The BEATRICE FAIRFAX series
“I have over 5000 DVDs in my collection and BEATRICE FAIRFAX is my favorite!” -- Customer Bill W.
Beatrice Fairfax
Starring Grace Darling and Harry Fox
(Wharton/International 1916)
The complete 15-Episode series presented on 3 DVDs
(including an audio re-creation of the lost Episode 1)
Includes all the restored and newly scored episodes described on this page (about 7 hours of content) plus a mini-documentary about the real-life Beatrice Fairfax and her column as well as the fictional character’s history, and extras such as stills and memorabilia on Disk 1.
Commentary by Ithaca film historian Terry Harbin is included on alternate soundtracks for Episodes 2, 3, 4, and 5.
A vast amount of work was put into this series and we are sure you will enjoy it. Don’t miss Warner Oland’s cameo in one episode as a police commissioner and Olive Thomas’s film premiere in Episode 10: Play Ball.
An absolutely amazing find--a lost silent serial from 1916 now viewable for the first time in over 80 years! And transferred in sparkling, pristine quality, from the Marion Davies Collection's original nitrate film negative! Amazingly clean image with excellent contrast, looking just as it did when first released. The picture quality is nothing short of stunning, especially for a film that is now 87 years old. Reassembled and tinted according to the original instructions (according to notes written on the negative itself!) and with a re-created missing chapter, new musical scores by Eric Stedman, a new recording of "Beatrice Fairfax, Tell Me What to Do" By Laura Bowman, bios and tons of extras.
Filmed primarily in Ithaca, New York by the Wharton brothers, who also lensed the serials The Exploits of Elaine and The Mysteries of Myra. Includes five 25-minute episodes from the long-lost 1916 series with a new original music score. Four are complete and one (Ep. 3) is almost-complete, the last 1 minute has been reconstructed (Episode 1, which originally included a cameo by William Randolph Hearst himself, is not known to exist, but a re-creation of it by "Beatrice" herself, from an existing plot summary, is included here). Beatrice, the original advice-to-the-lovelorn reporter and her friend and not-so-secret admirer Jimmy Barton investigate calls for help and escape exotic perils and dangers.
DISK 1
DVD Contents
Beatrice Fairfax written by Raymond William Stedman, a custom-made 9 minute documentary tracing Beatrice's history from newspaper feature to the screen, radio, comics and the stage, narrated by Joel Talmadge.
Episode 1: The Missing Watchman
Beatrice and Jimmy fight bank robbers and attempt to clear an innocent bank guard's name. Narrated by Kate Huston with piano accompaniment by Eric Stedman.
Episode 2: The Adventure of the Jealous Wife
Jimmy adopts a disguise to infiltrate the dangerous Black Hand syndicate, currently blackmailing a famous violinist and threatening New York with homemade bombs.
Episode 3: Billy's Romance
The romantic dreams of a 14 year old telegraph boy and the revenge of an escaped convict intersect.
Episode 4: The Stone God concerns a forbidden marriage, a murderous revenge plot by an Indian prince, and an English explorer dared to defiled a temple and steal a sacred idol.
Episode 5: Mimosa San
Beatrice and Jimmy visit the Nipponese Tea Garden and investigate the theft of the formula for a secret weapon by foreign spies.
The Beatrice Fairfax Memorabilia Collection, part 1 contains material related to the first five episodes, including production stills and behind the scenes photos, candid cast and crew pictures and studio portraits of actors Grace Darling, Harry Fox, Elsie Baker, Edgar Davenport, Dick Stewart, Mike Rale, Betty Howe, and George Connor, newspaper advertisements, announcements, reviews, script pages, descriptions of censored and re-shot scenes and much more!
Optional Commentary Tracks on complete episodes 2-5 featuring researcher and Wharton Studio expert Terry Harbin of Ithaca, NY are selectable for Episodes 2 thru 5.
The Masked Rider trailer
DISK 2
Episodes 6 thru 10 of the delightful girl-reporter series directed by the Wharton brothers, who filmed THE EXPLOITS OF ELAINE, featuring Grace Darling as the "advice to the lovelorn" columnist turned crimefighter and Harry Fox as her comical and clever assistant Jimmy. Includes exciting and fun stories of baby-napping, blackmail, jewel thievery, disguise, counterfeiting, and the long-unseen episode featuring entrancing cult starlet Olive Thomas and the real New York Yankees and Giants playing a game in the Polo Grounds. All unseen for over 90 years and beautifully restored! Olive is onscreen for almost her entire episode -- this DVD is a must for her fans.
