Wallace Beery
As Hollywood biographies go, Judy Garland's story is one of the saddest success stories you'll ever hear. The sanitized studio version of her life presented a smiling kid with the big voice, who, alongside Mickey Rooney, just wanted to put on a show. But drugs, overwork, even psychological abuse at the hands of the studio is now part of the Garland legend. But despite the number of Garland books and documentaries, one account has always been missing -- Garland herself never managed to write a memoir. She did make several attempts at an autobiography, often recording stories on a tape recorder. Judy Garland: By Myself (2004), finally fills in the blanks - using Judy's personal recordings to tell the story in her own words.
A look at actresses who starred in films with thought-provoking subjects made between 1930 and July 1934, before the Hollywood Production Code —the infamous Hays Code— was enforced.
Join all you favorites--Spanky, Buckwheat, Alfalfa, Darla, Butch, Froggy and more--in a jam-packed special covering more than twenty years and 200 episodes of Hal Roach's inimitable brand of childhood magic. This fascinating video offers insight into the Gang's personal lives, as rare footage follows each member's career through the joys and misfortunes that went along with being one of America's most beloved kids. See how the series began in 1922 and changed after the first all-talking release in 1929, why Shirley Temple and Mickey Rooney never made the Gang, a fifteenth anniversary reunion, and clips from their only feature.
Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American entertainment industry during the Great Depression.
Various MGM stars from yesterday present their favorite musical moments from the studio's 50 year history.
Film clips highlight the funniest scenes and brightest comic stars in MGM's history.
A compilation featuring comedic stars of the silent era including Fatty Arbuckle, Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Charley Chase, and Laurel and Hardy.
Developed from a radio program which began in 1941, hyperactive teenager Judy challenges and is challeged by her overly proper parents, pest of a brother Randolph and boyfriend Oogie.
Aging ex-con tries to stop his daughter from getting involved with shady characters.
A retired prizefighter becomes the unlikely guardian of a young orphan recently arrived in the United States. Director John Waters' 1946 period comedy, set in New York's Bowery, stars Wallace Beery, Dean Stockwell, Aline MacMahon, Edward Arnold, Cameron Mitchell, Dorothy Patrick, Aubrey Mather, Clinton Sundberg, Milton Parsons, Morris Ankrum and Oliver Blake.
During World War II, Chief Aviation Pilot Ned Trumpet is in charge of an airship at Lakehurst, New Jersey naval base. Trumpet orders an unauthorized and premature attack on a German submarine but the bomb misses and the submarine fires back, hitting the airship. Trumpet takes over the controls and sinks the submarine, The pilot faces a court-martial for disobeying orders but the older man takes the blame for his actions. Weaver transfers to the Ferry Command, and while on assignment in Burma, his aircraft crashes in Japanese territory. Trumpet rushes to the scene with a rescue team. Both are successfully brought out and are decorated for their heroism. Afterward, Weaver indicates that he will be returning to the lighter-than-air service in Lakehurst, to reunite with his "father".
This short celebrates the 20th anniversary of MGM. Segments are shown from several early hits, then from a number of 1944 releases.
Honest Plush Brannon is a con-man thrown out of the Barbary Coast in San Francisco in the 1880s and headed for the gold rush region of Nevada. He discovers a real mine which lead to several complications.
It is a comic book propaganda film which has Beery as a retired USMC NCO who, when the Japanese invade the Philippines, leads a heroic defense, first by strangling a Nazi agent, and then dying in his dress blues uniform while blowing up a bridge.
An old-time cavalry sergeant's resistance to change could cost him his post.
An unknowing orphan idolizes the horse thief/mail robber who has shot his father.
Lopez is a bandit who has stolen the herd at Gil's ranch, so Hardy is about to foreclose. But Lucia has come back from New York and Gil is happy until he meets her husband, Morgan.
Director Richard Thorpe's 1941 film stars Wallace Beery as a crusty old San Pedro fisherman, Virginia Weidler as his precocious and motherless daughter, Marjorie Main as a waterfront spinster hoping to reel in a husband, and an ever-present pelican with immaculate comic timing.
A frontier scout, a Boston officer and a Russian girl escape with a map past Confederates.
It is 1892 in Death Valley and the yields from the Borax ore are getting so small that refining it is a losing proposition. The only thing that will save the company is a new deposit of high grade Borax, and Skinner Bill Bragg has a pouch of it that he got from a dead prospector he buried on the road. Stag Roper knows the value of the strike could be worth millions, but he needs Bragg to find the prospector's claim so they can record it and become rich partners. While Roper has no intention of cutting Bragg in on the millions, he also has his eye on young Jean Johnson. Josie Johnson, Jean's mother, sees Roper as the scalawag he is, and that means trouble in Furnace Flat.
This short documentary, presented and directed by MGM sound engineer Douglas Shearer, goes behind the scenes to look at how the sound portion of a talking picture is created.
This short promotes the premise that movies often create a demand for the fashions seen in them. It starts with a vignette in rural America. A mother and daughter go to town to buy a new dress. In the dress shop window is a designer dress worn by Joan Crawford in a recent movie. We then go to Hollywood and visit Adrian, MGM's chief of costume design, and see how multiple copies of a single clothing pattern are produced. The film ends with short segments of several MGM features.
