The School Teacher and the Waif
About The School Teacher and the Waif
Nora (Mary Pickford) lives with her drinking father (Charles Hill Mailes) and is sent to school. The other children mock her. The teacher (Edwin August) defends her, until a spelling bee puts her in a dunce cap and she runs out. A street fakir (Bert Hendler) says they will run away and marry. The teacher finds them at a crossroads and says he will fetch a minister at once. The fakir bolts. The teacher walks Nora back to school.
Cast & crew
More about The School Teacher and the Waif
D. W. Griffith directed. G. W. Bitzer photographed it. Biograph released the short on 27 June 1912. Listings give 17 minutes. Claire McDowell and William A. Carroll are also in the cast.
Themes
Making
Griffith shot the schoolroom and the crossroads as a one-reel drama, with Bitzer on the camera.
Look
G. W. Bitzer photographed the schoolroom and the road where the teacher stops the fakir.
Preservation
The short survives at the 17-minute length given in film listings.
Notes
- Pickford's character is billed as Nora, the waif. August is the school teacher.
- The dunce cap, not the children's first taunts, is what drives her out of the schoolhouse.
- The teacher breaks the elopement by offering a real minister.
- Bert Hendler plays the street fakir.
Scenes
- Nora is set on a stool in the dunce cap and runs from the school.
- At the crossroads the teacher offers to bring a minister, and the fakir leaves.
