''Baseball and Bloomers'', also known as ''Baseball in Bloomers'', is a 1911 American silent short sports film produced by the

Thanhouser Company The Thanhouser Company (later the Thanhouser Film Corporation) was one of the first motion picture studios, founded in 1909 by Edwin Thanhouser, his wife Gertrude and his brother-in-law Lloyd Lonergan. It operated in New York City until 1920, ...

. The film stars

William Garwood William Davis Garwood, Jr. (April 28, 1884 – December 28, 1950) was an American stage and film actor and director of the early silent film era in the 1910s. Between 1911 and 1913, Garwood starred in a number of early adaptions of popu ...

and is the debut of

Marguerite Snow Marguerite Snow (September 9, 1889 – February 17, 1958) was an American silent film and stage actress. In her early films she was billed as Margaret Snow. Early life Snow was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her father, Billy Snow, was a comedia ...

. The film focuses on a

female seminary A female seminary is a private educational institution for women, popular especially in the United States in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when opportunities in educational institutions for women were scarce. The movement was a sign ...

which organizes a baseball club and challenges another school to a game. The boys accept to the game with amusement and find that the women are not good at baseball. Two

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

baseball stars join the ranks of the girls in disguise and defeat the boys team. The script may have been written by

Lloyd Lonergan Lloyd Lonergan (March 3, 1870, Chicago, Illinois - April 6, 1937, New York City) was one of the most prolific scenario and screenwriters in American silent film. A brother-in-law of Edwin Thanhouser he worked for the Thanhouser Company bas ...

and the film may have been directed by

Barry O'Neil Barry O'Neil (September 24, 1865 – March 23, 1918) was a film director and writer. His real name was Thomas J. McCarthy. He directed several Thanhouser films including the production company's first two-reeler,https://www.thanhouser.org/TCOCD/Nar ...

Lucius J. Henderson Lucius Junius Henderson (June 8, 1861 – February 18, 1947) was an American silent film director and actor of the early silent period involved in more than 70 film productions. Biography Born in Aledo, Illinois, Henderson was a classically tra ...

. The film was released on January 6, 1911 and it received positive reviews. 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 ...

Plot

Though the film is presumed

, a synopsis survives in ''

The Moving Picture World The ''Moving Picture World'' was an influential early trade journal for the American film industry, from 1907 to 1927. An industry powerhouse at its height, ''Moving Picture World'' frequently reiterated its independence from the film studios. I ...

'' from January 7, 1911. It states, "Miss Street's Seminary for Girls has a very ambitious class of pupils. The young athletes, not content with basketball and tennis, aspire to shine in the great American game, and organize a baseball club. They are so satisfied with themselves that they finally send a challenge to Adair College, which has a crowd of husky young athletes in a club that thinks it amounts to something. When the challenge is received, the boys are first angry, then amused. They decide to accept it, to have fun with the girls. The young women, after some practice, realize that their team, while it may be pretty to look at, is of little real use on the diamond. And the prospect makes them weep. Fortunately for the girls, Jack, the brother of the president, arrives from Harvard. His chum, Jim, is with him. These two young men are baseball stars themselves, and when they are told of the predicament of the girls, they goodnaturedly offer to help them out. The university men disguise themselves as girls, act as battery for the young women, and the college boys, who had looked for a laughable victory, are mowed down, inning after inning, because of the work of pitcher Jack and catcher Jim. The other members of the 'girl' team have nothing to do except look pretty. When the boy athletes have retired from the field vanquished, the girls reward their battery with one kiss - only one - from each of the other seven players."

Cast

Production

The writer of the scenario was most likely

. He was an experienced newspaperman employed by ''

The New York Evening World ''The Evening World'' was a newspaper that was published in New York City from 1887 to 1931. It was owned by Joseph Pulitzer, and served as an evening edition of the ''New York World.'' History The first issue was on October 10, 1887. It was pub ...

'' while writing scripts for the Thanhouser productions. The film director may have been

. The role of the cameraman was uncredited in 1910 productions though cameramen employed by the company during this era included

Blair Smith Blair Smith (born September 25, 1990) is a Canadian football linebacker who is a free agent. He attended Angelo State University where he played college football for the Angelo State Rams. He played for the Edmonton Eskimos from 2015 to 2020. E ...

Alfred H. Moses, Jr. Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interlu ...

and

Carl Louis Gregory Carl Louis Gregory (1882–1951) was an American cinematographer and director. Early life Carl Louis Gregory was born in Walnut, Kansas, in 1882. He ventured into photography while he was 11 years old. He grew up in Geneva, Ohio, the only boy ...