An MGM short showing how materials are shipped by boat 'From the Ends of the Earth' to Hollywood. Featuring footage from the MGM films being made at the time. Such as The Women, Thunder Afloat, Siren of the Tropics, Ninotchka, Northwest Passage, and At the Circus.
A dedicated police officer is torn between family and duty when his son turns to a life of crime.
This film tells the history of the United States from pre-Revolution through 1939.
A tugboat captain (Wallace Beery) serves under his rival (Chester Morris) as a U-boat chaser in World War I.
A southern aristocrat clashes with a driver transporting stolen slaves to freedom.
In the French port of Marseille, a young woman named Madelon is in love with a young sailor, Marius. Discovering she is pregnant after Marius sets out to sea for several years, she marries another man to prevent the child being born out of wedlock.
A boozy former veterinarian and a teenage orphan team together with dreams of entering a broken-down horse in the big race.
Action-filled drama about a ship captain, ashamed of his background in the slave trade, forced against his will to again transport human cargo.
A ruthless outlaw becomes very protective of a prizefighter when he learns the young man is his own son. Western.
A small town drunk beats a teetotal banker guilty of a shady transaction.
A fiery Cuban woman guides an emissary from the U.S. president through the jungles of war-torn Cuba.
At the turn of the century, a young man graduates high school and realizes the joys and sorrows of growing up, with some loving help and guidance from his wise father. A tender, coming-of-age story, with a wonderful look at a long-gone, but fondly remembered, small town America.
Captain Alan Gaskell sails the perilous waters between Hong Kong and Singapore with a secret cargo: a fortune in British gold. That's not the only risky cargo he carries; both his fiery mistress and his refined fiancee are aboard!
A circus wild animal trainer searches for the son who was taken away from him by a meddling relative years earlier.
In this early film adaptation of the classic novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, young Jim Hawkins is caught up with the pirate Long John Silver in search of buccaneer Captain Flint's buried treasure.
In this fictionalized biography, young Pancho Villa takes to the hills after killing an overseer in revenge for his father's death.
20th Century Fox's highly fabricated film biography of circus showman P. T. Barnum stars Wallace Beery (as Barnum), Virginia Bruce (as Jenny Lind), Janet Beecher and Adolphe Menjou. Released in 1934.
The film tells the story of Sylvia, a French teacher at an all-girl school, who wants to find love. When she hears Bill Williams on the radio, she decides to go visit and thank him. However, difficult problems lay ahead when Lili gets in the way.
Waterfront couple raise their son to be a sea captain. He grows up to be rather snotty and rebels against drunken Beery. Valiant Dressler keeps things moving even as hubby ruins their tugboat business.
An ambitious New York socialite plans an extravagant dinner party as her businessman husband, Oliver, contends with financial woes, causing a lot of tension between the couple. Meanwhile, their high-society friends and associates, including the gruff Dan Packard and his sultry spouse, Kitty, contend with their own entanglements, leading to revelations at the much-anticipated dinner.
"In the Gay Nineties New York had grown up into bustles and balloon Sleeves ... but The Bowery had grown younger, louder and more rowdy until it was known as the 'Livest Mile on the face of the globe' ... the cradle of men who were later to be famous.
Wallace Beery and Clark Gable star as two rowdy Naval crewmen who work hard at sea and play harder on land.
Bootlegger/cafe owner, Johnny Franks recruits crude working man Scorpio to join his gang, masterminded by crooked criminal defense lawyer Newton. Scorpio eventually takes over Frank's operation, beats a rival gang, becomes wealthy and dominates the city for several years until a secret group of 6 masked businessmen have him prosecuted and sent to the electric chair.
In this holiday short, Jackie Cooper wants to throw a Christmas party for his friends on his football team but doesn't know how to go about it. His fellow stars at MGM decide to help him out.
A German reporter visits Hollywood and is escorted through the MGM Studio by a German nobleman, who is working there as an extra. They meet and speak to several actors, primarily Buster Keaton, John Gilbert, Joan Crawford and Heinrich George. Then they meet Adolphe Menjou, who rehearses a long scene in German. A final scene shows stars arriving at a film premiere, including Jean Harlow, Norma Shearer and Wallace Beery.
Famous actress Norma Shearer's jewels are stolen… (Star-packed promotional short film intended to raise funds for the National Variety Artists Tuberculosis Sanatorium.)
Min, the owner of a dockside hotel, is forced to make difficult decisions about the future of Nancy, the young woman she took in as an infant.
Billy, after shooting down land baron William Donovan's henchmen for killing Billy's boss, is hunted down and captured by his friend, Sheriff Pat Garrett. He escapes and is on his way to Mexico when Garrett, recapturing him, must decide whether to bring him in or to let him go.
Convicted of manslaughter for a drunken driving accident, Kent Marlowe is sent to prison, where he meets vicious incarcerated figures who are planning an escape from the brutal conditions.
Romantic biography of Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind and her famous affairs.
