An early silent short comedy directed by William Haddock.
Social & External
The people behind it
Francis Ford
Cyclone Pete
Edith Storey
Cyclone Pete's Bride
C.E. Anderson
Shirley Kaye is the vivacious daughter of Egerton Kaye, president of the great Union Central Railroad. The latter holds his position through his descent from "Pirate" Kaye, who founded the line, rather than through any executive ability of his own. Shirley is queen of the most exclusive Long Island set, and as clever as she is lovely to look at. From the West comes T.J. Magen, a rough but lion-hearted financier, who buys the house next door to the Kayes. Magen cares little for society, and the elaborate household which their wealth forces them to support is a constant worry to his simple and unassuming wife. But the daughter, "Daisy," yearns, with all her heart to break into the society and swim where Shirley Kaye reigns supreme.
In the aptly named Slowtown the townspeople don’t even have sufficient energy to "up and die." Mayor Van Poke, in office for the last 15 years, is so slow he can't get out of his own way. His daughter Dolly is the prettiest girl in town though. The frustrated sexton puts an ad in the paper for a Mayor that will put the Pep in Slowtown. Peter Pep, whose middle name is Speed with a capital S, gets the job thanks to his galvanizing presence. He puts pep into everything and everyone, even into Dolly's heart and they fall in love. Dolly makes a spirited stand for her father, but Peter wins out. In celebration Peter Pep marries Dolly, and they are off on their honeymoon in a cloud of dust.
On her way to rehearsal, chorus-girl Betty stops to rescue a bird from the clutches of a boy with a bean-shooter. Jim Derwent, son of the theater owner, is passing in his car and sees the girl boxing the boy's ears while her aunt looks about for a policeman, and he stops to see what's wrong. He recognizes Betty, and after explanations, Jim drives them to her home, where the bird is cared for. On her arrival at the theater the stage manager bawls her out and fires her, but Jim gets his dad to countermand the manager's decree. The next day Jim calls, more to see Betty than the bird, and a charming romance is soon underway. After a "night out," the leading lady calls in sick and Betty has the chance to take her place. She makes good, and the former leading lady is deposed. But Betty soon has the opportunity to become Jim's own leading lady, and when he promises to love her pets as well, she becomes his bride.
Irene Martin, hoping to find fame as an opera singer, leaves her hometown for New York but ends up a chorus girl. She meets Henry Galt, a wealthy businessman, who asks her out on a date then sends her money the next day. Offended, she demands an apology, but Galt explains he often hires showgirls to entertain prospective clients on a strictly platonic basis. On those terms Irene accepts. Over time Galt falls in love with Irene and when he discovers her family has the impression she has become a fallen woman, marries her.
After graduating from a convent school, Betty travels to New York to visit her relatives, the Hastings. She quickly catches the eye of Jim Denning, a wealthy neighbor who proposes to her, but Betty decides to experience city life before settling down and finds work as a salesclerk. When the floorwalker becomes too familiar, Betty quits and her showgirl friend Maizie Follette helps her get a job as a cabaret dancer, but Betty finds that’s a tough racket too and decides city life on the loose isn’t for her.
Young Frederica Calhoun, naïve to the ways of the world, having grown up on her father’s Montana ranch, is swept off her feet by the arrival of Lord Cecil Grosvenor, a prospective buyer. He opens her eyes to a hitherto undreamed-of world of refinement and he by her unfailing sweet disposition and sunny bubbling good spirits. They are soon engaged, but during a trip to New York to visit his sister Frederica begins to let her doubts get the better of her and disguising herself as a man follows him to the French Ball, but all turns out well in the end.
Itinerant Scot performers: One daughter of a veteran trouper weds a ne'er do well and dies in childbirth.Her spendthrift man goes but later returns to bleed the old man out of remaining savings.Another daughter makes good as a singer.
