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Research dossier · Arts & Letters

A Happy Coercion

1914 silent short film

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionFeb 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ16251013 ↗
Source-derived summary

A Happy Coercion is a 1914 American silent short comedy film based on a story by Theodosia Harris. The film stars Perry Banks, William Bertram, Jacques Jaccard, Louise Lester, Jack Richardson, Vivian Rich, and Harry Van Meter.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “A Happy Coercion” is 1914 silent short film. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Happy, Coercion and silent, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1914—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1914. For this dossier, Happy, Coercion and silent is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “1914 silent short film” 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.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16251013. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1914.

Critical limits

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.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “A Happy Coercion”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow A Happy Coercion primary sources, A Happy Coercion archive and Happy research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “A Happy Coercion”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “A Happy Coercion” 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.