Mississippi, 1830's. Tom Rumsford comes back to Magnolia Landing, his parents'estate. Having been brought up in the North by Quaker relatives, he just hates violence and accordingly refuses a duel. As this is the only way in the South to settle a dispute between gentlemen, Tom's father is so infuriated by his behavior that Tom has no other choice but leave. Away from Magnolia Landing, Tom learns bravery and returns seven years later as "the notorious Colonel Blake", the terror of the Lower Mississippi.
Joan Fry, a society woman, falls in love with Chuck Riley, the white-leader of a powerful gang in Chinatown, and he quickly drags her down into the depths with him. But seeing her so much in love with him causes him to realize he isl in love with her, and he determines to lift her up again. "Boston" Charley, the rival gang-leader, has other plans.
After killing her treacherous step-father, a girl tries to escape the country with a young vagabond. She dresses as a boy, they hop freight trains, quarrel with a group of hobos, and steal a car in their attempt to escape the police, and reach Canada.
After being dismissed for imitating his boss's voice on radio, former Assistant District Attorney Richard Deming witnesses a store robbery and is taken captive by the criminals. Suspected of the crime, he is sought by the police, but his sweetheart, Marie, convinced of his innocence, enlists the help of two friends, a newspaper reporter and a half-witted detective. Hoping to win the girl's favor, the two go to the gangsters' hideout, encounter a violent gang war, and accidently set off a case of police tear bombs. The police, summoned by Marie, arrive just in time to save the kidnaped attorney.
While stationed in Switzerland, soldiers Louis and Rodney fall in love with local damsel Colette, much to the dismay of Colette's self-appointed boyfriend General Lavoris.
Wally and Ray are cousins intent upon getting the fortune of their Scots grandad, an aviation nut. They become mixed-up with the U. S. flying corps and are wafted over the enemy lines in a runaway balloon. Through misunderstanding they are honored as heroes of the enemy forces, and sent back to the U.S. lines to spy. Here they are captured and almost shot, but everything ends happily. Only 20 minutes of this 6 reel comedy are extant.
Casey is a slovenly junk man in a turn of the twentieth century hick town who has a remarkable ability to play baseball. An unscrupulous New York scout signs him up, so Casey and his equally dishonest manager go to the big leagues. Eventually, the scout and manager conspire to get him drunk and bet against him for a crucial game with the pennant at stake.
An embellished account of the 1813 expedition by famed frigate U.S.S. Constitution--a.k.a. "Old Ironsides"--against the Barbary pirates then terrorizing American shipping, focusing on the crew and passengers of a fictional merchant ship, The Esther, who fall afoul of the same pirates and thus become involved with the Constitution's mission.
"Stinky" Smith makes off with the prize money when his buddy, "Knockout" Hansen loses a fight with Percival "Sailor" Scruggs. Hansen pursues him him a U.S. Navt recruiting office, and, the next thing they know, both are in the Navy and aboard an overseas transport ship. Madelyn Phillips is on board and Scruggs is the the ship's Master-of-Arms. They overhear a mysterious conversation between Madelyn and the ship's radio officer. Later, Madelun induces the pair to take her off the ship and into a row boat. She disappears and they are picked up by a French ship, which sinks a German U-Boat. When the war ends they learn that Madelyn was an operative of the U.S. Secret Service.
During World War I a young man joins the army and winds up befriending another young recruit, not knowing that it's the same pickpocket who stole his watch. After finishing basic training, the two are sent to the front lines in France, where they wind up in trouble with the MPs, getting involved with some cute French girls and "volunteering" for a dangerous front-line mission, and their antics result in their endangering the armistice.
A woman is led to believe her scheming husband is dead in this melodrama taken from the story by Viola Brothers Shore.
Because he wants a promotion, Tom Blackford marries Alice Rand, the daughter of his boss, John Rand. Rand is aware of Blackford's motivations and he sends him to take over as superintendent of one of the company's mines in the hopes that he will fail.
After having been stood up at his own wedding, a young man vows that he will have nothing more to ever do with women. However, he soon discovers that he has been left a fortune--on condition that he gets married. Deciding that being rich and married would be preferable to being broke and single, he goes in search of a wife, but things don't turn out quite the way he planned.
The Pony Express is a silent 1925 Western film produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by James Cruze and starred his wife Betty Compson along with Ricardo Cortez, Wallace Beery, and George Bancroft.
John Joyce arrives in Sacramento with his sister, Martha, and aunt to become the editor of a newspaper. He is determined to clear the town of the low-down mining camp types who are flaunting their freewheeling ways. When Joyce meets Faro Sampson, he falls in love, believing that she is the daughter of a minister. Actually she's the daughter of the man who runs a gambling den, "Square Deal" Sampson.
Naturalized American Raoul Melnotte travels from Chicago to his native France in search of his childhood sweetheart, Marie Dufrayne.
The first film adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel about a land where prehistoric creatures still roam.
Jether, a shepherd, is lured from his home by Tisha, priestess of the goddess Ishtar. He journeys to the city of Babylon, where he lavishes Tisha with gifts and spends his share of his father's wealth on riotous living.