After losing her job as a waitress, Mary Ryan is hired to work in a traveling show's chorus line by theatrical agent Leon O'Day and his partner. The agents convince a young, wealthy socialite named Seymour to finance a brand-new show. To secure the gig and the funding, they lie to Seymour and tell him that Mary is actually a Russian princess in hiding. The deception completely charms Seymour, and Mary gets her contract. Her fabricated royal status takes off when Seymour's mother invites Mary to tea, catapulting her to society stardom. However, the lie threatens to unravel when Mrs. Seymour—an avid social reformer—takes Mary and Seymour to a night court, where Mary's missing sister Rose is brought in under arrest. When Mary claims her sister, the truth is exposed, leading to a series of complications and dramatic resolutions.
Identical orphaned twins Rosalie (Mollie King) and Susan (Mollie King), are adopted by two aunts and live in separate households. Susan develops as a poor, wholesome farm girl, and Rosalie becomes a wealthy snob. Susan's beau, Ted Harper (Creighton Hale), confuses the girls' identities, but Susan wins his love after preventing Rosalie from eloping with scoundrel "Slick" Harry Ives (Jerome Lawler).
Indiana Stillwater, the daughter of a wealthy American railroad industrialist, marries English nobleman Viscount Canning and travels to England. Her in-laws are somewhat shocked by her casualness in dress and manner, but welcome her into the family anyway. When her parents invite her to a Sunday-night dinner at their hotel, however, her husband--believing it to be inappropriate behavior for the wife of a nobleman--orders her not to go. Complications ensue.
Bryce Gilbert convinces his daughter, Virginia, that she should not elope with a casual boyfriend and sends her to Italy to stay with his fiancée, Duchess Bianca.
A boy named Willie "snaps everything in sight" with his new camera. His targets included: Family members (Ma, Pa, Grandma, Grandpa), family pets (the cat, the old horse, and a St. Bernard), the "scandalous" image of a young man kissing Willie's sister and the Parson and "Miss Old Maid" at a Sunday School picnic.
A 1919 film directed by Sidney Franklin.
Clarence Brooks is a shy, timid man working for Mr. Flavell. He is love with Flavell's daughter, Nancy. Nancy is shallow and fickle, always chasing after other, less-upstanding men. Clarence enlists when World War I erupts. While Clarence is off defending his country, Nancy's mother arranges for her daughter to marry the wealthy Mr. Braille. When Braille is drafted, Nancy's mother starts arranging a rush wedding, against Nancy's wishes. Nancy claims that she and Clarence are already secretly married. When the war is over and Clarence returns home, he refuses to be a part of her charade. When Clarence declines the offer to marry Nancy for real, she must mature to win his affections back. A lost film.
Figures Don't Lie is a showcase for the physical charms of lovely Esther Ralston, who in one scene proves the accuracy of the title by donning a fetching one-piece bathing suit. The main story concerns wise-guy insurance salesman Richard Arlen, who through a combination of hard work and sheer gall lands a job as sales manager. But he can't land heroine Ralston, who has remained cool to his charms ever since he tried to make a play for her on the street. A lost film.
Lizzie Stokes, an obscure and colorless actress, is elevated to stardom through publicity and better coaching from Daniel Hoffman, a theatrical producer. As Olga Rostova, an exotic Russian, she meets Norman Brooke, whose infatuation turns to love. Hoffman suggests that Norman could never care for Lizzie and proves his point. Heartbroken, Lizzie decides to see no more of him. On closing night, when he proposes to her in her dressing room and she refuses, Norman declares he must believe all the lurid details of her past; in desperation, she bares her true identity, only to find it is not her glamorous image but rather her real self that he loves.
When young Mary Carpenter and wealthy Peter Cooper, both carrying luggage initialed with a large “C,” check into a seaside hotel they end up with each other’s bags. Mary, an astronomy fan, has several volumes by Prof. Carl Von Munsternberg mixed in her bag which Peter takes note of before also slipping in a bestseller, "The Road to Love," before returning it to the desk and retrieving his own bags. Peter, trying to avoid a widow who pursues him but still meet Mary, disguises himself as Prof. Von Munsternberg so that Mary will take notice of him. Gaining her acquaintance all is going well until the real professor shows up! Becoming convinced Peter is the thief who stole the widow’s jewels a madcap chase begins that ends with Mary and Peter united at last.
