AFI Catalog of Feature Films
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Bill Henry
Director: Jerome Storm (Dir)
Release Date:   10 Aug 1919
Duration (in feet):   5,128
Duration (in reels):   5
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Cast:   Charles Ray (Bill Henry Jenkins)  
    Edith Roberts (Lela Mason)  
    William Carroll (Burton Rogers)  
    Bert Woodruff (Uncle Chet Jenkins)  
    Mrs. Jennie Lee Courtright (Aunt Martha Jenkins)  
    Walter Perkins (E. J. Burroughs)  
    Walter Hiers    
    F. Moore (Salesmen.)  

Summary: Ambitious Bill Henry Jenkins leaves the fields of southern Alabama to become a traveling salesman on bicycle selling electric vibrators. After ruining his bicycle running from a dissatisfied customer, he goes to his uncle's hotel in Jessup. He becomes the desk clerk after meeting beautiful Lela Mason, newly arrived from Iowa to take over an inherited farm. When she finds that the land is a worthless swamp, Bill wins $300 in a poker game and secretly buys it from her. A speculator discovers the land has oil in it and pays Bill $1400 which Bill gives to Lela's agent, Burton Rogers, to give to her. Rogers keeps the money and, trying to seduce Lela, tells her that Bill bought her land cheap knowing he could then sell it for a great profit. Lela believes Bill, who, buoyed by her faith in him, attacks Rogers with his vibrator. The latter confesses and gives back the money. 

Production Company: Thomas H. Ince Productions  
Distribution Company: Famous Players-Lasky Corp.; Paramount Pictures  
Director: Jerome Storm (Dir)
Producer: Thomas H. Ince (Pres)
  Thomas H. Ince (Supv)
Writer: Julien Josephson (Scen)
  Lois Zellner (Story)
Photography: Chester Lyons (Cam)
Art Direction: C. Tracy Hoag (Art dir)
  Irvin J. Martin (Art titles)
Film Editor: Ralph H. Dixon (Ed)
Country: United States

Copyright Claimant Copyright Date Copyright Number
Thos. H. Ince 28/7/1919 dd/mm/yyyy LP14029

Physical Properties: b&w:
  Si:

 
Genre: Comedy
 
Subjects (Major): Alabama
  Ambition
  Traveling salesmen
 
Subjects (Minor): Bicycles
  Fights
  Hotel clerks
  Inheritance
  Inventions
  Oil fields
  Poker (Game)
  Speculation
  Swamps

Note: A title sheet in the Thomas H. Ince Papers credits Ida Lewis with the role of "Aunt Martha Jenkins," while reviews credit Mrs. Jennie Lee Courtright. 

Bibliographic Sources:   Date   Page
Bio   25 Dec 19   p. 56.
ETR   30 Aug 19   p. 1085.
MPN   30 Aug 19   p. 1867.
MPW   18 Jul 19   p. 43.
Variety   22 Aug 19   p. 77.
Wid's   7 Sep 19   p. 5.

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The American Film Institute is grateful to Sir Paul Getty KBE and the Sir Paul Getty KBE Estate for their dedication to the art of the moving image and their support for the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and without whose support AFI would not have been able to achieve this historical landmark in this epic scholarly endeavor.
 
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