After years of service, the Captain of the Setuckit Life Saving Station on Cape Cod retires, Calvin Homer, the second in command, Calvin Homer expects to be promoted; but the appointment goes instead to Bartlett, a religious fanatic who has been the recipient of a good deal of favorable newspaper publicity. Calvin hands in his resignation.
David Sheldon owns a plantation in the Solomon Islands. Many of his field hands die of blackwater fever, and then he becomes sick himself. Joan Lackland, a female soldier of fortune, arrives by schooner in the islands. With the help of her Kanaka crew, she protects David from an attack by the natives who are led by Googomy. Joan nurses David back to health and becomes his business partner, protecting his mortgaged property from two avaricious moneylenders. Seeking vengeance, the moneylenders incite the natives to revolt.
The adventures of Oliver Tressilian, who goes from English gentry to galley slave to captain of a Moorish fighting ship.
Gladstone Smith, a fearful young reporter, gets on the wrong side of a murderous criminal and flees to Alaska, along with the killer's wife, who is equally frightened of her husband. But the murderer pursues them to the frozen north and Gladstone must overcome his cowardice in order to overcome his nemesis.
Wallace Beery repeats his role of King Richard, a role he played so sucessfully in Robin Hood the previous year.
A railroad worker accepts a colleague's offer to stay in his home, but when his friend is called out one night to stop a runaway train, he makes a play for the man's wife.
Jean and Marise, young lovers forced from their homes, flee to Paris. Irrevocably separated there, their lives deviate into the slums and hard labor of low-class French society. All the while, the two desperately search for one another.
Vengeful husband pursues, kidnaps his wife aboard a deserted ship when he becomes injured and taken aboard, then sinks in a collision following a fight with the captain for his wife. Stars real life husband-wife James Kirkwood, Lila Lee.
A wealthy mine owner's wife gets him to hire Jean Scholast, a footloose adventurer, as a reward for saving her. Unbeknown to the wife, Scholast is a fortune hunter and soon poisons the husband and marries the wife.
Believing she's responsible for the death of her would-be seducer, a young woman flees to North Vancouver.
Three crooks pull off a magnificent crime. As they're forced to hide out together they slowly begin to distrust each other.
The rituals of courtship, romantic rivalry and love play out three times as a man vies with a villain for the girl. In the Stone Age, the rivalry is set off by dinosaurs, a turtle used as a ouija board, and a round of golf with stones. In ancient Rome, the men display their brawn through a chariot race, using dogs instead of horses. In contemporary times, the man finds himself overcome by modernity, including a very fragile car.
The Spanish Dancer is the story of Maritana, a gypsy girl who dances in courtyards and even tells people's fortunes. Despite her gypsy occupation, Maritana wishes to be a Countess. Her ambitions are realized when she meets the handsome Count Don Cesar de Bazán, if only the King of Spain would stay out of their way!
This historical piece, set in the Huguenot days of France, is Norma Talmadge's 37th feature film and the longest to date at two hours. The plot involves a man forced into servitude who falls in love with the sister of his persecutor. It was Ms. Talmadge's fourth involvement with director, Frank Lloyd and the cast included future star, Wallace Beery.
Amid big-budget medieval pageantry, King Richard goes on the Crusades leaving his brother Prince John as regent, who promptly emerges as a cruel, grasping, treacherous tyrant. Apprised of England's peril by message from his lady-love Marian, the dashing Earl of Huntingdon endangers his life and honor by returning to oppose John, but finds himself and his friends outlawed, and Marian apparently dead. Enter Robin Hood, acrobatic champion of the oppressed, laboring to set things right through swash buckling feats and cliffhanging perils!
Having banned the carrying of firearms in his jurisdiction, Larry Reid, the sheriff of Silvertown (Roy Stewart), pursues a trespasser of the strict law to the home of schoolmarm Mary Gray (Marjorie Daw). Noticing her evasive answers, Larry suspects the teacher of harboring the refugee. He finally captures the young man in question, Neil (Johnny Walker), who proves to be Mary's weakling brother.
Buster is falsely accused of breaking a window by a woman and is taken into a courtroom. Thinking that Buster and the woman are engaged, the judge mistakenly marries them and Buster is quickly taken home by the woman to meet her family. At first unwelcoming, the family begins to treat Buster nice when they come to believe that he is going to inherit a large sum of money.
Lon Chaney performs two roles: Doctor Lamb, a mad surgeon who's doing experiments on human bodies, and his crippled and apish assistant, the result of his first experiment.
Brothers Tom and Bob Fitzgerald are both members of the Northwest Mounted Police. Bob falls in love with schoolteacher Joan Cameron when he saves her from an attack by Fu Chang.
Dann Mulvey (William Scott), just released from prison, is falsely accused of murder. The real culprit is the least-suspected person, who makes a deathbed confession.
After his uncle dies, founder of the fishing village of Sandy Bay, Kenwood Wright is cut off with only some marshland while his nephew, Bruce Wilton, inherits the bulk of the estate. Wright is further enraged by the engagement of Vera Mather, whom he loves, to Bruce. Wright joins forces with Donald MacTavish, a pirate captain, and wins the affections of Bruce's sister, Alice, who becomes his victim. Vera, in an attempt to save Alice, becomes involved in the scandal, and Bruce takes back the rosary he has given her to pledge his love.
