Lady Godiva
About Lady Godiva
In Coventry in 1040, Leofric's tax has the town near starvation. The people ask Lady Godiva, played by Julia Swayne Gordon, to plead for them. Leofric says he will lift the tax if she rides naked through the streets. She agrees. She has a proclamation posted: for two hours at midday, doors and windows must stay shut, because she will ride unclothed to end the tax. She rides with her hair down to her knee. Everyone obeys except the tailor Thomas, who cuts a hole in his shutter, looks, and is struck blind. Leofric then announces that the tax is repealed.
Cast & crew
More about Lady Godiva
J. Stuart Blackton directed for Vitagraph in Brooklyn. Eugene Mullin wrote the scenario from Alfred Tennyson's poem Godiva. Released October 21, 1911. The surviving copies run about 9 and a half minutes, near 633 feet. Robert Maillard plays Leofric. Harold Wilson plays Thomas, called Peeping Tom. Kate Price is in the supporting cast.
Themes
Making
Vitagraph built the Coventry street and the castle interior in Brooklyn. Gordon's covering is her hair, from head to knee, for the ride down that set.
Preservation
Copies survive and have been digitized.
Notes
- The ride is dated 1040 on the titles, in Coventry.
- Godiva's proclamation asks the town to stay indoors for two hours at midday.
- Thomas's punishment is immediate blindness. The film names him Peeping Tom.
- Catalogues sometimes spell the earl's player as Robert Gaillard. The film's cast list gives Robert Maillard.
Scenes
- She posts the order that every shutter stay closed for two hours.
- Thomas bores a hole in his shutter, looks out, and goes blind as she passes.
Influenced by
- Godiva (Alfred Tennyson poem)
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Lady Godiva (1911).webm)
Quotes
To save you, I must ride thro' the town unclothed
