File:1912 Henderson (film).jpg

{en} The Little Girl Next Door [1] (USA, 1912), directed by Lucius J. Henderson, produced by Thanhouser Company, starring Marion & Madeline Fairbanks (the little girls). <silent> <Nov 1, 1912>

Randall and Ruth Foster were little tots. The two children lived side by side on one of the fashionable streets in New York City.

Directed by Lucius J. Henderson for the Thanhouser Film Corporation. The domestic drama centers on two young neighborhood girls, Helen Randall and Ruth Foster, who forge a deep, secretive friendship despite a bitter, escalating property and class feud dividing their respective families. The principal roles were custom-tailored for the real-life Fairbanks Twins, Marion and Madeline, who subsequently became an invaluable commercial asset for Thanhouser. This surviving film is structurally vital for documenting a critical industrial turning point: the transition away from casting anonymous, interchangeable children toward cultivating and marketing highly recognizable sibling ensembles to secure long-term audience brand loyalty. <EXTANT; online YES; music YES>