DVDs & BOOKS

The Hazards of Helen: Episode 13
“The Escape on the Fast Freight” (1915)
Production Company: Kalem Co. Producer: Paul C. Hurst. Directors: Helen Holmes and Leo Maloney. Writer: Edward Matlack. Cast: Helen Holmes (Helen Holmes), Leo Maloney and James Davis (tramps), G.A. Williams (constable), Paul C. Hurst and Ben Jones (train workers). Transfer Note: Copied at 19 frames per second from a 35mm print preserved by the Library of Congress (Public Archives of Canada/Dawson City and British Film Institute Collections). New Score: Martin Marks. Running Time: 13 minutes.

More than any other series the 119-episode Hazards of Helen (1914–17) was an adventure of the workplace, conveying a no nonsense feminism amid action stories about a woman’s capacity to do her job—and then some! It consisted of relatively self-contained episodes unified by Helen’s role as a railroad telegraph operator at a remote western depot, where she was usually the only woman in a man’s world. As if caught in some Sisyphean time warp, Helen began each episode with the men around her presuming that she was too weak and incompetent to do her job, and then proving herself the company’s fearless savior. A week later, she would take up her post again, all previous heroism forgotten.

In America women had worked as telegraph operators from the 1840s. In 1915, there were about 12,000 female telegraphers—about 20 percent of the total—but fewer than 3 percent of railroad operators were women. These served largely at remote locations not desired by male employees.

Helen is played by 22-year-old Helen Holmes. About the expectation to perform dangerous stunts, she said, “If we do not go ahead and do them, what would the pictures be like?” She also co-directed this episode and Moving Picture World added, “Miss Holmes is managing the company…. She writes scripts and does most of the work.” In a revealing parallel with the way that her character’s abilities were forgotten weekly, Helen Holmes’s production roles go unacknowledged in the credits.—Scott Simmon

About the Music
In preparing this score, I asked myself how a 1915 movie house pianist would have approached a weekly serial. It is likely that he would have settled on certain themes throughout and then improvised and added new material as needed. With this in mind, I went back to the score I prepared for “The Wild Engine,” the Hazards of Helen episode included in More Treasures from American Film Archives, and recycled some of its music. This time around, however, I improvised more and developed a few key motives to a greater extent.

The recycled material includes two lyric pieces and one action theme. The first lyric piece is the song “I Don’t Care” by Jean Lenox and Harry O. Sutton (Jerome H. Remick, 1905). In this serial week after week Helen strives to prove herself in a man’s world, meaning that in one sense she does care, as the song’s refrain has it, “what they may think of me.” But the jaunty tune reflects Helen’s good-humored optimism and her independence of mind. Moreover, it’s possible to use the song for contrary effects—as I do in the shot, after Helen’s discharge, showing her pensive reflection. For Helen’s energetic workaday mentality, I return to another well-known tune, “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad,” but enlarge its role, especially during the opening, where it has a driving train-rhythm accompaniment. When Helen leaps onto the train and goes after the thieves, we hear another familiar theme, the C minor “Hurry” by Frank C. Dougherty (no. 2 in his Collection of Descriptive Music for the Photoplay, Cooperative Music, 1922).

The first half of the film incorporates three other action pieces, which are subtler than Dougherty’s and help build tension. The most sinister, Harry Norton’s “Mysterioso: For Stealthy Action, Burglary, Etc.” (from Jacobs’ Incidental Music for Motion Pictures, Walter Jacobs, 1918), is a classic of its type. It can be heard when the two thieves skulk around in the train yard. Walter C. Simon’s “Hurry” (from his collection Society Dramas: One Reel Special Music for Motion Pictures, Walter Simon, 1915) was perfect for the robbery sequence. It is built on a motive similar to the main one from Dougherty’s action piece, making it possible to fashion a tighter score. After all, The Hazards of Helen is exciting and deserves more than a “serial” score. When it comes to Helen, I do care.—Martin Marks

About the Preservation
This episode of The Hazards of Helen was restored by the Library of Congress in 2006 from the two known surviving original prints, one found in Canada, the other in Britain. The Canadian copy was badly deteriorated at the end of the reel; the British copy showed most damage at the opening. Together they allowed for a virtually complete reconstruction.