Behind the Footlights - Production & Contact Info

Behind the Footlights (1914)
Short | 22 min | Short, Drama

Behind the Footlights (1914)

Short | 22 min | Short, Drama

Violet Dale obtains, through the intervention of Stanley Hilton, a wealthy idler, a small part in a new musical comedy. Frank Gordon, the house electrician, loses his heart to Violet, but his diffidence keeps him silent. Hilton's interest ...See moreViolet Dale obtains, through the intervention of Stanley Hilton, a wealthy idler, a small part in a new musical comedy. Frank Gordon, the house electrician, loses his heart to Violet, but his diffidence keeps him silent. Hilton's interest in Violet is only casual, his particular flame being Clara Delane, the star. Clara is hurt during the first performance, and it is found that no one has been instructed to understudy her part. Violet volunteers to play it, and makes a small hit. Hilton begins to pay her ardent attentions. One night Violet becomes frightened, and to avoid a meeting with Hilton remains late in her dressing-room. Gordon and the watchman are the only others in the building. Fire breaks out and Violet, unconscious, is carried out by Gordon, who puts her in Hilton's arms when he meets him at the stage door, and re-enters the burning structure to rescue the watchman. The newspapers give an account of Violet's rescue "by Mr. Hilton," and she, having been unconscious, assumes this to be true. It does not occur to Gordon to contradict the report. Violet being out of Hilton's sight, his interest in her now wanes. Violet's illness outlasts her slender purse, but she is told by the hospital authorities that an anonymous friend is paying all expenses. She thinks this friend must be Hilton, and that she is under terrible obligations to him. Each day there comes a bunch of violets, accompanied sometimes by a little unsigned note of cheer. The bills have really been paid by Gordon, and it is he who sends the violets and messages. Upon Violet's return to the theater, Hilton, who has quarreled with Clara, sees that she gets her position again, and begins to shower her with attentions. Feeling that she owes him her life and her hospital treatment. Violet finds it almost impossible to resist his advances. On the night of the last performance, she finds in her dressing-room a note from Hilton, telling her that if her answer is "yes" to his demands, she is to wear the roses he has sent. She also discovers a little bunch of wild violets with an unsigned note which tells her that they are few because they are the last in all the fields. Violet is amazed; the writing on this note, entirely different from Hilton's, is the same hand as the notes which reached her at the hospital. Gordon has learned of Hilton's note, and is desperate at last. He steals into Hilton's box. unobserved, determined to kill him if the girl wears the roses. When she appears, she wears the violets. Later Violet identifies the unsigned note as being Gordon's handwriting, and also learns that it was he who saved her from the fire. There is a sudden awakening in her heart, and when she finds Gordon on the deserted stage, she goes to him. Written by Moving Picture World synopsis See less

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Cast	+ Add Cast
5 cast members

Name	Known for
Arthur V. Johnson Frank Gordon Frank Gordon See fewer	The Beloved Adventurer (1914)
Lottie Briscoe Violet Dale Violet Dale See fewer	The House of Mirth (1918)
Charles Brandt Stanley Hilton Stanley Hilton See fewer	The College Widow (1915)
Florence Hackett Clara Delane Clara Delane See fewer	The Beloved Adventurer (1914)
Howard M. Mitchell Theatre Manager Theatre Manager See fewer	The Mother Heart (1921)