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Tapped Wires
(1913) United States of America
B&W : Two reels
Directed by (unknown)
Cast: E.H. Calvert [Red Keogh, the Affiliated Press operator], Tommy Shirley (Tom Shirley) [Mike Taylor, the Affiliated Press office boy], Harry Norton [Sam Burns, the Coast Service office boy], Helen Dunbar [Mrs. Taylor, Mike’s aunt], Eleanor Kahn [Mamie Taylor, Mike’s little sister], Richard Travers [Frank Butler of the Affiliated Press], Jules Ferrar [the manager of the Affiliated Press], Frank Dayton [the manager of the Coast Service Company]
Essanay Film Manufacturing Company production; distributed by The General Film Company, Incorporated. / Scenario by Henry MacRae. Managing director, Theodore Wharton. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Two young men, Mike and Sam, telegraphers, in the employ of the Affiliated Press, are bitter enemies. Each time they meet there is a rough and tumble fight. There is a mystery in the office of the Affiliated Press, for each time they get a scoop, their rival, the Coast Service Company, is sure to get it also. One night after the boys’ work is finished, they again happen to meet in the corridor, and this time the fight is more severe than heretofore. They burst into the office of the Coast Service Company and Sam knocks Mike senseless over a telegraph table. Sam, believing that he has killed his rival, goes to the waterfront and contemplates suicide. Mike, coming to his senses, hears the instrument ticking. It is an Affiliated Press call and he wonders how it comes over the wires of his company’s rival. He takes the message, which is being sent by a reporter of the Affiliated Press. The Waverly express has been wrecked. It is the train his sister has gone on to visit her aunt. He is greatly excited when he learns that his sister has been killed, but keeps on taking the message. Before leaving the Coast Service Company’s offices, he cuts the wire, but in doing so he has also severed the connection in his own office. He goes to another office and takes further information down over the long distance telephone. He is found there by Sam, who has returned, and by Red Keogh, the chief operator, and the manager of the company. When he is accused of cutting the wires his explanation acquits him, and his anguish of mind is relieved when be later learns that his sister was only slightly hurt. It only needed a little touch of human nature for Sam to realize that Mike is his dear friend.
Survival status: Print exists in the Library of Congress film archive (American Film Institute collection) [incomplete (reel one only)].
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 7 October 2023.
References: Website-AFI; Website-IMDb.
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