Dudley DoRight saves Penelope Pittstop in the nick of time!
You all know the cliche. A hero saves the damsel in distress by untying her from the railroad track seconds before the train arrives. Makes for a suspenseful story, but I was wondering if this scenario had any basis in truth? Or is this bit of colorful folklore completely rooted in the imagination of some Warner Brothers cartoon writer?
I mean, it IS a crappy way to kill someone as they’d hear the train coming closer and closer… :eek:
It comes from the 19th Century play “Under the Gaslight,” by the seminal melodrama writer Augustin Daly (who also invented the “tying the girl onto the sawmill conveyor” cliche. What a man!).
However, in the play, it was the hero tied to the tracks, and he was rescued by the heroine (“And these are the women who don’t have the right to vote!”). The play was a sensation (It was mentioned in “Sister Carrie”) and later writers switched the genders around.
There may have been earlier British versions of the trope, but it was Daly that brought it to general knowledge.
Actually, I’d say that it was silent movies such as the 1914 Perils of Pauline which brought the concept of tying heroines to railroad tracks to general knowledge, the movies having a more influential grip on popular imagination than plays. Interesting, though, that Under the Gaslight came from 1867.
…aaaaannnd stuff like this is why I renewed my Dope subscription for another year. 
Under the Gaslight was a massively popular play (it’s actually pretty good, if you can ignore the racism and 19th century attitudes – better than “Our American Cousin,” for instance); it’s hard to see an analogy in today’s arts, but it was the type of thing every touring theater company had in its repetoire. By 1914, most Americans were well aware of it, especially since the theater was the major form of entertainment up to about that point.
I’m not disputing that Under the Gaslight was the likely inspiration behind the rail stunt used in Perils of Pauline and in a 1913 movie that preceded that movie as well. But it’s the likes of Perils that springs most to mind regarding the tying to the tracks thing. Probably assisted by endless repeats on television of the scene since.
I can’t believe the questions was answered before anyone pointed out the glaring defect in the OP:
It was Nell Fenwick, not Penelope Pitstop, that Dudley DoRight saves.
Oh, crap. Penelope was evil, wasn’t she? Nell is that breathy chick. I hate her.
I shouldn’t admit this, but I’m kind of disappointed that the root of this melodrama is a work of fiction. Oh, the cold recesses of my heart! Dud-lay, save me!
Penelope Pitstop was the heroine of a late-60s Hanna-Barbera 'toon, which seems to have a definite “Perils of Pauline” vibe. Dudley Do-Right & Nell were Rocky & Bullwinkle (Jay Ward) creations from the early 60s.
I’d also like to drag into this that the most-often seen silent film clip of “girl tied to train track” is from Mack Sennett’s Teddy at the Throttle, a 1917 parody of the genre. It’s supposed to be funny and camp in this clip, but is always shown perfectly seriously.
The Perils of Pauline (1914) is often mentioned as a film with a woman tied to the railroad tracks, and some websites even name the section of the railroad where it was filmed. But I have yet to see any confirmation that there actually was such a scene, either a film clip or a still photo. And plot summaries of all the chapters were published.
Another parody version was Barney Oldfield’s Race for a Life (1913), a Keystone comedy with Mabel Normand in distress and Ford Sterling driving the engine.
Thank you!
I ws thinking the exact same thing.
And, oh yea, Penelope Pitstop was way hotter.
What? stop looking at me like that…
Teddy at the Throttle* sounds porny.
what?