Leaving Ithaca

This chapter details the financial woes that the Wharton brothers faced. The once-bustling Wharton Studio at Renwick Park was, by 1919, a film studio in name only. With its debt increasing and prospects for new production slowing correspondingly, it was facing an uncertain future. By May of 1919, the brothers' long-standing money troubles had become too big to hide or ignore. To be sure, the Whartons' prospects in the industry looked grim. Yet surprisingly, within just days of the sale of the studio's contents, reports surfaced of a new Wharton film venture: The Crooked Dagger. However, between the problems with Pathé and the loss of the serial's leading man and other actors, Ted Wharton found himself unable to move forward with the production. Consequently, although a number of filmographies list The Crooked Dagger as a completed picture, the serial “never saw the light of day.”