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The Touch of a Child
(1913) United States of America
B&W : Short film
Directed by (unknown)
Cast: Mabel Van Buren [Helen Hastings], Joseph King (Joe King) [Hastings, Helen’s husband], Baby Lillian Wade [Little Ruth Hastings], Henry W. Otto [Count Du Verne]
The Selig Polyscope Company, Incorporated, production; distributed by The General Film Company, Incorporated. / Produced by William N. Selig. From a story by Nellie Browne Duff. / Released [?] 19 July or 19 November? 1913. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Helen Hastings really loves her hard-working young husband, an accountant, but the superficial side of her nature craves worldly things and luxuries he is unable to furnish. She has a fine voice and gives all of her attention to its cultivation, to the neglect of her little daughter and her prosaic husband. An opera manager hears her sing, offers her an engagement, and after arduous study she makes a successful debut. The glamor dazzles Helen, but her triumphs seem more bitter than sweet, for she is lonely. About this time in the train of artistic success comes dangling Count Duverne, and she is highly flattered by his attentions and is almost inclined to consider his per fervid protestations as genuine affection. The company in which she is engaged readies her home city, and the Count comes along as a social lion. Her little daughter, Ruth, is stricken with a dangerous illness and in her delirium constantly calls for her mamma. The poor husband is desperate over the situation and the attendant physician tells him the only chance to save the little one’s life is the soothing presence of the mother. He sends a note to her hotel, telling her of the desperate situation. It reaches her just as she has concluded a fiery scene of recrimination with the importunate Count, and moves the mother love mightily. She rushes instantly to the bedside of the ailing one, and a miraculous change for the better comes as she sobs repentantly by the little bed to the darkened sickroom. Little Ruth’s life is saved, and her white hands join those of her father and mother, so that they part no more for life.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 6 October 2023.
References: Lahue-Selig p. 155 : Website-IMDb.
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