Remembrance Wall

Title: When Bearcat Went Dry

Date: 1919

Distributor: C.R. Macauley Photoplays, Inc.

Director: Ollie L. Sellers

Cast: Vangie Valentine, Walt Whitman, Bernard Durning, Winter Hall, Ed Brady, M.K. Wilson, Lon Chaney

Summary: Turner “Bearcat” Stacy, the son of a moonshiner, loves Blossom Fulkerson, a missionary’s daughter. Blossom has tried unsuccessfully to get Bearcat to stop drinking. Blossom shelters Jerry Henderson from saloon owner Kindard Powers’ gang, and the two become engaged. Henderson is wounded by Powers’ men and Bearcat rescues him and takes him to marry Blossom. Bearcat destroys the stills and Bearcat’s father kills Powers. Blossom returns to the area to teach school, and she and Bearcat wed.

Notes: Bill Buffum, a mill worker who had moonlighted as a projectionist before and after WWII, donated this film to the American Film Institute. Features Lon Chaney in an early supporting role.