The Ghost of Rosy Taylor

The Ghost of Rosy Taylor is a 1918 American silent comedy-drama film starring Mary Miles Minter, directed by Edward Sloman. The film is based on a Saturday Evening Post story of the same name, written by Josephine Daskam Bacon.[1] It is one of approximately a dozen Minter films which are known to have survived, and one of even fewer readily available for the general public to view.[2]

The Ghost of Rosy Taylor
The Ghost of Rosy Taylor (1918) - 1
Directed byEdward Sloman
Written byElizabeth Mahoney
Based onThe Ghost of Rosy Taylor
by Josephine Daskam Bacon
StarringMary Miles Minter
Production
company
Distributed byPathé Exchange
Release date
  • July 8, 1918 (1918-07-08)
Running time
59 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)

Plot

Rhoda Eldridge (Minter) lives in a small French town with her elderly father Charles Eldridge (Periolat). Now that she has finished school, Rhoda longs to have a home in America, but her father, a self-imposed exile from his country who is concealing his past even from his daughter, refuses to consider it.

When her father passes away, Rhoda at last learns the secret of her family; that she is Rhoda Eldridge Sayles of a prominent American family and that, shortly after she was born, her father had left for Europe after a bitter quarrel with his father and brother. A letter left by her father implores Rhoda to keep the Eldridge surname and not to seek contact with the Sayles. He tells her that he has invested his savings in a shipping company, but when Rhoda receives a telegram informing her that the company has gone bust, she is forced to seek a wage elsewhere.

Rhoda is hired by a lady seeking a nursemaid for her children on the return voyage to America. After a delightful voyage, Rhoda is once again left without income, and with seventeen dollars to her name she takes up residence in the New York boarding house of Mrs. Sullivan (Price). After two weeks’ futile search for work, and down to her last ten cents, Rhoda finds a letter in a park, addressed to Rosy Taylor, and containing two dollars and the instruction to clean the mansion of Mrs. du Vivier every week. Rhoda tries to return the letter, but when she learns that Rosy Taylor is dead, she decides to take on the cleaning job herself.

All goes well until Mrs. Du Vivier’s brother, Jacques Le Clerc (Forrest) catches Rhoda in the act of cleaning the family silver. Believing that she is stealing the silver, he refers her to a reformatory, whose patron is Joseph Sayles (Periolat). After being forced to stay and work at the reformatory by Mrs. Watkins (Schaefer) who believes she is a thief, Rhoda escapes and, although afraid of another encounter with Jacques, returns to Rosy Taylor’s job.

When she returns to the Du Vivier mansion, Rhoda finds a letter from Mrs. Du Vivier, saying that she is pleased with the work, and some of her cast-off dresses for Rosy Taylor to wear. Rhoda is delighted with the beautiful dress, and permits herself to “bask in elegance” for an hour, with a vow to “scrub hard to make up for it.” She is distracted by a book, and while she is reading she is found by Jacques, who has mistaken her for his sister.

While Rhoda is explaining herself to Jacques, Mrs. Du Vivier (Howard) is meeting up with her friend Mrs. Herriman-Smith (Kluge). When Mrs. Du Vivier thanks Mrs. Herriman-Smith for her recommendation of Rosy Taylor, Mrs. Herriman-Smith tells her that Taylor has been dead for weeks. Perturbed at the thought that a ghost has been cleaning her house all this time, the women race back to the Du Vivier mansion to get to the bottom of the mystery.

While talking to Jacques, Rhoda lets slip her real surname of Sayles, and it is clear that the name means something to Jacques. She shows him her father’s letter, and he asks her to remain and continue to clean the mansion while he makes some enquiries. It is at this point what Mrs. Du Vivier and Mrs. Herriman-Smith arrive at the house, and mistake Rhoda cleaning with windows with a long mop as a ghostly apparition. They telephone the police, who arrive at the same moment as a worker from the reformatory, and Rhoda is taken into custody before Jacques can return.

After everyone comes together at the offices of the reformatory, Jacques and Rhoda are able to prove to Joseph Sayles, with the aid of her father’s letter, that Rhoda is his niece. Jacques introduces Rhoda to his sister as the ghost of Rosy Taylor, who, he says, will haunt him for the rest of his life.

Cast

Reception

Contemporary reviews of the film were mixed, with some critics praising the film as “exquisitely done” and the star and support as good,[1] while others found the plot contrived but praised the personality of Minter.[3]

Preservation

A print of the film was discovered in a barn in New Zealand in the 1990s. It is complete, although in poor quality in many places, and is currently held at the BFI National Archive [4]

References
  1. "Reviews: The Ghost of Rosy Taylor". Exhibitors Herald. New York City: Exhibitors Herald Company. 7 (3): 27. July 13, 1918.
  2. Grapevine Video Mary Miles Minter Double Feature – The Ghost of Rosy Taylor & The Eyes of Julia Deep
  3. "Reviews: The Ghost of Rosy Taylor". Wid's Daily. New York: Wid’s Film and Film Folks inc. 5 (66): 19. July 14, 1918.
  4. "The Ghost Of Rosy Taylor / Edward S Sloman [motion picture]:Bibliographic Record Description: Performing Arts Databases, Library of Congress". 1918.
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