Moving Picture World (Oct-Dec 1913)

636 THE MO\'IXG PICTURE WORLD VITAGRAPH. THIEVES (Nov. 10). — Wliile out walking with bis beautiful young wunl. Myrtel, Millionaire Hastings allows Myrtel to give some money to a poor, miserable-looking fellow, wbo arouses ber sympatby. Before returning to his palatial bouie. the aged man is taken ill, and bas to go to bed when he roarbes the house. Living with bim Is George Hastings, a brother, and Oeorge's wife, Anna. Tbey do not seem to be sorry when Hastings is taken ill; It would appear as tliough they were glad. When, some weeks later, tbey are standing by the bedside. Anna stealthily opens a writing desk and takes from it a paper. Signaling to George, they leave the room together and go to the library below. By means of the paper, whirb contains the combination, they upen the family safe and take out a number of papers. Among these papers are two wills, one leaving all to George, and a later one deeding the great wealth to Myrtel. They exchange the wills in their respective envelopes, placing the one favorable to George In the envelope marked "Last Will." and the other in the envelope marked "Void." They do not know that they are being detected. Behind the window curtains Is a thief. He Is watching them and listening to their words. He is the same man whom Myrtel befriended, but he does not know that he is in ber bouse. He is greatly surprised when she comes Into the room taking George and Anna away to Basting's death bed. G'eorge, in his haste, did not have time to lock tne safe. The thief now uses his pocket flashlight, and locating the safe, takes the paiiers out and changes back the wills in tbelr right envelopes. He jumps to his place of concealment as Anna comes back and goes to the safe, taking out thf envelope which she believes contains tlic M.vrlel will and burns it in the grate. The thief Jumps towards ber after she has burned the paper, and. at tlie point of a revolver, takes the paper with the combination from her, and locks the rightful will in the safe. Then be sneaks away, happy th;it he hiis made bis benefactress an heiress. THE PRICE OF THOUGHTLESSNESS (Nov. 11). —The children are gathered in the school room, listening to a lecturer, who. with pointer and charts, discourses upon the dangers of the city street and shows how to avoid them. When he is through he presents each child with a safety button as a reminder, of his advice. Howard, Mabel and Bobby remain after the other children to ask a tew additional questions. After school Bobby lives up to the button by notifying the police of a live wire he discovers on the car track. He is praised by the crowd on the scene for his tboughtfulness. Through Howard's carelessness little Mabel narrowly escapes death when she falls in front of a street car, and is saved by the safety device on the car. She is crossing the track with Howard. Both are 00 roller skates. Running in front of a northbound car. they suddenly discover that a car coming south is heading them oflf. Howard jumps to safety, but his sister is not so quick and falls before the car. An automobile coming south on the avpnue stalls, forcing a wagon to cut in to tl>p left between the elevated railroad posts onto the r-ar track in order to pass. Just as the wagon Is banted onto the track the car crashes into it. crumbling It to pieces and crushing the driver beneath the wreckage, all due to thoughtlessness. Some boys are playing ball on a side street. Howard, the catcher, misses the ball, which bounds away across the car track on the avenue. He runs after it blindly, and suddenly realizes that he is between two cars. Bewildered, be leaps for safety, jumping in front of a Sipeeding automobile, fvhich runs over him. Howard Is crippled for life. After many days of suffering be is taken from his bed in the hospital for a ride in a roller chair. He sees boys and girls playing tag and leap-^roe on the hospital lawn, and. with tear-fllled eyes, realizes the terrible price of his thoughtlessness. AN ELOPEMENT AT HOME (Nov. 12).— Billy would like to marry MMbel. the judge's pretty daughter, but he is ordered from the premises by the angry father, who selfishly wishes to keei) bis daughter at home. This is witnessed by the justice of the peace, a next*door neighbor, who rejoices at the judge's diBcomiitnre, Billy and Mabel plan to elope. While the judge is sleeping peacefully. Mabel enters bis room and takes all of his clothes to delay his pursuit. But when she tries to get out of the second-story window to descend by the ladder, she gets ber skirt caught in the window and cannot unfasten It. Billy breaks into the bouse and Is on bis way upstairs to help Mabel, when he Is met by the judge. He is taken tor a burglar, and, at the point of a revolver, is locked up in the .it tic. Billy climbs through a trap-door onto the ruof and calls Id Mabel and tells ber ©f hi capture. The milkman sees the couple and is iiiiiised at their predicament. Billy tlirows him ^^•nie money and tells him to go