Comic short reworking of "The Taming of the Shrew".
Rich young Joan Hope is ashamed of how her father made his money--as a chewing gum magnate. While taking a train trip, she meets the Countess of Crex, a member of the Russian nobility--who is, in reality, a jewel thief.
Stan and Ollie are musicians attempting to travel by train to Pottsville.
The Little Fellow finds the girl of his dreams and work on a family farm. He helps defend the farm against criminals, and all seems well, until he discovers the girl of his dreams already has someone in her life. Unwilling to be a problem in their lives, he takes to the road, though he is seen skipping and swinging his cane as if happy to be back on the road where he knows he belongs.
A shipowner intends to scuttle his ship on its last voyage to get the insurance money. Charlie, a tramp in love with the owner's daughter, is grabbed by the captain and promises to help him shanghai some seamen. The daughter stows away to follow Charlie. Charlie assists in the galley and attempts to serve food during a gale.
Mother, father and daughter go to the park. The women doze off on a bench while the father plays a hide-and-seek game with a girl, blindfolded. Charlie leads him into a lake. Both dozing ladies on the bench fall for Charlie and invite him for dinner. The father returns home with a friend. Charlie rushes upstairs and dresses like a woman, shaving his mustache. Both men fall for Charlie.
A janitor at a bank is in love with a secretary and dreams that she has fallen in love with him too.
Buster and a woman are mistakenly married and her initially unfriendly family begins to treat him nicely when they come to believe he has a large inheritance awaiting him.
Aspiring filmmakers Mel Funn, Marty Eggs and Dom Bell go to a financially troubled studio with an idea for a silent movie. In an effort to make the movie more marketable, they attempt to recruit a number of big name stars to appear, while the studio's creditors attempt to thwart them.
Stan and Ollie join the French Foreign Legion after Ollie's sweetheart rejects him.
When a young girl’s sketchbook falls into a strange pond, her drawings come to life—chaotic, real, and on the loose. As the town descends into chaos, her family must reunite and stop the monsters they never meant to unleash.
Two families embark on a pleasant Sunday picnic but manage to run into a variety of issues with their temperamental automobile. Each incident requires repeated exits and reboardings by Laurel, Hardy, their wives and grouchy, gout-ridden Uncle Edgar.
A hypochondriac vacations in the tropics for the fresh air - and finds himself in the middle of a revolution instead.
While streetworker Mickey romances Minnie, Mickey's nephews Morty and Ferdie take control of his steamroller and it's full speed ahead on a very destructive ride.
The Big Bad Wolf torments Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs.
After a visit to a pub, Charlie and Ben cause a ruckus at a posh restaurant. Charlie later finds himself in a compromising position at a hotel with the head waiter's wife.
A group of teens hit the road in a stolen driver's ed car, racing against time to help a lovesick high school senior track down his college-freshman girlfriend and win her back.
Donald steals Chip and Dale's nuts for his nut-butter shop, which is shaped like a giant walnut, Chip and Dale, roll and "shoot" Donald into a nearby lake.
Although they are successful fishmongers, Stan convinces Ollie that they should become fishermen too, but making a boat seaworthy isn't an easy task.
A film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meager skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend's father's pocketwatch.
A documentary filmmaker interviews the now-famous Trevor Slattery from behind bars.
This Oscar-winning short tells of a bull who preferred to sit under trees and smell flowers to clashing horns with his fellow animals. As luck would have it, an untimely bee reveals Ferdinand's ferocious side via pained howls and wild stomping. This lands him in the bull-fighting arena amidst characters based on Walt's animators with a matador reportedly modeled after Walt himself.
