I'm Glad My Boy Grew Up to Be a Soldier (1915)
Drama | 13 December 1915
Director:
Frank BealWriter:
Gilson WilletsProduction Company:
Selig Polyscope Co.; A Red Seal PlayThe working title of this film was I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier, taken from the title of a hit song. Records by the Peerless Quartet (Columbia) and Morton Harvey (Victor) spent a total of five weeks at the top of the Billboard sales charts in 1915.
A 17 July 1915 Motion Picture Item noted that I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier was an "anti-militarism subject, being made at the Selig Edendale studio by [director] Frank Beal." (Edendale was located in the present-day Silver Lake area of Los Angeles.) The item added, "The story brings out the uselessness of war, and is laid in the land of two imaginary nations. The subject will be completed in three or four reels." Four months later, according to the 6 November 1915 Moving Picture World, the title had been changed to I'm Glad My Boy Grew Up to Be a Soldier, its anti-war message considerably softened, and its estimated length given as five reels. That same week's Motion Picture News added that writer Gilson Willets "has written a preachment on the horrors of war and graphically picturizes the sacrifices of wives, mothers and sweethearts." A musical score was being composed and would be distributed to theaters with the motion picture.
A full-page Selig advertisment in the 11 December 1915 Motion Picture News hailed the film as a "Sensational Appeal to Patriotism and Preparedness."
Oscar Cooper, in the 27 November 1915 Motion Picture News, wrote, "In the battle scenes a relatively small number of men are employed with considerable ...
The working title of this film was I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier, taken from the title of a hit song. Records by the Peerless Quartet (Columbia) and Morton Harvey (Victor) spent a total of five weeks at the top of the Billboard sales charts in 1915.
A 17 July 1915 Motion Picture Item noted that I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier was an "anti-militarism subject, being made at the Selig Edendale studio by [director] Frank Beal." (Edendale was located in the present-day Silver Lake area of Los Angeles.) The item added, "The story brings out the uselessness of war, and is laid in the land of two imaginary nations. The subject will be completed in three or four reels." Four months later, according to the 6 November 1915 Moving Picture World, the title had been changed to I'm Glad My Boy Grew Up to Be a Soldier, its anti-war message considerably softened, and its estimated length given as five reels. That same week's Motion Picture News added that writer Gilson Willets "has written a preachment on the horrors of war and graphically picturizes the sacrifices of wives, mothers and sweethearts." A musical score was being composed and would be distributed to theaters with the motion picture.
A full-page Selig advertisment in the 11 December 1915 Motion Picture News hailed the film as a "Sensational Appeal to Patriotism and Preparedness."
Oscar Cooper, in the 27 November 1915 Motion Picture News, wrote, "In the battle scenes a relatively small number of men are employed with considerable skill. Without offering extraordinary effects, these scene are adequate to the story. There are also the requisite views of recruiting stations, soldiers on the march, camps, and a Red Cross tent." That week's issue of Moving Picture World mistakenly gave a release date of 23 December 1915.
A year later, Selig reissued an edited-down, three-reel version of the film, retitled The Sacrifice. The October 1916 Picture-Play Magazine complained that motion picture companies "are parading old films under new titles, without advising the public of the plagiarism." Selig released The Sacrifice on 26 June 1916 without mentioning that "the play was a revival in new clothes of the old four-reel feature, I'm Glad My Boy Grew Up to Be a Soldier,...Cut down one reel from the original, The Sacrifice was 'shot in' to the General Film Service to fill a release date of a three-reeler that failed to come out on time."
The National Film Preservation Board (NFPB) included this film on its list of Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films as of January 2021. The shortened version, The Sacrifice, is not listed.
The Sacrifice
Successful architect James Warrington has a loving wife and a little boy, Jerry. His security is suddenly shaken when he reads in the morning newspaper that war has been declared, so he hides it from his wife and goes off to work. When Warrington reaches his office, his partner, Frank Archer, informs him that he plans to volunteer that day. Warrington realizes it is his duty to enlist, so he joins with his friend. His wife is saddened by the news, but little Jerry, who constantly upsets his mother by playing with toy soldiers, is proud of his dad. Since Frank Archer is a widower with a little girl, Mercy, Mrs. Warrington appeals to him to stay home and look after her. But when the bugle sounds and it's time time for the city unit to leave, both men march away, as Mrs. Warrington watches with tears in her eyes. Time passes, and soon James Warrington's brief letters stop coming. One day Frank Archer returns without an arm, and with his little daughter, Mercy, he goes to the Warrington house and, as Jerry and Mercy play in the yard, informs the widow that James died heroically. Peace comes, but seventeen years later, with Jerry and Mercy grown, an enemy invades the coast, and war is again declared. Against his mother's wishes, Jerry enlists, but as he goes off, she gives her blessing. Mercy, now Jerry's sweetheart, becomes a Red Cross nurse. Mrs. Warrington finds Jerry's war toys in the attic and, avoiding the guns and cannon, gently touches his battered little hat. Mercy later returns from the war, goes to the Warrington house with her father, and describes Jerry's ...
Successful architect James Warrington has a loving wife and a little boy, Jerry. His security is suddenly shaken when he reads in the morning newspaper that war has been declared, so he hides it from his wife and goes off to work. When Warrington reaches his office, his partner, Frank Archer, informs him that he plans to volunteer that day. Warrington realizes it is his duty to enlist, so he joins with his friend. His wife is saddened by the news, but little Jerry, who constantly upsets his mother by playing with toy soldiers, is proud of his dad. Since Frank Archer is a widower with a little girl, Mercy, Mrs. Warrington appeals to him to stay home and look after her. But when the bugle sounds and it's time time for the city unit to leave, both men march away, as Mrs. Warrington watches with tears in her eyes. Time passes, and soon James Warrington's brief letters stop coming. One day Frank Archer returns without an arm, and with his little daughter, Mercy, he goes to the Warrington house and, as Jerry and Mercy play in the yard, informs the widow that James died heroically. Peace comes, but seventeen years later, with Jerry and Mercy grown, an enemy invades the coast, and war is again declared. Against his mother's wishes, Jerry enlists, but as he goes off, she gives her blessing. Mercy, now Jerry's sweetheart, becomes a Red Cross nurse. Mrs. Warrington finds Jerry's war toys in the attic and, avoiding the guns and cannon, gently touches his battered little hat. Mercy later returns from the war, goes to the Warrington house with her father, and describes Jerry's bravery in battle and his death in her hospital ward. His last word, she says, was "Mother." Gazing into the fireplace, Mrs. Warrington envisions a firing battleship dissolving into a harvesting machine. She realizes that her sacrifice has been for the country's good.
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