The Active Life of Dolly of the Dailies

I saw Chapter 5, The Chinese Fan, at Cinecon 47. It was a beautifully restored print from an archive in New Zealand. An early serial from the Edison studios, it features a plucky female reporter who, in this episode, sets out to review a new play in Chinatown and then gets mixed up with the kidnappers of an heiress. It was interesting to see Dolly treated with respect by her colleagues at the newspaper where she worked. Early films obviously had no problems with strong female protagonists; where did they disappear to for the next 50 years! It's too bad the other episodes of this serial have been lost, but this one is a must-see for any student of film history.

The first of "Dolly of the Dailies" series by Acton Davies, and is a delightful little comedy picture. Its humor springs cool and fresh from below the surface of things and it is played so that even its peculiar characters are human and good company. Its best characters are very attractive. William West, as Dolly's father, couidn't be improved upon, while both Dolly, herself (Mary Fuller) and Bobby (Edwin Clark) are excellently chosen and excite lively interest. The story that Dolly writes for the town newspaper, giving away the "perfect truth" about the village people, stirs them up and makes them exemplify it for us in an amusing way. The incident makes a self-contained story and we are left longing to know what the bright girl's further adventure are to be. Walter Edwin produced it. - The Moving Picture World, February 14, 1914

"The Active Life of Dolly of the Dailies" is a frustrating film to watch. This is because it's an early movie serial that is broken into chapters--and only chapter five, "The Chinese Fan", is known to exist--and it was only just discovered recently in New Zealand! You wonder just how good the entire project was...

The film plays off the public's distrust of Chinese immigrants in the early 20th century. It also capitalizes off the sensational work of woman reporter Nellie Bligh in the 1880s and early 1890s. Americans were wowed by her exposées as well as her around the world tour--and Dolly of the Dailies is clearly modeled after her.

The plot involves the kidnapped daughter of a banker. Nellie thinks the dreaded Chinese tongs have captured her and she just barges right in--and gets herself captured--along with the banker's daughter. How can the two escape? See the film yourself! This is worth seeing just to see the historical significance. In addition to seeing what city life was at the time, you also get to see fire wagons being pulled by horses as well as see the views of the Chinese first hand.

Overall, very interesting and exciting--but also too short to interest folks who are not insane about film history (like I am). Interesting, that's for sure.