 The film is based on the 1874 French play "Les Deux Orphelines" by Adolphe d'Ennery and Eugène Cormon, which had been adapted for the American stage by N. Hart Jackson and Albert Marshman Palmer as "The Two Orphans", premiering at Marshman Palmer's Union Square Theatre (58 E. 14th St.) in New York City in December 1874 with Kate Claxton as Louise.It had been filmed in the United States twice before Griffith did his film