''The Little Boss'' is a 1919 American silent

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by David Smith and produced by

Vitagraph Studios Vitagraph Studios, also known as the Vitagraph Company of America, was a United States motion picture studio. It was founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York, as the American Vitagraph Company. By 1907, ...

. The story and screenplay were by

Rida Johnson Young Rida Johnson Young (February 28, 1875 – May 8, 1926) was an American playwright, songwriter and librettist.IBDBRida Johnson Young Retrieved November 21, 2007 In her career, Young wrote over thirty plays and musicals, and over 500 songs. She ...

, and it starred

Bessie Love Bessie Love (born Juanita Horton; September 10, 1898April 26, 1986) was an American-British actress who achieved prominence playing innocent, young girls and wholesome leading ladies in silent and early sound films. Her acting career spanned ei ...

and

Wallace MacDonald Wallace Archibald MacDonald (5 May 1891 – 30 October 1978) was a Canadian silent film actor and film producer. Biography MacDonald was born in Mulgrave, Nova Scotia, Canada, and attended school in Sydney, Nova Scotia. He started as a mess ...

. The film is presumed

lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

Production

Exterior scenes were filmed at the Little River Redwood Company, an actual

lumber camp A logging camp (or lumber camp) is a transitory work site used in the logging industry. Before the second half of the 20th century, these camps were the primary place where lumberjacks would live and work to fell trees in a particular area. Many ...

Eureka, California Eureka (Wiyot: ''Jaroujiji'', Hupa: ''do'-wi-lotl-ding'', Karuk: ''uuth'') is the principal city and county seat of Humboldt County in the Redwood Empire region of California. The city is located on U.S. Route 101 on the shores of Humboldt ...

. Scenes with

log flume A log flume is a watertight flume constructed to transport lumber and logs down mountainous terrain using flowing water. Flumes replaced horse- or oxen-drawn carriages on dangerous mountain trails in the late 19th century. Logging operations pre ...

s were filmed in

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...

Plot

Peggy (Love) is the owner of a lumber camp, and she falls for Clayton, a man from the city (MacDonald), who comes to the camp. Clayton's sister invites Peggy to come to the city, where she attends school, and becomes a "modern woman." When Peggy returns to the camp, it is revealed that she was never the true owner of the lumber camp, but this does not matter to Clayton, who is love with Peggy.

Cast

as Peggy, The Little Boss *

as Clayton Hargis *

Otto Lederer Otto Lederer (April 17, 1886 – September 3, 1965) was a Czech-American film actor. He appeared in 120 films between 1912 and 1933, most notably ''The Jazz Singer'', the first full-length film to have sound sequences, and the Laurel and H ...

as Sandy MacNab * Harry Russell as Red O'Rourke * J. Morley as Richard Leicester *

Joe Rickson Joe Rickson (born Oscar Erickson; September 6, 1880 – January 8, 1958) was an American actor of the silent era. He appeared in 90 films between 1913 and 1945. He was born in Clearcreek, Montana and died in Los Angeles, California. Partia ...

as Pete Farley * Clara Knight as Chloe * Karl Formes as Old Farley

Release

On its release, the film was shown with the a Burton Holmes Travelogue and the comedy ''Taking a Chance'' in some theaters; ''The Heart Punch'' and ''The Little Widow'' were shown in others.

Reception

Clyde De Vinna Clyde De Vinna (born July 13, 1890, in Sedalia, Missouri, died July 26, 1953, in Los Angeles, California) was an American film and television cinematographer and director of photography. He won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for ''Wh ...

's photography of the redwood forests was highly praised, although the overall reception of the film was negative.

References

External links

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Lantern slide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Little Boss, The 1919 lost films 1919 romantic comedy films American black-and-white films American romantic comedy films American silent feature films Films directed by David Smith (director) Films set in California Lost American films Lost romantic comedy films 1919 films 1910s American films Silent romantic comedy films Silent American comedy films 1910s English-language films