he began compulsory military service in the First Artillery Battalion. He was promoted to lance corporal in June 1908. After being discharged from the military, he married dressmaker Carla Dagmar Hagen on 10 September 1910. The marriage produced two children: Ejlert Carl (born March 1911) and Ingeborg Helene (July 1912). With the outbreak of World War I, Dane was recalled up to duty; he was stationed again at Trekroner Fort in August 1914. He was promoted to corporal in November 1915. On 25 January 1916, Dane headed for the United States alone. He intended to send for his family later. He boarded the SS Oscar II with $25 in his pocket and speaking no English. The ship arrived on 11 February 1916 at Ellis Island. Dane passed immigrant inspection and moved to 345 Court Street in Brooklyn with a friend named Charles Lindgren. The same day, he found work in a foundry. Sometime in 1916 he moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, where he worked as an auto mechanic. By summer 1917, he returned to New York City where he again worked as a mechanic. Career Early years In late 1917, Dane made his film début in a bit part in a Vitagraph Studios short filmed in Fort Lee, New Jersey. He made $3 a day (as a mechanic he had been making $3 a week) for his part. However, his scenes were cut and the title of this film is not known. Any footage is presumed lost. Dane then appeared in Warner Bros. anti-German sentiment film My Four Years in Germany as Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg. This would be the first of many such roles for Dane in his early career. The film was released 29 April 1918 and was a success, earning an approximate $500,000 at the box office (the film had a budget of $50,000). His next film was Wolves of Kultur which contained 15 chapters (running about three hours total). The film was released chapter by chapter between 1918 and 1919. He then followed with the June Mathis-penned film To Hell with the Kaiser!, reprising his role as Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg. Dane completed two more anti-German propaganda style films, The Great Victory, Wilson or the Kaiser? The Fall of the Hohenzollerns and Daring Hearts, both released in 1919. In 1920, Dane portrayed "The Wolf" in another 15-chapter serial The Whirlwind. That film is now presumed lost. In early 1921,