent films between 1915 and 1921. Later, during the sound era, she resumed her acting career and performed in a variety of films during the 1930s and 1940s.
Milla Davenport was an American stage and film actress who first appeared with the repertory company of her husband, actor Harry J. Davenport (1870-1929), for fifteen years.
Megan McGinnis is an American Broadway actress, who performed in the role of Éponine, in the revival of Les Misérables. She created the role of Jerusha Abbott in the Off-Broadway production of Daddy Long Legs. She played Belle in Beauty and the Beast
Dear Enemy is the 1915 sequel to Jean Webster's 1912 novel Daddy-Long-Legs. It was among the top 10 best sellers in the U.S. in 1916. The story is presented in a series of letters written by Sallie McBride, Judy Abbott's classmate and best friend in Daddy-Long-Legs. Among the recipients of the letters are Judy; Jervis Pendleton, Judy's husband and the president of the orphanage where Sallie is filling in until a new superintendent can be installed; Gordon Hallock, a wealthy Congressman and Sallie's later fiancé; and the orphanage's doctor, embittered Scotsman Robin 'Sandy' MacRae. Webster employs the epistolary structure to good effect; Sallie's choices of what to recount to each of her correspondents reveal a lot about her relationships with them.
My Daddy Long Legs is a Japanese animated television series based on the novel Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster.
Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley is a 1918 American silent romantic comedy film starring Mary Pickford that was directed by Marshall Neilan and written by Frances Marion based upon a novel by Belle K. Maniates.
Stella Maris is a 1918 American silent drama film directed by Marshall Neilan, written by Frances Marion and based on William John Locke's 1913 novel of the same name. The film stars Mary Pickford in dual roles as the title character and an orphan servant.
Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall is a 1924 American silent historical drama film directed by Marshall Neilan and starring Mary Pickford. The script by Waldemar Young was based upon the 1902 novel Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall by Charles Major.
Daddy Long Legs (1931) is an American pre-Code film directed by Alfred Santell and starring Janet Gaynor and Warner Baxter. The story involves an orphan who is taken under the wing of a wealthy benefactor.
Daddy Long Legs or Vadertje Langbeen is a 1938 Dutch romantic comedy film directed by Frederic Zelnik, based on Jean Webster's 1912 novel of the same name - one of several adaptations of that book.
A Girl of Yesterday is a 1915 American silent comedy film directed by Allan Dwan, and distributed by Paramount Pictures and Famous Players–Lasky. The film starred Mary Pickford as an older woman. Before this film, Pickford was mainly cast in "little girl" roles which were popular with the public. A Girl of Yesterday costarred Pickford's younger brother Jack, Marshall Neilan, Donald Crisp and Frances Marion, who later became a prolific screenwriter. Real life aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin also made a cameo in the film.
Edith Marilyn Fellows was an American actress who became a child star in the 1930s. Best known for playing orphans and street urchins, Fellows was an expressive actress with a good singing voice. She made her screen debut at the age of five in Charley Chase's film short Movie Night (1929). Her first credited role in a feature film was The Rider of Death Valley (1932). By 1935, she had appeared in over twenty films. Her performance opposite Claudette Colbert and Melvyn Douglas in She Married Her Boss (1935) won her a seven-year contract with Columbia Pictures, the first such contract offered to a child.
Daddy Long Legs is a stage musical with a book by John Caird, and music and lyrics by Paul Gordon. It is based on the 1912 novel of the same name by Jean Webster. Set in turn-of-the-century New England, the musical tells the story of orphan Jerusha Abbott of the John Grier Home and her mysterious benefactor who agrees to send her to college, who she dubs "Daddy Long Legs" after seeing his elongated shadow. Under the conditions of her benefactor, Jerusha sends him a letter once a month, describing her new-found experiences with life outside the orphanage.
Love from Judy is a musical with music by Hugh Martin, lyrics by Martin and Jack Gray, and a book by Eric Maschwitz and Jean Webster. It is based on Webster's novel and play Daddy-Long-Legs. The original production opened in Coventry in 1951 and then moved to the Saville Theatre on the West End and opened on September 25, 1952. The production was also televised in 1953.
Daddy-Long-Legs is a 1914 play by the American writer Jean Webster. Webster adapted it from her own 1912 epistolary novel Daddy-Long-Legs.