Episode 6: The Forbidden Room featuring Betty Howe / As counterfeit bills appear all around town, a kitten discovers a hidden door which a hired girl realizes holds a dreadful secret.
Episode 7: A Name for a Baby featuring Allan Murnane / In a plotline daring for its time, an unwed mother tries to convince the wealthy father of her baby to do right by it. The rich cad, who will go to any length to prevent dishonor, has other plans for the infant. Drama and violence ensue as Jimmy relentlessly pursues and dukes it out with an unsavory baby-napper and rich Waldo is brought to the altar!
Episode 8: At the Ainsley Ball / Jimmy and Beatrice dress up and attend a costume ball at a mansion to try and catch jewel thieves and end up in a crazy car chase.
Episode 9: Outside the Law / An unscrupulous tabloid publisher acquires a woman’s romantic letters and tries to blackmail her for sexual favors. Beatrice sneaks into the nasty old walrus’s flat to try and recover them but finds herself trapped in his closet when he and his armed bodyguard return home.
Episode 10: Play Ball featuring Olive Thomas and Nigel Barrie / Crooks intending to fix the game by kidnapping Olive's pitcher boyfriend try to convince her he's seeing another woman -- and when Olive goes to investigate, she ends up in big trouble as well. Can Beatrice and Jimmy rescue the pair in time to see the big game won?
DISK 3
Episodes 11 thru 15 of the delightful girl-reporter series directed by the Wharton brothers, who filmed THE EXPLOITS OF ELAINE, featuring Grace Darling as the "advice to the lovelorn" columnist turned crimefighter and Harry Fox as her comical and clever assistant Jimmy.
Episode 11: The Wages of Sin featuring Betty Howe and Nigel Barrie / A deceptive boyfriend decides to team up with a thief to rob an inventor’s daughter of her father’s secrets -- by posing as the old man’s ghost! "I am betwixt love and duty. Please come and tell me what to do." -- Jane Hamlin
Episode 12: Curiosity featuring George Connor and Dick Stewart / A young wife suspects her husband of crooked dealings and finds he is in league with a gang of crooks mysteriously transporting coffins from wagon to wagon in the woods. Beatrice and Jiimmy try to infiltrate the gang, Jimmy in disguise as an old washerwoman. "I have just learned that my husband is a convict. I still love him. What should I do?" -- Gladys Hanson
Episode 13: The Ringer / Jimmy investigates a report of a drugged race horse while Beatrice follows up on a letter from the “stout lady” of a circus and her missing midget boyfriend and everything comes together at the local fairgrounds and (rigged?) horse race. "I am the stout lady of a traveling show. My fiance, the dwarf, disappeared four days ago. Yesterday he returned but would give me no explanation. Please write me c/o The Fair Grounds." -- Cutie Brown
Episode 14: The Hidden Menace featuring Betty Howe / The guardian of an heiress tries to drive her insane and employs hallucinatory skullduggery and murder to do so. Jimmy tries to solve the locked room mystery while Beatrice follows up on the poor girl’s story and it all finishes up with a genuine and suspenseful Scooby-Doo ending! "Shall I give up my fiance because I may go insane like mother?" -- Alice Masters
Episode 15: Wristwatches featuring Evelyn Farris and Wellington Playter / Beatrice and Jimmy investigate reports of smuggling by the sea and get more than they bargain for when they investigate a secret passageway at the bottom of a mysterious well. "Last night he kissed me. Today he is gone without a word. What should I do?" -- Dorothy Dane
Original color tints, new musical scores
"I received my copy of the BEATRICE FAIRFAX DVD last week and watched it all. I loved it, loved it, loved it!!! Silent films have now become my favorite form of entertainment! In them, people are generally more courteous to each other, there's no swearing, you get to hear wonderful music accompaniments and look at the old cars and styles! Wow! The way the ending was reconstructed at the end of Billy's Romance was brilliant! I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of these episodes. I appreciate the love and care that has been put into restoring this special art form." -- customer Maria Davis, Illinois
