The Old Swimmin' Hole
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About The Old Swimmin' Hole
Ezra Hull would rather fish than swim, and Myrtle ignores him. He steals apples, shows off at her house, and tries to skip school by pretending to be sick. In class he passes her notes and lets a white mouse loose; his dog chases it. Skinny blames him and he is sent home with a note. He steals a watermelon and joins a mud fight at the swimming hole. His mother arrives, the boys hide his clothes, and he goes home wrapped in a baby blanket. He smokes his father's pipe in a pirate cave to impress the others. At a picnic he fights Skinny again, falls in the creek from a skiff named Myrtl, and Esther shares her lunch with him.
Cast & crew
More about The Old Swimmin' Hole
Joe De Grasse directed. Bernard McConville wrote the scenario from James Whitcomb Riley's poem, published under the name Benjamin F. Johnson. Charles Ray produced and stars. Arthur S. Kane presented it. George Rizard photographed, with Ellsworth H. Rumer assisting. Harry L. Decker edited. Robert Bennett and Clarence De Witt were assistant directors. Associated First National released it in the United States on 27 February 1921. Copyright 9 March 1921, LP16239. Wikipedia gives 60 minutes. Silent Era lists five or six reels. The story is told without intertitles.
Themes
Making
Ray's company shot a rural comedy with no intertitles. Exhibitors Herald said the acting carried the joins where titles would have been.
Reviews
Exhibitors Herald of 19 February 1921 called it a light love story of a country schoolboy and girl, and said dropping the intertitles marked an advance because the audience does not notice they are gone.
Look
George Rizard photographed it. Ellsworth H. Rumer assisted.
Technique
The picture tells the story without intertitles.
Preservation
Silent Era lists a surviving print. A copy about 59 minutes long circulates.
Notes
- Charles Ray plays Ezra Hull. Laura La Plante plays Myrtle. James Gordon plays Mr. Hull. Blanche Rose plays Mrs. Hull. Lincoln Stedman plays Skinny. Lon Poff plays the schoolmaster, Professor Payne.
- Wikipedia credits Marjorie Prevost as Esther. The catalog lists Peggy Prevost. Silent Era also lists Marjorie Prevost, and it swaps the La Plante and Blanche Rose roles relative to Wikipedia.
- Exhibitors Herald of 19 February 1921 compared the tone to the youth of Tom Sawyer and treated the missing titles as an advance, saying their absence is not noticed for some time.
- Also known as The Old Swimming Hole.
- A circulating copy runs about 59 minutes.
Scenes
- Ezra's dog chases a white mouse through the classroom.
- The boys hide his clothes and he walks home in a baby blanket.
- He falls out of the skiff Myrtl at the picnic.
Influenced by
- James Whitcomb Riley's poem The Old Swimmin' Hole