The successful operations of a lone bandit known as "The Night Hawk" terrorize a frontier town, and when a stranger arrives riding a fine horse, suspicions are aroused and he is mistaken for the criminal.
Patsy is the awkward sister of the lovely Grace. She is also in love with Grace's boyfriend. Mother shows favoritism towards Grace, and father is too accommodating to stand up for Patsy, although he knows she is picked on. When they are all at supper, Grace runs away on a motorboat with a millionaire playboy. During a deep talk with Grace's boyfriend, Patsy reveals that she is in love with somebody who doesn't know she exists.
Set in the years before and during World War I, this epic tale tells the story of a rich Argentine family, one of its two descending branches being half of French heritage, the other being half German. Following the death of the family patriarch, the man's two daughters and their families resettle to France and Germany, respectively. In time the Great War breaks out, putting members of the family on opposing sides.
A white child is adopted and raised by a Chinese citizen and brought to San Francisco, where no one surmises that she is actually not Chinese.
Sgt. Philip Raine of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police is sent to the mountains to capture killer Bram Johnson.
Robert Castleback is in possession of secret papers which could bring a certain prince to power under conditions which would make Castleback a ruling force in Europe. Master crook Arsene Lupin becomes aware of Castleback's bid for power and, in the interests of France, begins a search for the plans.
An American who has lived much of his life outside the country returns to Arizona for the first time in years and encounters villainy.
Achmet Bey, a Turkish chieftain, catches one of his many wives in adultery and murders her lover. Throwing aside the cuckolding wife, he abducts his harem an innocent girl. However, a brave American who loves her comes to her rescue.
A young soldier is discharged from the service and has trouble making a living. However, when he inherits a great deal of money, he finds his troubles only beginning.
As Alice and Cora Munro attempt to find their father, a British officer in the French and Indian War, they are set upon by French soldiers and their cohorts, Huron tribesmen led by the evil Magua. Fighting to rescue the women are Chingachgook and his son Uncas, the last of the Mohican tribe, and their white ally, the frontiersman Natty Bumppo, known as Hawkeye.
A young man infiltrates the underworld by pretending to be a convicted burglar. While undercover, he meets a young woman who turns out to be no more a part of gangland than he, but with similar reasons for disguising herself.
Civil engineer Robert Clay is commissioned by wealthy New Yorker Mr. Langham to open iron deposits in the tiny South American republic of Olancho. General Mendoza, the unscrupulous head of the army, unsuccessfully tries to persuade President Alvarez, and then Clay, to divide the spoils of the contract.
Oscar Krug is looked upon with suspicion by his neighbors because of his German name. When the US is drawn into the war with Germany, he enlists and travels the seas with his wife, Alice Morse. During a submarine attack Alice is snatched from Krug's side by a German officer. Krug now lives to have his revenge, and when the opportunity presents itself, he will have it.
At a London auction, Princess Sonia bids against her husband, exiled Prince Victor, for a Corot landscape in which incriminating letters Sonia wrote are hidden, but it is bought by Michael Lanyard, suspected of being the mysterious, international thief "The Lone Wolf." After Lanyard gives Sonia the letters, she divorces Victor, marries Lanyard and dies after bearing their daughter Sonia. Years later, Sonia, who thinks she is the daughter of the Princess' maid, is found by Victor, now the leader of an underworld gang of Oriental crooks and Bolsheviks. Saying he is her father, Victor brings her to his home, hoping to entice Lanyard to make an appearance.
A young girl, stifling on her father's backwoods farm, is reinvigorated by the arrival of an army regiment, come to train in the area.
There is harmony in The Café until it is accidentally discovered that lovely Mary has had a fortune left her, whereupon Beery, the proprietor, Trask and Murray, two entertainers, all race to her home with the idea of marrying her.
A young American has her ship torpedoed by a German U-boat but makes it back to her ancestral home in France, where she witnesses German brutality firsthand.
Spies from Japan conspire to steal the Channing "preparedness" fortune and invade the United States, beginning in New York, then allying themselves with Mexicans across the border. They are stopped by the efforts of munitions factory heiress Patria Channing and U.S. Secret Service agent Donald Parr.
An inventor and his assistant build a robot that looks like their janitor, and everyone tries to profit off the invention.
Gloria Dawn lives down the hall from her sweetheart, Bobbie Knight. The dishonest Henry Black is Gloria's guardian, and he is also in charge of Bobbie's inheritance. The scheming guardian and his sister have been spending Bobbie's money, and they hope to have the sister marry Bobbie so that they can keep control over his money.
The Janitor arrives, turns his things over to the valet, puts on overalls and jumper and gets to work. The President and daughter arrive, the President bawls the Janitor out for not keeping things dusted.
A janitor finds a piece of jewelry dropped by a young woman, which he in turn gives to his wife. Feeling sorry for the young woman, the janitor tries to straighten things out, with many funny complications.