. The other cast credits are unknown, but many Thanhouser productions are fragmentary. In late 1910, the Thanhouser company released a list of the important personalities in their films. The list includes G.W. Abbe, Justus D. Barnes, Frank H. Crane,

Irene Crane Irene is a name derived from εἰρήνη (eirēnē), the Greek for "peace". Irene, and related names, may refer to: * Irene (given name) Places * Irene, Gauteng, South Africa * Irene, South Dakota, United States * Irene, Texas, United Stat ...

Marie Eline Marie Eline (February 27, 1902 – January 3, 1981) was an American silent film child actress and sister of Grace Eline. Their mother was an actress. Eline acted on stage for three years before she acted in films. Nicknamed "The Thanhouser ...

Violet Heming Violet Heming (27 January 1895 – 4 July 1981) was an English stage and screen actress. Her name sometimes appeared as Violet Hemming in newspapers. Biography Born Violet Hemming in Leeds, Yorkshire, she was the daughter of Alfred Hemming w ...

, Martin J. Faust, Thomas Fortune, George Middleton,

Grace Moore Mary Willie Grace Moore (December 5, 1898January 26, 1947) was an American operatic soprano and actress in musical theatre and film.Obituary ''Variety'', January 29, 1947, page 48. She was nicknamed the "Tennessee Nightingale." Her films helped ...

, John W. Noble,

Anna Rosemond Anna Rosemond (February 16, 1886 – 1966) was one of the earliest film actresses of the early silent film era. Biography Rosemond was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her father was an Austrian immigrant, her mother a first generation Am ...

, and Mrs. George Walters. This film is important for being the debut of Marguerite Snow, who would become one of the most important actresses for the company. In an interview by Johnson Briscoe, Snow said that her career as an actress was an accidental one. A girl friend of hers suggested she come to the studio to see how motion pictures are made. There at the studio,

Edwin Thanhouser Edwin Thanhouser (November 11, 1865 – March 21, 1956) was an American actor, businessman, and film producer. He was most notable as a founder of the Thanhouser Company, which was one of the first motion picture studios. His wife Gertrude Tha ...

asked her if she wanted to be in the film. Snow accepted and she took part in the production until the director asked them to go outside to shoot another scene. Snow then protested about going outside in such a costume and in winter and proceeded home. A week later she received a phone call and ended up working for six more months before temporarily returning to the stage. Another baseball related film would be released later that year by the Thanhouser Company, '' The Baseball Bug''.

Release and reception

The single reel comedy, approximately 1,000 feet long, was released on January 6, 1911. The film had a wide national release; advertising theaters are known in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. In

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, the film would be advertised by one theatre as ''Baseball Bloomers'' and it appears to also have been the case in another

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

theater. The film would also be shown in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

in August 1912. ''

The New York Dramatic Mirror The ''New York Dramatic Mirror'' (1879–1922) was a prominent theatrical trade newspaper. History The paper was founded in January 1879 by Ernest Harvier as the ''New York Mirror''. In stating its purpose to cover the theater, it proclaimed t ...

'' gave a brief summary and review of the film and gave minor praise for the production. The reviewer wrote, "The details of this comedy are well worked out, and it is good for a portion of genuine laughs. The girls of Miss Street's Seminary become so elated over their success in the gymnasium that they feel impelled to branch out, and accordingly they challenge the boys of Adair College to a game of ball. At the last moment the girls feel like backing out, when two of Cornell's star baseball players arrive in town. They agree to pitch and catch for the girls, who give them bloomers and rats from their hair for disguise. At the eighth inning the score was 0 to 0. By the ninth it was 0 to 2, in favor of Miss Street's Seminary for Girls. The nine girls then showed their gratitude by giving the pitcher and catcher a round of kisses, while the Adair College boys stood off at a respectful distance. The actors were equal to the occasion." ''

The Billboard The Billboard () is a massive granite monolith in the Sarnoff Mountains of the Ford Ranges of Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica, standing just west of Mount Rea between Arthur Glacier and Boyd Glacier. It was discovered in November 1934 by a Secon ...

'' affirmed by stating, "Thanhouser producers have again placed a picture of originality on the market in ''Baseball and Bloomers''. It is a farce pure and simple, but it offers many laughable situations. The acting is generally good, but in a few instances scenes were overacted."

References

External links