next door and jlt the justice of tUe peace to come and marry ,.;ii in ten minutes. Ihe justice of the peace is tickled to death at ■,\n oiiportunity to vex his old political enemy. liy this time tlie judge has discovered the theft of his clothes and suspects that he is being doped. When be hears voices outside be goes to the window and sees Billy urging the justice to marry him to Mabel. The judge angrily forbids tiie ceremony, but the justice laughs and. asking the milkman to remain as a witness, proceeds with the marriage. The judge wraps a blanket about himself and tries to get out of the room, but the door knob breaks and be falls back on the floor. When he returns to the window be sees the justice, the milkman and Billy and Mabel all drinking to eacb other's health from milk bottles. The judge tires the broken door-knob at the justice, but misses bim. and all laugh at the defeated father's expostulations as Billy leans over the roof and kisses Mabel. THE RIGHT MAN (Nov. 13).— John Strong Is in love with Rose Braham. She cares for him on account of his friendship. Rose's brother, Ned, against the advice of Strong, wbo warns him. plunges In Lake Shore R. R. Stock, and drops all he has. He is desperate. Realizing Strong's love for Rose, he urges her to make bim propose and accept him. and thereby save the situation. Rose revolts at the thought and at first refuses, but at last, in order to save her brother, she consents. Strong proposes and is accepted. In the meantime, he bas seen tiiat Lake Shore has dropped and to save the brother of the woman he loves, he throws capital behind the stock and booms It. saving the situation. The moment be is out of danger. Ned thinks there is no reason that Rose should marry a man that she does not care for. So he goes and tells Strong that Rose desires to be released from her engagement. Strong refuses to take his dismissal from anyone but Rose herself. Ned tells Rose of what he has done and she is furious with him for his mean conduct. Tlien he sees in the paper that It Is Strong who has saved the market, and afraid now that he will withdraw bis money, he urges Rose to renew the engagement. She says she will handle the matter alone. She is sorry now. for she really loves Strong. She phones hira and be comes to her. She confesses her transactions with her brother, and offers to release him, but be makes lier confess that she really loves him and the engagement is renewed on a surer and firmer basis. FANHY'S CONSPIRACY (Nov. 14).— When Mr. Burney returns home he is entirely too stout to suit Fanny, his pretty young wife. She decides that his excessive corpulency must be removed. Much to Burney's discomfort, he is put on a severe diet. Almost starved, he sneaks into the kitchen and gets the kind-hearted maid to give bim some pie. chocolate cake, and doughnuts. .Tust as he is about to start in eating, in comes Fanny and all the food is taken from him. Fanny sends for cousin Jack Gordon, He brings some dumb bells and Indian clubs. When she is thanking him affectionately for his kindness, the inquisitive maid, peeking through the keyhole, sees her and wonders what it means. Mr. Burney is so fat be cannot stand much exercise. Though Fanny continually measures bim with a tape measure and urges him to swing the clubs some more, he soon gives up exhausted. In despair, Fanny tries all sorts of remedies. She makes bubby run through the country on a hot summer's day all dressed up in sweaters and woolens. She installs a gymnasium in the house and makes him take violent exercises. She repeats the diet in a more heroic form: all to no avail. At last, seeing a fat-reducing medicine advertised, she gets a large bottle of it and puts some in his coffee. Tlie conscientious maid sees her doing it and when Mr. Burney starts to drink the coffee she frantically stops bim and tells him that it contains poison. She also tells him of Jack Gordon. Going to Gordon's house to demand an explanation. Mr. Burney finds there a torn piece of a letter signed by his wife. Tbe fragment makes Fanny out a criminal. It speaks of a "Bottle — given secretly — unpleasant — James is out of the way!" Burney gets a detective and accuses Fanny of trying to murder him. Ail ends happily when Gordon comes around with the other part of tbe letter, and Fanny produces tbe bottle of fat reducer which the letter speaks of. JERRY'S MOTHER-IN-LAW (Special— 2 parts— Nov. 15). — Wlipn Mr. and Mrs, Jerry Brown's inotlier-in-law arrives she jiroves to be an unwelcome visitor. She upsets all the peacefulness of the new household. Jerry sneaks off to the French Students' Masque Ball, and while on his way goes Into a saloon where two crlrainnl-looking individuals sell him a suit of armor. Rigged up in the armor, Mr. Brown proceeds to the ball. All that nigbt he spends his time rioting i;\*ith the merry masqueraders and is lionized by the ladles. The next morning he returns home iu a cab. and while trying to walk up the front steps, falls down in a deep sleep. Tbe