From Patches to Plenty

Charles Murray meets the wild west.

This film concerns the adventures of Gussle, played by Sydney Chaplin, in Big Bear Lake area of California. The picture opens with our hero riding a mule through a creek bed, when he is set upon by some robbers. Gussle outsmarts them by attempting to hand over his goods by stretching across the stream, but dropping the goods into the water thereby making the robber also fall in. He makes his way to an inn and recounts his experiences to the other guests and then they all go out and spend time playing in the snow. Some trick photography is used to make it appear that Gussle is making a mule walk backwards.

A man goes in hot pursuit of the shoe store clerk he feels has made inappropriate advances towards his wife.

A waiter tricks his way into command of a sub in order to rob a ship carrying gold bullion.

Gussle (Syd Chaplin) comes home with a cute little dog but doesn't want the wife to see it--leading up to a rather funny bit you'll have to see for yourself. The marriage, at first, seems ideal and Gussle and his wife seem devoted. However, it soon seems that this is an act for Syd and it's obvious he's quite the philanderer. Eventually, the wife catches on and sets out to catch him--leading to a rather cute and unexpected ending.

At the start of his career Harry Depp appeared often in short comedies, and was employed by Mack Sennett’s Keystone Company in 1916-17. Very little information is available on The Bookworm Turns but, as Depp was particularly well-known for appearing in movies that required him to don female clothing, we might expect to see him in drag at some point in this one.

This extremely corny film has him disguising himself in drag to get a job as a governess and access to his overprotected sweetheart. The old father falls for him, needless to say and there is another suitor.

One of the tenants is giving a "rag" party for his dancing friends causing the plaster from the ceiling to fall on a couple (Frank Hayes and Billie Brockwell) who are eating dinner in their apartment below. The irate couple call the manager, Bobby Dunn, to repair the ceiling. He arrives immediately and the balance of the picture is devoted to the destruction wreaked by the plasterer who is not only extremely careless but inebriated as well.

Mr. and Mrs. Gussle get up to some hijinks in this Keystone comedy.

Another of the fast and furious slapstick comedies produced for Keystone that is long on speed and mugging and short on jokes. Gussle and his wife decide to go mountain climbing and shoot at each other in a not very interesting effort. Syd does not even manage his usual graceful surprise movements in this, but spends, like most of the cast, a lot of time falling down.