Katherine Lee (1915) 🇺🇸

One of the brightest as well as one of the most charming of the littlest players on the screen is Katherine Lee, the six-year-old who made such a hit as the baby mermaid in Neptune’s Daughter. It will be recalled that Katherine for one or two reels in that beautiful production of the Universal shared with, if she did not monopolize, the honors over Annette Kellermann.

Katherine has been a great traveler in her short life. She was born in Glasgow, Scotland. With her mother, Irene Lee, she has journeyed all over Great Britain and Europe. She has crossed the Atlantic twice and two times has she been to the Pacific Coast.

It is a wide experience this mite has had in pictures. She appeared in the Famous Players’ production of The Scales of Justice. During the last six months she has been seen in a number of Biograph subjects, among these being Merely Mother, Hearts of Gold and The House of Silence. In this last-named play the work of the child was no small factor in the success of an unusually successful picture. Katherine has also appeared in Imp subjects, among others being Men at Their Best, When the Heart Calls, Gates of Paradise and The Tenth Commandment.

Katherine also appeared in the Lew Fields picture produced by Frank Crane at the Peerless studio. She is now playing with Lucius Henderson at the Imp studio. If we may forecast what may come in the future as judged by what Katherine is now doing on the screen it seems certain that she will be heard from when she gets to be a “real big girl.”

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“The Victoria Cross”

Cosmofotofilm releasing a three-part London Film war drama containing splendid appeal.

Reviewed by George Blaisdell.

It is a splendid war drama Harold Shaw gives us in The Victoria Cross, which he has produced for the London Film Company. The subject, in three parts, is being released in the United States through the Cosmofotofilm Company. The script is written by Anne [Anne Merwin] and Bannister Merwin, which in itself counts for much. In the telling of the story there is no evidence of haste; there is every indication of care — in the attention to the treatment of what by some might be construed as minor situations, but which in their delicate handling move us and stir us.

There is a cast of strength. Edna Flugrath, who will be remembered as a one time Edison player, has the part of Alice, the daughter of Bilson, architect and money lender. Miss Flugrath as the young girl charms, as the young woman appeals to our sympathies. All of her associates do, too, for that matter, even to Bilson the hard-hearted, who when he learns that Alice is in love with the younger Oldwood changes his mind about taking full advantage of a note given him by the now dead senior Oldwood. Douglas Munro, who portrays Bilson, is entitled to credit for a fine performance.

Charles Rock is Colonel Oldwood, the man who in other days has accepted a Victoria Cross for valor when he knew that on the great occasion he had flunked, that the bravery had been displayed by a comrade who met his death. He lacked the courage openly to confess the fault, but he did leave for his son an explanatory note setting forth the truth. It is the discovery of this note which impels the son to enlist at the breaking out of the war in the face of abundant domestic reasons for remaining at home. Ben Webster is the younger Oldwood. Gwynne Herbert is Mrs. Oldwood.

The story may be of England today, but nevertheless it will touch the hearts of men and women everywhere — its theme is of universal interest. Some of the minor incidents referred to are, for instance, where the young girl, with the artlessness of childhood, asks the young man if he will marry her when she grows up and then proceeds to knight him in orthodox fashion, with the mother looking on; the pride displayed by the mother as she kisses the symbol which to her makes of her husband a hero; the tenderness of the parting as the young man, with the full approval of the mother, in ignorance of the debt hanging over the family, leaves for the front; the struggle of Bilson between natural tightfistedness and disinclination to take anv step that will give pain to his daughter; the pathos in the entrance of the old gardener as he tells the mother and the sweetheart of her son that there is no word for them from the front.

There are bigger scenes, such as the night attack on the trenches. It is just a bit of the battlefield we see, but it is effective. The wire to headquarters has been smashed by a shell. The young man realizes that his chance has come to redeem the family honor. He climbs out of the trench, joins together the severed strands, and meets his death. When the mother receives from the hand of the young man’s pal the personal effects of her son she finds a note in the handwriting of her husband. The vital parts of the contents are blotted out by blood as there has also been obliterated the stain on the writer, of which she knew nothing. And there is a second Victoria Cross in the package — an untarnished one.

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Scene from The Victoria Cross (Cosmofotofilm)

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New Southern Exchange

The Hybar Film Corporation of Atlanta, Ga., which is the representative in the Southern States for the Sawyer Film Corporation, has leased the entire fifth floor of the Forsyth Building in Atlanta, Ga., and installed a beautiful projection room, the only one in the South. Arthur S. Hyman, the president, is making an extended trip through his territory, and reports more bookings than he can fill. The Hyman Film Corporation also controls the output of the Alliance Film Corporation, Ivan Film Corporation, Cosmo Films Co., and is in the market for the purchase of films of all descriptions.

Edwin Bower Hesser, 1600 Broadway, is the concern’s New York representative. The Hybar Film Corporation has secured the agency for the South of the Goldenlite Fibre Screen of which they are making a very great sucess.

Collection: Moving Picture World, January 1915