Children of the Ghetto


1915

Film Details

Genre
Adaptation
Release Date
Feb 20, 1915
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Box Office Attraction Co.
Distribution Company
Box Office Attraction Co.; Fox Film Corp.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel The Children of the Ghetto: A Study of a Peculiar People by Israel Zangwill (London, 1892) and his play Children of the Ghetto (New York, 16 Oct 1899).

Synopsis

In a prologue, actor Wilton Lackaye reads the story Children of the Ghetto . Seated opposite him is the character whom Lackaye portrays, Reb Shemuel, a benevolent religious leader. In the main story, Reb Shemuel's son arrives drunk at a Passover feast, insults his father and blasphemes God. When he is injured in a cabaret brawl, Shemuel refuses to see him. Remembering his religious obligation, Shemuel rushes to the hospital and hears his son beg forgiveness before he dies. After the fiancé of a friend of Shemuel's beloved daughter Hannah puts a wedding ring on Hannah's finger in jest and says the marriage vows, Shemuel performs a divorce. Later, Hannah is about to marry David Brandon, when an unsuccessful suitor, Pincus the poet, reminds the congregation that David is a descendant of the priestly tribe of Cohen, who are forbidden to marry divorced women. After David and Hannah marry in a civil ceremony, she becomes estranged from her father, whose sorrow is compounded by the death of his devoted wife. Several years later, Shemuel conducts a lonely Passover seder at a table of empty chairs. Hannah, now widowed, and her two children occupy the chairs, and the old man accepts them lovingly.

Film Details

Genre
Adaptation
Release Date
Feb 20, 1915
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Box Office Attraction Co.
Distribution Company
Box Office Attraction Co.; Fox Film Corp.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel The Children of the Ghetto: A Study of a Peculiar People by Israel Zangwill (London, 1892) and his play Children of the Ghetto (New York, 16 Oct 1899).

Quotes

Trivia

Notes

Wilton Lackaye starred in the original stage production. The Fox Film Corp. became the new name of the Box Office Attraction Co. in February 1915, around the time of this film's release.