A Christmas Revenge
1915 film by Broncho Billy Anderson
A Christmas Revenge is a lost 1915 American silent short western drama film directed by Gilbert M. Anderson and produced by Essanay Studios. Anderson also stars as Broncho Billy.
Plot
A stranger is in town and he has won over a local teacher who used to be Broncho Billy's girl. On the day of the wedding, Billy shoots the groom, injuring him. Now on the run from the law, Billy leaves a message, saying that he will kill the groom on Christmas Day. At Christmas he returns and using a Santa Claus costume gets into the church. At the last moment, he decides not to harm the groom as a Christmas present to his former lover.
Cast
Background
The film is an adaptation of the short story "A Chaparral Christmas Gift" by the American writer O. Henry. The original was published in 1910 with 23 other short stories in the collection Whirligigs.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “A Christmas Revenge” is 1915 film by Broncho Billy Anderson. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Christmas, Revenge and film, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “1915 film by Broncho Billy Anderson” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q14523962. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1915 and 1910.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “A Christmas Revenge”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow A Christmas Revenge primary sources, A Christmas Revenge archive and Christmas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “A Christmas Revenge”?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “A Christmas Revenge” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.