What Happened to Mary

What Happened to Mary
Film still with (from left) Miriam Nesbitt, Mary Fuller, and Marc McDermott
Directed byAshley Miller
Charles Brabin
Screenplay byBannister Merwin
Story byEdwin Bliss
StarringMary Fuller
Marc McDermott
Production
company
Distributed byGeneral Film Company
Release date
  • July 26, 1912 (1912-07-26)
Running time
12 1-reel episodes
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)
Title card from episode nine of the serial. Note that there is no question mark present in the series title.

What Happened to Mary (sometimes erroneously referred to as What Happened to Mary?) is the first serial film made in the United States.[1][2] Produced by Edison Studios, with screenplays by Horace G. Plympton, and directed by Charles Brabin, the action films starred Mary Fuller.

Twelve one-reel episodes were released monthly beginning July 1912, coinciding with the literary serial of the same name published in McClure's The Ladies' World magazine. In addition to the motion pictures and regular magazine installments, What Happened to Mary was also adapted as a stage play, followed by a novelization, making it an early example of the multimedia franchise.

  1. ^ Malcolm-Smith, George (19 January 1933). "The Observation Post". The Hartford Courant. Vol. 96 (Daily ed.). Hartford, Connecticut. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Klepper, Robert K. (1 January 2005). Silent Films, 1877-1996: A Critical Guide to 646 Movies. McFarland & Company. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-7864-2164-0.