''The Little Boss'' is a 1919 American silent

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...

film directed by David Smith and produced by

Vitagraph Studios Vitagraph Studios, also known as the Vitagraph Company of America, was a United States motion picture studio. It was founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York, as the American Vitagraph Company. By 1907 ...

. The story and screenplay were by

Rida Johnson Young Rida Johnson Young (born Rida Louise Johnson; February 28, 1869 Young wrote over 30 plays and musicals and approximately 500 songs. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. Some of her better-known lyrics include " Mother Machr ...

, and it starred

Bessie Love Bessie Love (born Juanita Horton; September 10, 1898April 26, 1986) was an American-British actress who achieved prominence playing innocent, young girls and wholesome leading ladies in silent and early sound films. Her acting career spanned ne ...

and

Wallace MacDonald Wallace Archibald MacDonald (5 May 1891 – 30 October 1978) was a Canadian silent film actor and film producer. Biography MacDonald was born in Mulgrave, Nova Scotia, Canada, and attended school in Sydney, Nova Scotia. He started as a mes ...

. The film is presumed lost.

Production

Exterior scenes were filmed at the Little River Redwood Company, an actual

lumber camp A logging camp (or lumber camp) is a transitory work site used in the logging industry. Before the second half of the 20th century, these camps were the primary place where lumberjacks would live and work to fell trees in a particular area. Many ...

Eureka, California Eureka ( ; Wiyot: ; Hupa: ; ) is a city and the county seat of Humboldt County, located on the North Coast of California. The city is located on U.S. Route 101 on the shores of Humboldt Bay, north of San Francisco and south of the Oreg ...

. Scenes with

log flume A log flume or lumber flume is a watertight flume constructed to transport lumber and logs down mountainous terrain using flowing water. Flumes replaced horse- or oxen-drawn carriages on dangerous mountain trails in the late 19th century. Loggi ...

s were filmed in

Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

Plot

Peggy (Love) is the owner of a lumber camp, and she falls for Clayton, a man from the city (MacDonald), who comes to the camp. Clayton's sister invites Peggy to come to the city, where she attends school and becomes a "modern woman." When Peggy returns to the camp, it is revealed that she was never the true owner of the lumber camp, but this does not matter to Clayton, who is in love with her.

Cast

Release

On its release, the film was shown with a Burton Holmes Travelogue and the comedy ''Taking a Chance'' in some theaters; ''The Heart Punch'' and ''The Little Widow'' were shown in others.

Reception

Clyde De Vinna Clyde De Vinna (July 13, 1890, in Sedalia, Missouri – July 26, 1953, in Los Angeles, California) was an American film and television cinematographer and director of photography. He won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for ''White Shad ...

's photography of the redwood forests was highly praised, although the overall reception of the film was negative.

References

External links

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Lantern slide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Little Boss, The 1919 lost films 1919 romantic comedy films American black-and-white films American silent feature films Films directed by David Smith (director) Films set in California Lost American romantic comedy films 1919 films 1910s American films Silent American romantic comedy films 1910s English-language films English-language romantic comedy films Lost silent American films