The Exploits of Elaine, The Romance of Elaine by Arthur B. Reeve
According to several sources, the writer Arthur B. Reeve had his hand in numerous s.f. silent serials and features as either a screenplay writer or author such as:
Hidden Hand
The Mystery Mind
Terror Island
The Carter Case
The Master Mystery
House of Hate
Radio DetectiveAnd of course,
The Exploits of Elaine
The New Exploits of Elaine
The Romance of ElaineThese films featured such names as Pearl "Perils of Pauline" White, Sheldon "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" Lewis, Lionel Barrymore and the master escape artist Harry Houdini.
Reeve's world was one of bound and gagged heroines, secret codes, hidden passageways, hooded villains and ingenious and inventive heroes. Craig Kennedy "scientific detective" was the hero in the "Elaine" films and others. He is sort of a cross between Tom Swift, Sr. and Sherlock Holmes.
The Elaine serials where embellished with each episode by installments in the Hearst newspaper chain. Later, they were collected into photoplay novels. "Exploits" was novelized chapter by chapter. This story saw our hero battling the villainy of "The Clutching Hand". There were two sequels to "Exploits"; "New Expoits" (Kennedy battles the insidious Wu Fang) and "Romance of..." (dastardly deeds provided by the mysterious Mr. X). These were combined into one novel called "The Romance of Elaine". *
Watching a serial is best done one episode at a time. I waded through the text of "Exploits of Elaine" a couple of months ago and recently digested "Romance of Elaine". Reading these books can be light enjoyment but after a while you realize that it is no substitute for actually viewing the weekly spills and thrills.
Having seen 6 episodes of "Exploits of Elaine", I look forward to more. Probably all of the serials chapters exist out there somewhere between archives and collectors. There is a chance that the entire thing will be made available to the public. But nothing seems to remain of "New Exploits" and "Romance of...". That's somewhat of a shame. These items made lots of money at the time, were very popular then and still fun today.
* footnotes:
"The Clutching Hand" would become the title of a serial in its own right in the 30s. However, this is considered a very weak Craig Kennedy film by most.
"Mr. X" is a foreign spy. The later chapters of the Reeve's second novel deal with the fear of upcoming war. Interestingly and coincidentally a reference is made to Hudson Maxim. (see my previous article)
written: 11/23/2001
revised: 2/10/2003
