The Musketeers of Pig Alley
Filming date: finished ca. September 1912
Location: Fort Lee, New Jersey
Release date: 31 October 1912; reissued by Biograph, 5 November 1915
Release length: one reel
Copyright date: 4 November 1912
Director: D.W. Griffith
Author: Joseph Graybill
Camera: G.W. Bitzer
Cast: Elmer Booth (Snapper Kid); Lillian Gish (The Little Lady); Walter Miller
(Musician); Alfred Paget (Snapper's rival); Madge Kirby (Little Lady's
friend); Harry Carey (Snapper's lieutenant); John T. Dillon (Policeman); Clara
T. Bracey (Little Lady's mother); Adolph Lestina (Bartender); Jack Pickford
(In Snapper's gang); Robert Harron, W.C. Robinson (In rival gang); Dorothy
Gish, Adolph Lestina, Kathleen Butler (On street); Madge Kirby, Robert Harron,
Walter P. Lewis, J. Waltham (In alley); Jack Pickford, Antonio Moreno,
Gertrude Bambrick, W. Christy Cabanne, Robert Harron, Kathleen Butler, Frank
Evans, Walter P. Lewis, Marie Newton (At dance); ? (Musician's friend)
Produced by American Biograph
Snapper Kid mugs a musician in the hallway of his Lower East Side tenement,
not knowing that his victim is the fiance of the young seamstress Snapper has
earlier discovered for himself. While the musician wanders off hoping to
retrieve his wallet, the seamstress goes to a dance hall where Snapper sees
her again. Before he can talk to her, he catches a rival gang leader doping
her drink, and the confrontation triggers a gang war. In the battle that
follows, the musician encounters Snapper and wrestles his wallet back,
retrieving the money he needs to marry his sweetheart. When Snapper rushes to
her apartment to claim her for himself, she rejects him, but she lies to
protect him from the police.
Synopsis
From Copyright Material submitted to the Library of Congress:
This picture is intended to portray the evil of the gangster in New York.
The first scene shows New York's other side. The poor musician is engaged to
be married to a young woman and leaves for another city to accept an
engagement whereby to improve his condition monetarily.
While he is away the little one is forced to work at sewing to support her
invalid mother and herself.
Later on, in going to deliver some of her work, she meets "Snapper Kid" who is
the chief of one faction of the gangsters of Pig Alley in the slum quarters.
There are two factions of these gangsters. Like the musketeers of old, they go
about, each side alert that they will not be taken unawares by the other.
About this time the little girl's mother dies and she finds herself alone, but
the musician returns with replenished purse to become the protector of the
little orphan.
He meets the musketeers in Pig Alley and "Snapper Kid" relieves him of his
wallet.
Going to the girl, he vows to her that he will recover his stolen money at all
hazard, and consequently leaves to make the rounds through the slums in the
hope of apprehending the thief.
In this new sorrow, a friend stops in to see the little lady and induces her
to go with her to the ball, hoping thereby to cheer her a little.
At the ball, the girl meets one of the gang, and he being a decent looking
chap, she dances with him and accepts his invitation to drink a soft drink.
This he drugs, and had it not been for "Snapper Kid" who sees this act from a
distance, she would have drunk it, but the kid intervenes.
This further riles the other faction of the gang, and fearing the "Big Boss"
they go outside to settle the trouble. We show several scenes of their
following each other with the hope of one taking the other by surprise. For a
long time they are ever on the alert.
Finally a gun fight ensues and in the struggle "Snapper Kid" rushes through
one of the hallways in his endeavor to escape the police, and is met by the
musician, who, before the kid realizes what he has done, recovers his wallet,
making his way hurriedly back to the girl.
The kid has no chance to recover his equilibrium, for the police are on his
heels, and he rushes through the dark hallways until he finally comes to the
apartment of the girl, just after the musician has reached there.
The police trail him to this point, but as he had saved the girl from disaster
the night of the ball, she, reasoning that one good turn deserves another,
enables him to give an alibi to the officer which frees him.
Cutting continuity
Copyright Descriptive Material, Library of Congress, November 4, 1912, LU90
Eagle Title: The Musketeers of Pig Alley
Sub-title: New York's other side - The poor musician goes away to improve his
fortune
Room: Young man and girl talking
Hallway: Woman and girl standing in hallway
Room: Woman in chair - girl going out of door
Sub-title: Later - the little lady meets "Snapper Kid" the chief of the
musketeers
Room: Woman in chair - girl doing up bundle
Hallway: Woman going up stairs - men in hallway talking
Street: Several people in street
Hallway: Men in hallway, near foot of stairs
Room: woman in chair
Sub-title: Alone
Hallway:
Room: Woman in chair
Sub-title: The musician returning with replenished purse, meets the musketeers
in Pig Alley
The alley: Several people in alley
Street: Several people in street
Hallway
Room: Girl in chair
Hallway: Man on floor - another man bending over him - another man near foot
of stairs
Saloon: Man entering
Hallway: Man on floor
Room: Girl in chair
Hallway: Man on floor, crawling to door
Room: Girl in doorway, helping man into room
Sub-title: The musician determined to recover his stolen money
Room: Young man and girl talking
Saloon: Man behind bar
Room: Girl at door
Saloon: Man behind bar - man standing near bar with grip in hand
The Alley: Several people in alley
Sub-title: A friend tries to cheer the little lady
Room: Girl standing near machine
Hallway: Girl coming out of door
Sub-title: The little lady at the gangster's ball
Ball room: Several people standing around and sitting on chairs
Room: People at tables drinking - man enters room
Ball room: People dancing - others standing around
Room: Young man and girl at table
Ball room: People dancing - others standing around
Sub-title: Fear of the Big Boss forces them to settle the fight outside
Room: Two men standing near table talking
Ball room: People dancing - others standing around
Exterior of dance hall: Men standing in doorway
Room: Man standing at table
Street: Man at stand - man walking down street
Hallway:
Saloon: Man behind bar - man enters door
Room: Two men at table drinking - another standing near table talking to them
Ball room: People standing around, talking
Saloon: Man behind bar - men standing at bar
Street: Man sitting on step outside of store
Sub-title: The gangsters' feudal war
Exterior of dance hall: Man standing in doorway
Cellar:
Street: Man sitting on step outside of store
Saloon:
The alley: Musician in foreground - other man standing around
Cellar
The alley: Several men standing around
Saloon: Man behind bar - other men standing at bar
Street: Exterior of saloon
The alley: Gangsters talking - man in background
Cellar - door open
Alley way:
Cellar: Men entering [...]or
Alley way: Men standing near wall
The alley:
Cellar:
The alley: Men shooting
Cellar: The musician standing near door
The alley: Several men on ground
Cellar: Man standing near door
The alley: Policemen arresting gangsters
Room: Girl sitt[...]m
Hallway:
Room: Girl and man talking
Hallway: Man standing near door
Room: Girl and young man in room - man enters door
Hallway: Man in doorway
Sub-title: One good turn deserves another
Room: Man and girl talking - man enters
Sub-title: Links in the system
Hallway:
Policema[...]g in hallway
Room: Young man holding arms out to girl
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