A band of crooks, headed by Harry Gribbon, are on a train when they learn of a telegram sent to a fellow passenger, who is a police commissioner. The wire identifies him as official collector for the Old Cops' Home. A little chloroform does for him and when the train pulls out of his destination he is still on board while Gribbon is posing as the commissioner-collector.
Hearts and Sparks is a 1916 American silent comedy film directed by Charles Parrott (Charley Chase) and starring Gloria Swanson.
John, the janitor, has a pet monkey that accompanies him on his different jobs. Because of the monkey's wonderful ability, John is given a post of janitor in one of the large hotels.
Archie, a man well past the age of forty-five proposes to Mildred, a young and pretty girl and is rejected. Fred, her youthful lover then enters and does the same thing and is accepted. As Fred leaves the house, it is very windy and a young lady passing by gets some dust in her eyes. He tries to assist and from Mildred's window it appears that he is embracing he young lady.
Sweedie while reading a book in the kitchen, falls asleep. She dreams that Kao Yama, Sultan of Puff Puff, has sent her a present in the form of a servant. She refuses to accept the slave, telling the Sultan's messengers that her husband would seriously object to having him around the house.
Out in the celery belt there is a stunted flag station whose leading citizens still wear gum arctics. In this lonesome kraal two highly respected money getters marched at the head of the women and school children during Perfect Developing and Printing dry movement day.
Sweedie, the cook, reads an ad in the newspaper for a maid to give her services in exchange for college tuition. She applies and is accepted.
Three young girls, pledged to spinsterhood and contempt for mankind, go camping in the woods. Three boys, unpledged to anything save fun and the joy of living, likewise go camping. Fate spins the wheel and the six, pledged and unpledged, pitch their tents not far apart.
Sweedie has fallen in love with the grocery boy, and in order to gaze upon his smiling face orders groceries at every possible opportunity.
Sweedie holds a clandestine meeting with her beau in the kitchen of her employers, a young married couple. Her love affair influences her cooking and the bread she serves that evening is a little harder than granite. The young husband loses his temper and Sweedie loses her job.
Sweedie, the theater's scrubwoman, in love with the unappreciative props, become enamored with the idea of a stage career.
Gloom overcasts the palace of Count Selim Nalagaski, governor general of Morovenia, Turkey. All efforts to make the count's elder daughter, the Princess Kalora, fat, synonymous with beauty in that country, have failed. Popova, the Princess's tutor, devises a terrible revenge because the count called him a Christian dog. He feeds the princess pickles to keep her thin.
Mr. Dingy engages Sweedie as their cook. She insists upon bringing her dog "Skinny" and her parrot along. Mr. Dingy dislikes dogs, but rather than lose Sweedie he consents.
When Mrs. Justwed receives a note from her mother telling her that she expects to arrive next day, her husband seems overjoyed, and says he intends to make her stay all winter. She arrives next day, but it is not long before the well-meaning husband is hoping it will be a short winter.
Mildred refuses Archie's proposal of marriage. Shortly after Fred arrives and she accepts him as her future husband. As he is leaving the house, his attention is attracted by a young lady who has a cinder in her eye. He stops to give her his assistance. Mildred, who happens to be watching from an upstairs window, thinks he is kissing the young lady
When Donald Wellington is ordered from the house by his sweetheart's father, they decide to elope. He calls for her next day in his speedster, but before they can make their escape the father is seen coming down the street. The elopement is then abandoned. Donald sees him fishing some time later and has a plan to bring him around.
The girl gets a beautiful bouquet of flowers from her fiancé, who wants her to enjoy the fragrance because these flowers will be in their new home when they are married. The girl puts them in a vase and uses them for a table decoration. There is to be a party at her home that day and they are a very welcome ornament. Sweedie, the maid, also loves flowers.
The country school board assigns a new teacher, and the lot falls to none other than Sweedie.
Sweedie decides to commit suicide when she is jilted by her sweetheart, the captain of the police department. After writing a note to him, she calmly makes ready for the end. About this time the tricksters arrive and inject "dope" into her which puts her to sleep.
Mr. Grouch has a decided antipathy for young men who call on his daughter. He shows it by ejecting all visitors. But the daughter is so popular that he finds the labor too great for a small man and determines to hire a big Swedish maid to do the heavy work of removing callers.
Sweedie gets a job as mop artist in a hotel. She starts out from home encumbered with baggage and a pet dog of uncertain ancestry. Arrived at the hotel, she is given two pails and a mop and she starts to work.
Starvation faces the little post of Red Gold. Jack Thorpe, in a final effort to obtain food for his wife and baby, offers all his gold for one pound of meat.
Once upon a time a professor ordered the wax figure of King Woof, a celebrated eastern potentate who had died from eating too much pomegranate juice and who had a reputation for making history. The professor noised it abroad that he had secured the figure at an enormous expense. Everybody was crazy to see it.
Sweedie, with her arms splattered by dough, looks out the window and sees her mistress just mounting he horse for her morning ride. The simple, toilsome life straightway becomes monotonous and Sweedie prepares to go and do likewise. She calls up her Romeo, who is a captain of the mounted police squad, and tells him to come with two horses prepared for a canter.
