An American in the Making
About An American in the Making
Bela's brother writes from America that there is a job for him. Bela leaves Poland, lands at Ellis Island, and is tagged through to Gary, Indiana. At the U.S. Steel plant he starts at the bottom and is moved onto machines that can kill him, and at each one a safety device or a warning is shown. He goes to night school, marries his American teacher, and the last scene puts the family at the table in their cottage.
Cast & crew
More about An American in the Making
United States Steel asked Thanhouser for a story that would show the company looking after the schooling, health, and safety of its workers. Charles J. Hite later published the plot he had been given. Carl Gregory directed and photographed. Harry Benham plays the immigrant. A studio fire delayed the release to April 22, 1913. The Moving Picture World of May 3, 1913, said the film was made to aid the National Social Betterment Association and described the newcomer as Italian; Hite's account says he is Bela from Poland.
Themes
Background
Gary was a new steel city in 1913. The film uses Ellis Island and the mills as the route from arrival to a company cottage.
Making
Hite said Steel came to the company about a year before release and wanted the picture circulated through Thanhouser's theaters. The plant scenes are the point of the commission: promotion, danger, and a safety signal at each step.
Reviews
The Moving Picture News of April 26, 1913, called it instructive and noted the safety devices inside the plants of the United States Steel Corporation. The Moving Picture World of May 3 treated it as an industrial novelty.
Look
Carl Gregory shot the Ellis Island arrival and the mill interiors, including the guards and goggles the reviews describe.
Notes
- The Moving Picture World advertisement of April 26, 1913, follows the immigrant from greenhorn to job, wife, and the safety devices around him.
- The same paper's review lists goggles in the steelworks and guards on saws and belts.
- The review also says that after six years he is married and his son is in a model school.
- Thanhouser's own narrative history notes that clippings disagreed on whether the man came from Poland or somewhere else.
Scenes
- Bela is tagged at Ellis Island for Gary.
- A safety signal stops him at each machine that could injure him.
- He sits at the cottage table with the night-school teacher he has married.
