Bred in the Bone
Cast & Crew
Paul Powell
Alberta Lee
Richard Cummings
Dorothy Gish
Margie Wilson
W. E. Lawrence
Film Details
Synopsis
After the dissipated star of a theatrical troupe deserts his actress wife and their infant daughter, the mother leaves her baby on the doorstep of a childless Quaker couple and moves on. The couple, who call the baby Mercy and regard her as an answer to their prayers, raise her in their simple life. Years later, Mercy, attracted by the "call of the stage," leaves her parents and her devoted Quaker sweetheart to join a traveling troupe. In New York, Mercy and the juvenile lead, who is infatuated with her, find a manager who signs Mercy for his "girly" musical revue. Soon a Broadway success, Mercy gets her own apartments and hires as her housekeeper the wardrobe mistress, who, unknown to either, is her mother. After Mercy relates her past, her mother, on her deathbed, sends for the Quaker sweetheart. Meanwhile, the manager tries to rape Mercy. The actor, whose many proposals Mercy has turned down, arrives and kills the manager. He confesses to the police as Mercy's sweetheart arrives and takes her back.
Director
Paul Powell
Cast
Alberta Lee
Richard Cummings
Dorothy Gish
Margie Wilson
W. E. Lawrence
Al Filson
Seena Owen
William Hinckley
Crew
Film Details
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According to a news item in March 1915, Mary Alden and Eleanor Washington were also in the cast. Sources differ concerning the ending of the film. In one version, the actor, frustrated with being repulsed by Mercy, and intoxicated, shoots at her. Her mother dies after catching a bullet meant for Mercy. In another version, the mother is shot by the manager while protecting Mercy. Lillian Gish, in an autobiographical book, included a production still from this film of D. W. Griffith apparently directing actors in the rehearsal of a scene. While Griffith, according to his contract, was to be the supervisor of all Reliance films, the extent of his active participation in any given film is unknown.
