Lobby card for the motion picture On the Banks of the Wabash: Museum Object and Cultural History

Lobby card for the motion picture On the Banks of the Wabash: date made: 1923. Associated Name: Blackton, J. Stuart. Associated Name: Carr, Mary.

By the Pop Culture Files editorial team•Updated September 30, 2026•2 min read•✓ Fact-checked

Editorial graphic for: Lobby card for the motion picture On the Banks of the Wabash: Museum Object and Cultural History — Editorial graphic by Pop Culture Files · not a photograph

The object in the museum catalogue

Lobby card for the motion picture On the Banks of the Wabash. The card features three color photographs of scenes from the film showing people fleeing a sinking steamship. The film title and Vitagraph logo are printed atop the photos. This card was likely used to promote a screening of this film at a theater in Mt. Carmel, IL, where the card was found.

On the Banks of the Wabash is a silent film directed by J. Stuart Blackton and produced by Vitagraph Studios, released October 22, 1923. The melodrama stars Mary Carr, Madge Evans, Burr McIntosh, and James W. Morrison and tells the story of a courageous riverboat captain and his inventor son. The film is very loosely based on the song "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away," written by Paul Dresser in 1897 and one of the most popular pieces of American music of the early 20th century. The film production was lavish and expensive, with full-size riverboat and location shooting. According to The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog, On the Banks of the Wabash is a partially or completely lost film, meaning that no theatrical release copy of the film has survived.

Materials, dates and provenance

date made: 1923
Associated Name: Blackton, J. Stuart
Associated Name: Carr, Mary
Associated Name: Evans, Madge
Associated Name: McIntosh, Burr
Associated Name: Morrison, James W.
Associated Name: Dresser, Paul
Object Name: lobby card
Physical Description: paper (overall material)
Physical Description: printed (overall production method/technique)
Measurements: overall: 11 in x 14 in; 27.94 cm x 35.56 cm
Associated Place: United States: Illinois, Mount Carmel
Subject: Motion Pictures
ID Number: 2021.0120.29
accession number: 2021.0120
catalog number: 2021.0120.29
Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.