''The Mysterious Miss Terry'' is a

1917 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Fo ...

American silent

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

produced by

Famous Players-Lasky Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company formed on June 28, 1916, from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company—originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays—and ...

and distributed through Paramount Pictures. The film stars

Billie Burke Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke (August 7, 1884 – May 14, 1970) was an American actress who was famous on Broadway and radio, and in silent and sound films. She is best known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North ...

, who at the time was a famous stage actress, married to Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. This particular story was adapted special to the screen for Burke by writer

Gelett Burgess Frank Gelett Burgess (January 30, 1866 – September 18, 1951) was an American artist, art critic, poet, author and humorist. An important figure in the San Francisco Bay Area literary renaissance of the 1890s, particularly through his iconoclas ...

. It is a

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 ...

film.

The Mysterious Miss Terry - 1917 - newspaperad

Plot

As described in a film magazine, a fascinating young heiress (Burke) takes rooms at a cheap boarding house and assumes the name Miss Terry. The male boarders immediately fall in love with her and, when she secures a temporary position in a hardware store as a bookkeeper, they all help her keep the books. As a test of the bravery of one of the young men, she arranges for two others to dress as burglars and break into the store at night when she and Gordon True (Meighan) are there. Professional burglars, however, overhear the plan and break into the store first where they steal the money and shoot Gordon. Miss Terry nurses the boy back to health, arranges to have his book published, and assists the other male boarders to better themselves. Miss Terry discloses her identity, and the film ends with wedding bells for her and Gordon.

Cast

- Mavis Terry *

Thomas Meighan Thomas Meighan (April 9, 1879 – July 8, 1936) was an American actor of silent films and early talkies. He played several leading-man roles opposite popular actresses of the day, including Mary Pickford and Gloria Swanson. At one point he co ...

- Gordon True *

Gerald Oliver Smith Gerald Wilson Oliver Smith (June 26, 1892 – May 28, 1974) was an English-born actor who spent most of his career in the United States, both in New York City as a stage actor and in the Hollywood film industry. Born in Sidcup, Kent, England, S ...

- John Quig *

Walter Hiers Walter Hiers (July 18, 1893 – February 27, 1933) was an American silent film actor. Biography Born in 1893, during his two decade-long acting career spanning from 1912 to 1932, Hiers acted in 101 films. He was a particularly prolific actor w ...

- Freddie Bollen *George A. Wright - Mr. Pennyquick *Bessie Hearn - Clara Pennyquick

Reception

Like many American films of the time, ''The Mysterious Miss Terry'' was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. The Chicago Board of Censors ordered cut a scene policeman looking up at a statue, seven holdup scenes, a shooting scene, and a scene of a man looking up at a statue.

References

External links

*
''The Mysterious Miss Terry''; allmovie.com
1917 films American silent feature films Films directed by J. Searle Dawley Lost American films Famous Players-Lasky films American mystery drama films American black-and-white films 1910s mystery drama films 1917 lost films Lost drama films 1917 drama films 1910s American films Silent American drama films Silent mystery drama films {{1910s-drama-film-stub