Fashion and Fearlessness in the Wharton Studio's Silent Film Serials, 1914–1918

Introduction

Located 220 miles northwest of New York City and 2,670 miles northeast of Los Angeles, the small city of Ithaca, New York, is relatively isolated from the fashion and film capitols of the United States; however, between 1914–1919 it was home to Wharton Studio Incorporated, a bustling silent film production company that made hundreds of films and serials starring the leading actors of the day. Ithaca, New York, thus earned the moniker "the biggest little city" in the mid 1910s when production attracted some of the most important motion picture actors of the day, including Lionel Barrymore, Theda Bara, Olive Thomas, Warner Oland, and Oliver Hardy. Presented chronologically in order of production, this paper focuses on five heroines of the Wharton silent serials—Pearl White (Figure 1), Jean Sothern (Figure 2), Grace Darling (Figure 3), Irene Castle (Figure 4), Marguerite Snow (Figure 5)—and examines how they (and their characters) influenced women's fashion during the mid-late 1910s, a period of time considered "one of the more experimental in women's clothes."¹ Serials with female leads were among the most popular of the early serial genre, what film historian Ben Singer has termed the "serial-queen melodrama."² With the release of each new episode, female leads transformed entrenched notions of femininity and expanded fashion possibilities.

This paper begins with an overview of the Wharton Studio and serial-queen melodramas, with an explanation of the primary sources and archival methods used to conduct this research. I discuss the role of fashion in silent serials, a time when "the motion picture companies require[d] their actresses to be dressed in the latest mode."³ Next, I explore how each actor and the character she played

Figure 1.

Pearl White on bench with bare legs, cap, and Mary Jane shoes, circa 1916. Cornell University Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections #2959, Box 1. Public domain. https://digital.library.cornell.edu/catalog/ss:573996

Figure 2.

Promotional photo of Jean Sothern for Mysteries of Myra, 1916, Campbell Studios, New York City. Originally appeared in "Jean of 'The Mysteries,'" Cosmopolitan 61, no. 2 (July 1916), 207. Public domain.

Figure 3.

Grace Darling in a gorge in Ithaca, NY, circa 1917. Cornell University Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections #2959, Box 1. Public domain. https://digital.library.cornell.edu/catalog/ss:573992

Figure 4.

Irene Castle as Patria Channing, wearing Vernon Castle's military jacket. Production still for Patria, Photo by Albert Witzel, Los Angeles, 1916. Personal photograph collection of Irene Castle Treman, vol. 2, 173. Public domain.

Figure 5.

Marguerite Snow with ice skates in Ithaca, NY, circa 1918. Photo from private collection of Terry Harbin/Ithaca Made Movies.

made important, yet distinctive, contributions to women's fashion leading up to the 1920s. I conclude with a discussion about the broader impact of silent serials on fashion.

Wharton Studios and Silent Serials

The silent film heyday is typically considered to be 1912–1929, before "talkies" became the norm and silents were rendered obsolete. Brothers Leopold and Theodore Wharton came to Ithaca in 1913 to film a Cornell–Penn football game and shortly thereafter decided to invest in a studio there. By 1914, they had leased Renwick Park at the south end of Cayuga Lake and began making films.⁴ Theodore Wharton served primarily as the director, while his brother Leopold looked after the business end.⁵ Pearl White arrived in 1914 and they began filming The Exploits of Elaine, and the sequels to follow. These films were monetary successes, and by 1916, the Wharton brothers had invested $75,000 in their Ithaca studio.⁶

The serial film was key to their initial achievement: serials were shorter than feature-length motion pictures, typically 20–30 minutes in length(i.e., one to two reel films) and occurred in episodic...