Her Awakening
(1911) United States of America
B&W : One reel / 997 feet
Directed by D.W. Griffith
Cast: Mabel Normand [the daughter], Kate Bruce [the mother], Harry Hyde [the daughter’s sweetheart], Vivian Prescott [a laundry employee], Fred Mace [a laundry customer], William J. Butler [a doctor], J. Jaquel Lanoe [a doctor], Donald Crisp [a witness to the accident], Frank Evans [a witness to the accident], Robert Harron [a witness to the accident], Charles Hill Mailes [a witness to the accident], W.C. Robinson [a witness to the accident], Kate Toncray [a witness to the accident], [?] Edwin August?, [?] Walter Hiers?, [?] Marion Sunshine?
Biograph Company production; distributed by The General Film Company, Incorporated. / Cinematography by G.W. Bitzer. / © 28 September 1911 by Biograph Company. Released 28 September 1911. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? A pretty but dutiful daughter has one fault, vanity. She is ashamed of her poor old mother, who is decrepit and lame. Working in the office of a laundry, she meets, on social terms, one of the customers, who, becoming quite attracted by her, is later considered her sweetheart. Ashamed of her home and mother, she has never let him visit her, preferring to meet him outside at a trysting place. One day, when walking with her sweetheart, she meets her mother, but denies her. Her awakening comes a few minutes later, when she sees her poor old mother knocked down by an automobile. Her mother dies from the effects of the accident, and the poor girl’s grief knows no bounds as she fondles the old cane so long carried by her dear mother. Her future does not remain hopeless, for the young man vows he still loves her; but what a hitter punishment she had suffered for vanity.
Survival status: Prints exist in the Museum of Modern Art film archive [35mm nitrate negative]; in the UCLA Film and Television Archive film archive [16mm acetate reduction positive]; and in the George Eastman Museum film archive [16mm reduction positive].
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Death - Handicaps - Families: Mothers - Poverty - Transportation: Automobiles
Listing updated: 28 April 2023.
References: Barry-Griffith p. 43; Fussell-Normand p. 243; Spehr-American p. 2; Usai-Griffith-5 pp. 130-131 : Website-GEM; Website-IMDb.
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