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The Black Stork, also known as Are You Fit To Marry?, is a 1917 American motion picture film both written by and starring Harry J. Haiselden, who was the chief surgeon at the German-American Hospital in Chicago. The Black Stork is Haiselden's fictionalized account of his eugenic infanticide of John Bollinger, who was born with severe disabilities. The film depicts Haiselden's fictionalized story of a woman who has a nightmare of a severely disabled child being a menace to society. Once awoken from the nightmare, she visits a doctor and realizes all was fine with her child. However, the purpose of the film was not to have a happy ending and move on. The purpose was to basically warn people, especially teenagers, of the dangers of sexual promiscuity and "race mixing", as these actions were believed to be the cause of disabilities in children.
Original Release
02/28/1917
US Release
02/28/1917
Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Allan Murnane | Tom Watson |
Hamilton Revelle | Claude Leffingwell |
Elsie Esmond | Anne Schultz |
Henry Bergman | The Detective |
John Miltern | (as John T. Miltern) |
Edgar L. Davenport | |
George Moss | |
Elsie Baker | |
Bessie Wharton | (as Bessie Emerick) |
Frances White |
Directors
Leopold Wharton, Theodore Wharton
Writers
Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Allan Murnane | Tom Watson |
Hamilton Revelle | Claude Leffingwell |
Elsie Esmond | Anne Schultz |
Henry Bergman | The Detective |
John Miltern | (as John T. Miltern) |
Edgar L. Davenport | |
George Moss | |
Elsie Baker | |
Bessie Wharton | (as Bessie Emerick) |
Frances White | |
Harry J. Haiselden | Dr. Dickey |
Producers
Name | Role |
---|
Theodore Wharton | Producer |