Sweedie, the servant girl, is in love with a fireman, but her affections are not returned. The fireman escapes her caresses and gains the firehouse and loses her seven hours later when a fire breaks out. The next day she finds him with another woman and administers punishment. Then she opens a lady barber shop and her first customer is the faithless fireman.
A lawyer defends a woman accused of murdering her husband without knowing that the murdered man was his own brother.
James Finney, a would-be actor, is discharged from the Gaiety Theater and thrown bodily into the street.
The boy has a camera and snaps Sweedie, the cook, while sitting on the bench in the back yard. Later he takes a picture of his father while sitting on the same bench. He forgets to turn the film in his camera, so gets a double exposure, giving the effect of Sweedie sitting on his father's lap
The Earl is disgusted when his parents insist that he marry the girl of their choice, not his own. He has been reading a book called "When Knights Were Bold," and only wishes that he might have lived in "Ye Olden Times," when he could fight for his "Lady Love."
Sweedie is the scrub lady in the theater. She makes eyes at the stage manager and the hypnotist and is put out of the theater for being so impertinent. Next day while she is out feeding her chickens, she falls asleep and dreams that she has been left an immense fortune by her uncle and that the stage manager and the hypnotist are rivals for her hand.
Two excellent fables in one reel. "The Fable of Another Side-Track an dthe Fatal Album," and "The Fable of the Difference Between Doc and a Physician."
Buchanan Bartlett, shiftless son of Hiram Bartlett, farmer retired, is sent to college to learn things. Father becomes peeved when he receives a bill of expenditures a month later from his son, amounting to two hundred and fifty dollars. The old man decides to investigate things, and the following day finds him at the university.
Mr. Rhyme, a poet, is distracted at his work by the different noises in his home. To cap the climax his aunt arrives, bringing with her all her pets.
Sweedie has two admirers, and is undecided as to which one she prefers to marry. Her parents are in favor of Fritz, a little fat German. Sweedie is then determined to wed the other suitor.
Mr. Forflush has a great desire for spending money, but his salary does not warrant the luxuries his life necessitates. The time finally comes when his creditors hound him. A wild chase takes place, which ends by Mr. Forflush jumping into a huge puddle of mud, where he accidentally finds a big wallet stuffed with bills.
Hans and Fritz are two street musicians. Hans plays the flute and Fritz the bass violin. They have great trouble in finding a boarding house where they are congenial with their fellow boarders, and many side-splitting scenes take place.
Old man Suggs was feeling Kippy one day, so his son Joel, a little short of pocket money, persuades him to sign over all his property to him, and relieve the old gent of all the worry, he said. Shortly after, Joel got a hunch that the old Duffer was a nuisance, so sent him to the home for the destitute.
A young woman's father arranges a loveless marriage for her to a banker to whom he owes money, but she is eventually reunited with the man she truly loves.
#1: The Household Comedian; #2: Why Essie's Friends Got the Fresh Air; #3: The Prevailing Craze.
Sweedie tells her beau that her love has grown cold, so he decides to jump in the lake and end it all.
Krautmeyer owns a bakery while Schmidt runs a delicatessen store next door. They fight continually and when each receives a letter informing him that he is nominated for alderman, war in general is declared.
Mr. Secondchoice becomes very much peeved when he discovers early one morning that his wife has decorated the living room with photographs of her first husband.
Beulah Crane, a student at boarding school, becomes very much interested in a young fellow she thinks is a doctor.
Argentino Boldo has a valuable book in his possession that Texas Tommy, Hesitation Nell and One-Step McGinnis desire to appropriate. The hero. Prancing Daly, and his sweetheart, Tango Kate, try to prevent the intruders from stealing the book. The tangoists have a lively time, which brings about many comical scenes.
Mrs. Highstrung's maid leaves her at a very inopportune time, as she has just received a telegram from some friends that they will arrive in the city in time for luncheon. Jim, the hired man, tells her of a good Swedish cook and Mrs. Highstrung sends him post haste after her.
He was too big for this world when a Phrenologist told him he was a modern Napoleon.
Mrs. Goodheart, a charity worker, comes home one evening very much discouraged as she is unable to get even a small donation from Mr. Tightwad, the millionaire. She tells Sweedie, the cook, of her failure, so Sweedie decides to try her luck at making him "come across."
Mrs. Manly and Mrs. G. Howe Wise are close friends and sisters in the same Suffrage Legion in a small town, but Mrs. Manly makes a legal error by marrying a second husband before she had been duly set free from the first.
This is a pleasing story of a young married couple, who are the victims of a boarding house.
Countess Von Swatt goes on a slumming party and loses one of her calling cards in the "hash house" where Sweedie works. Sweedie finds the card. Next day an invitation to a ball to be given by Mr. Wealth is delivered by Sweedie by mistake.
Mr. Von Crooks and his son are in love with Madame Double X. One night Von Crooks, Jr., elopes with her and then writes to his father to forgive them. He refuses and cuts his son off without a cent.
Mr. and Mrs. Skidoo receive a letter from Lord Bunkum, saying he is coming to pay them a visit. They decide they do not wish to see the Lord, so they leave, telling Sweedie to inform his Lordship they have been called away. Meantime a tramp finds the Lord's letter, which Mr. Skidoo has dropped, and decides to impersonate Lord Bunkum.
