The Touch on the Key's primary photo
  • The Touch on the Key (1916)
  • Short | Short, Drama
Primary photo for The Touch on the Key
The Touch on the Key (1916)
Short | Short, Drama

Jane Randall, reporter on the Herald, learns telegraphy through her fiancé, Jimmy Larmon, the telegraph operator. Shortly after this she is assigned to a financial story. Marsden Thomas, multimillionaire and the head of the Thomas ...See moreJane Randall, reporter on the Herald, learns telegraphy through her fiancé, Jimmy Larmon, the telegraph operator. Shortly after this she is assigned to a financial story. Marsden Thomas, multimillionaire and the head of the Thomas Syndicate, has been requested by the Bankers' Association to release the cash funds of the syndicate through a certain chain of banks in order to avert a threatened money stringency. Thomas and his associates have arrived at a decision but have refused to make their decision public until a given time. Jane is to learn what this decision is to be. Phil Norton, of the Times, is also assigned to the story. He fortunately places young Hal Thomas, the capitalist's son, under obligations to him. Both Norton and Jane leaves for Clifton, the village nearby. Thomas' country estate. Jane is unable to gain admittance, but Norton, through Hal, plays a deep game and forces him to learn his father's decision and report it to him, under threat of publishing the facts relative to a drunken brawl in which Hal was concerned. Jane overhears the arrangements being made and is present when Hal signals Norton the result of his endeavors. Meanwhile, Norton has decided to tell his paper that he has been unable to get the story and by delaying the news, play the stock market on the strength of his advance information. Immediately upon receiving word from Hal he and Jane both hasten to the village telegraph station to wire in their reports. The station is closed; Jane is unable to gain entrance but Norton forces his way in. Jane is surprised to hear him wire his paper that he has failed and then wire a friend of his in the city which way to play the market. As soon as he leaves she breaks in and sends through a call to the Herald. She has just reached Jimmy when Norton returns, holds her away from the key and finishes the message, saying he is Jane and has been unable to get to Thomas. He keeps Jane away for a sufficient length of time to allow the Herald's last edition to go to press. Jimmy, however, realizes, through the touch on the key, that it is not Jane sending and suspects something is wrong. He convinces the editor to hold the edition up. As a result when Jane at last gets him on the wire again she is able to get her story in time to catch the paper. Norton loses out both ways; his paper has been scooped and the story in the Herald prevents him from using his knowledge to successfully play the stock market. Written by Moving Picture World synopsis See less
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Status
Edit Released
Updated May 8, 1916

Release date
May 8, 1916 (United States)

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Cast

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5 cast members
Name Known for
Vivian Rich
Jane Randall Jane Randall   See fewer
Gayne Whitman
Jimmy Lorman (as Alfred Vosburgh) Jimmy Lorman (as Alfred Vosburgh)   See fewer
George Periolat
Phil Norton Phil Norton   See fewer
King Clark
Hal Thomas Hal Thomas   See fewer
Joseph Beaudry
Marsden Thomas Marsden Thomas   See fewer
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