The Exploits of Elaine Begins -- January 20, 2015

Moving Picture World, 02-January-1915

The Perils of Pauline was a big hit in 1914. The 20 chapter serial was not the first movie serial, but it was one of the big ones. It starred Pearl White, the first serial queen. Pathé's next serial was The Exploits of Elaine, starring Pearl White as the alliterative heroine Elaine and Arnold Daly as the scientific detective Craig Kennedy.

I like the image on the right-hand page.  Be sure to click on the images to see larger versions. 
"A Powerful and Wealthy
Capitalist Struck Down
With No One Near: A Most
Modern Safe Opened by
a New and Terrifying Force:
The Super Criminal
has Arrived!
In this Serial is Revealed
Not Merely the Science
of the Present But of
The Future as Well!"

Moving Picture World, 02-January-1915

"The stories will be published as issued in the great Hearst newspapers..." 

Omaha Daily Bee, 01-January-1915

"Begin at the beginning.  Get every word, every phrase, every thought." The Omaha Daily Bee promised its readers could follow the story in the Sunday Bee. 

Moving Picture World, 02-January-1915

"Following on the success of 'The Perils of Pauline," the new Pathe-Hearst Serial, "The Exploits of Elain" from the pen of Arthur B. Reeve and picturized by Chas. L. Goddard, bids fair to surpass in popularity its predecessor, judging from the briskness with which the first two-reel installment, entitled 'The Clutched Hand,' strikes the imagination."

Motography, 02-January-1915

"The exploits will give her a chance to return to the realm of acting and after weeks of being the athletic Pauline, Miss White is pleased with the change." 

Moving Picture World, 09-January-1915



Motography, 09-January-1915

"one of the greatest and most complete serials ever launched." 

Motography, 09-January-1915

Motography, 16-January-1915

"Twilight sleep" has features of truth serum. 

Motography, 30-January-1915

"The Clutching Hand examines the safe." 

High Point Review, 21-January-1915

This ad from the High Point North Carolina Review touts "The Greatest Serial Story of the Age!"  "A 25 cent subscription to the The Review will carry you thru the entire story."  A box warms people "that a notorious criminal is at large in this city." 

Motography, 23-January-1915

I wonder how much if any of this article is true. 

The Perils of Pauline was a big hit in 1914. The 20 chapter serial was not the first movie serial, but it was one of the big ones. It starred Pearl White, the first serial queen. Pathé's next serial was The Exploits of Elaine, starring Pearl White as the alliterative heroine Elaine and Arnold Daly as the scientific detective Craig Kennedy.

Moving Picture World, 23-January-1915

I like the images of the Clutching Hand and the frozen safe. 

Moving Picture World, 23-January-1915

"Too much praise cannot be given to the clean-cut methods employed, and the smoothness and consistency of the action." 

Moving Picture World, 23-January-1915

Brothers Leopold and Theodore Wharton directed Elaine. 

Motography, 23-January-1915

"Oxyacetylene Flame Used to Save Elaine" -- That's a great title. 

Moving Picture World, 30-January-1915

I notice that the style of the images has changed this week, from photographs to line drawings.  "Don't dally.  Don't delay." 

Motography, 30-January-1915

"Kennedy shows them the seismograph concealed in the panel is amazed to discover by its record that someone has entered his rooms." 

Dog Stars in "Pauline" Film -- November 16, 2014

Motography, 14-November-1914

The Perils of Pauline was a big hit in 1914. The 20 chapter serial was not the first movie serial, but it was one of the big ones. It starred Pearl White, the first serial queen. The Eclectic Film Company distributed Pathé movies in the United States. The film exists only in a mutilated form, based on a copy exported to France. The subtitles had been translated into French, then translated back into English. A dog, whose name is not mentioned in the article, was key to the plot of the 17th episode. 

Motography, 07-November-1914

Paul Panzer, who played the wicked villain, was a reservist in the German artillery.  In the case of many German-Americans, the German government expected them to come back to serve in World War One.  Panzer's two brothers were fighting and he was the sole support of his mother, so he had an exemption.  "The German consul-general has thus saved 'poor Pauline' from an untimely and premature death." 

Motography, 14-November-1914

The Eclectic Film Company announced that Pauline would end with its 20th episode.  "'The Perils of Pauline' has been extraordinarily successful and the demand for it is holding strong to the very end."