The coming "champ" decides he is so good he can go around a Dub like a Cooper around a Barrel.
Sweedie, the cook at the Prim household, is a little too rough to suit Mr. Prim, who is about three feet shorter than herself. He decides to discharge her, but finds it rather difficult. After being handled like a rag doll, he goes to his friend for help and is overjoyed when told he might have their maid, as they are leaving for the country that evening.
While Sweedie is studying her war map in her grog shop, two bums enter the place and start drinking wine. When Sweedie asks them to pay for it they dash out of the place. She calls the police and they pursue the bums. Sweedie is outdistanced in the chase and thought she saw the police enter a certain house, so she rushes in.
This amusing and diverting comedy depicts the trials and tribulations of a French nobleman to win the hand of a rich American girl. He is about to succeed when Fate, in the form of two tramps, steps in and he has to abdicate in favor of the higher power.
The Fable of the Brash Drummer and the Nectarine
Mr. Simp is subservient to all his wife does or says, and as his wife is a militant suffragette, Mr. Simp is a firm adherent to the cause. He receives a letter from Mr. Charles Trouble, telling him to meet that gentleman, as he would like to talk business with him.
Ruth, a young manicurist, is desperately in love with Jimmie White, a mechanic. Ruth's friends make fun of her beau, as he is uneducated both in the matter of clothes and diplomacy.
The Busy Business Boy lands at his desk like the Early Bird with the intention of tearing off a week or two of correspondence in an hour or so. But the Napoleon of finance reckons not with the Man with the Funny Puzzle, the Fruit Vender, the Insurance Agent with the Flowing Vocabulary, and last, but not least, with Rube.
The plumber, a powerful fellow, decides to give up his trade and become a soda fountain clerk in order that he may compete with the small, well-dressed clerk, his rival, for the hand of little Miss Moffett.
Sweedie's father is the owner of a grocery store, and Sweedie takes care of the trade while father plays checkers all day. She is in love with a member of the police department, and at every possible opportunity slips out and holds hands with him.
"Chick" Evans, western amateur golf champion, is seen playing golf with his sister. Sweedie is the cook for a family of "get-rich-quicks" and treated very roughly until she receives a letter telling her that her uncle has left her an immense fortune. She is then handled with white gloves. To be a society lady she must wear fine clothes and play golf.
Henry Bigger, a short fat fellow, and Danny Slimson, short but slim, are rivals for the hand of Sweedie. One day while Danny is peeking in the window at Sweedie, he sees her reading a letter and immediately takes it for granted that it is from Henry. Instead, it is a notice from the landlord requesting her to pay her rent.
The Newlyweds read in the newspaper of an ideal automobile trip which only costs $12. Mr. Newlywed decides to take a few days' vacation and enjoy the outdoor air, not feeling that he can afford a more expensive vacation. They pack a camper's outfit on the car and start out.
Dan Ryan and Fritz Noodle, two would-be politicians, succumb to the charming mannerisms of the Widow Guggenheimer. The widow is undecided which one she shall select for a husband, but finally tells them she will marry the one who wins the election, the office to be that of Chicken Coop Inspector.
Mrs. Wallace Williams is much given to conversation and, when she and her husband have a word battle, she of course wins out, making her husband exceedingly cross.
Rube Homer Splivins imitates the actions of a famous matinee idol in order to woo his lady love.
Sweedie the cook adorns herself in her employer's jewels and goes to the skating rink where she is the most popular lady on the floor.
Farmer Stebbens and his son, Hiram, attend a convention in New York City, and while there become acquainted with two chorus girls, who lead them a merry chase, which costs the two rubes considerable.
Sweedie, the cook at the Rich household, buys a donkey from the captain of the police, but forgets to pay for it. He raids the house in an effort to get his money, and as a result Sweedie is fired.
Mrs. Strong, by reason of a good right arm, is absolute manager of her husband and his finances. While on a shopping expedition she collides with a passerby, spilling the contents of her purse. After they are restored to her, she misses her husband's pocketbook, and thinking the gentleman who bumped into her took it, she gives chase and succeeds in taking a pocketbook away from him. She relates the incident to her husband. He discovers his purse on the dresser. The restoration of the pocketbook to its rightful owner is very amusing. —Moving Picture World synopsis from IMDB
Mr. Dippy and his daughter Ruth are both very fond of the water and spend a good deal of time at the beach. Ruth meets and falls in love with the handsome lifesaver, and he falls an easy victim of her charms. Father Dippy also succumbs to cupid's arrow and becomes madly infatuated with Miss Fascination. When father sees Ruth and the life-saver together he flies into a rage and takes her home. A day or two later Mr. Dippy and Ruth are again at the beach. Mr. Dippy sees Miss Fascination and she takes him canoeing. The canoe is overturned and Mr. Dippy, who is unable to swim, calls for help. Mr. Life Guard and Ruth go to his assistance. The novel way in which the pair force him to consent to their marriage is extremely funny. —Moving Picture World synopsis from IMDB