mysterious armored individual is seen from the window by wifey and mother-in-law. who are told b> a passing newspaper boy that the armor wa.s stolen from the museum. Mother-in-law calls up the museum and gets the director, wlio comes ou the run with bis assistants, and takes the armor; Jerry concealed within it. to its appointed pedestal at the museum. Mre. Jerry Brown and mother-in-law go to the museum tbe next day to see the armor and are scared out of their wits when they see smoke curling up from the iron hand-piece. The smoke is coming from a cigarette which Jerry bas found left by a visitor. They scream. Jerry jumps from his pedestal and runs from tbe museum. He Is followed by a mob. He seeks refuge at his club, where be consoles himself with the aid of many drinks. Taking a uniform from the bellboy he goes home and is met there by bis mother-in-law wbo was about to leave, but who now decides to stay on indefinitely. She places Jerry under tbe shower bath and ducks him In tbe tub. Getting dressed he goes to a hypnotist show and buys a book on hypnotism. Returning home be frightens mother-in-law out of the house trying to hypnotize her. She calls the police: Jerry enlists their aid. Together they scare mother-inlaw so badly that she runs away and never returns. That evening Jerry and his pretty young wife celebrate tbe unwelcome visitor's departure with a large feast. EDISON. CAMPING WITH THE BLACKFEET {Nov. 10). — The iilctures open in tlie camp of Chief Three Bears' tribe, near McDermott. In Northwestern Montana. Chief Three Bears is the last of V'e great war chiefs of the Blackfeet. Today, at the age of eighty -six. be is a good citizen of the I'nited States. Chief Three Bears opens tbe picture by saying, in the picturesque sign language of the Northwestern Indian, that his tribe intends to break camp and to move to a new loi.-atioD, The chief is followed by Lazy Boy, Judge Wolf Plume, Mrs. Dog Ears and Medicine (>wl. tbe medicine man. eacb of whom has something to say in this peculiar language. While the men ride a head to the new site, tbe squaws remain to accomplish all tbe actual work of moving the equipment. Mrs. Dog EJars, an old lady of some eighty-two summers, exhibits an extraordinary degree of activity. On the way to the new camp, the men are obliged to "pass across a ford just above McDermott Falls, which bas a particularly dangerous reputation. Intimate views of the daily life and habits of these Indiana are shown, the picture ending with a "heap big dance." SETH'S WOODPILE (Nov. 10).— Seth Prime was by all odds tbe meanest man in Squash viMe. Everybody wondered bow his wife ever stood him. One day Setb had a row with Jim Decker. Jim, passing Seth's woodpile on tbe evening of their quarrel, was suddenly seized with tbe notion to borrow a little of Seth's wood. He did not tell Setb anything about it. He simply borrowed a wheelbarrow-load of wood. Seth discovered bis loss the next day and turned white with rage. So what did Seth do but carefully hollow out a stick of wood, fill it with pow^Ier and plug it up securely. He laid this liomemade engine of destruction on top of his woodpile and retired to dream pleasantly of the mangled corpses of his enemies. The next morning when be awoke tbe loaded stick was gone. Also another wheelhar row-full of wood. During the night Jim Decker had decided to borrow a little more of his neighbor's wood. Mrs, Prime was highly indignant when she discovered what her husband bad done, but Seth only laughed and waited. The next day happened to be Sunday and Jim Decker went to church with his wife. Tbe parson preached a powerful sermon against the sin of stealing. Jim was dieeply moved. The weight of Seth's wood rested heavily on bis conscience, so that night he loaded the wood he had taken into a wheelbarraw and stealthily replaced it on Seth's pile. Tbe next raoniing Seth arose from bed grumbling and went out to bring In wood for the stove. He unwittingly picked np the loaded stick and put it in his kitchen stove. A moment later Seth was all tangled up with the stove and the stovepipe, THE DOCTOR'S DUTY (Nov. 11).— At the end of a long and tedious day Doctor Strong was just preparing for tlie relaxation of tbe evening, when a costermonger hurst in upon him, and begged him to come to his dying child. The doctor went with the man to the bitter disappointment of his son. Jackie, who wanted his father to stay and play with him. After his father left. Jackie decided to give bis toys a dose of medicine. Accordingly, be abstracted a bottle from the doc^ tor's laboratory, and to show the toys just bow it should be done, took a generous spoonful of the medicine. His mother entered at that moment, observed her son's action and looked at tbe bottle. The dreadful word "Poison" stared up at her. In a frenzy of fear she dispatched a boy for the doctor. At the moment the boy arrived the doctor was fighting with all his strength for the life of his little patient. A terrible spasm of emotion shook him as he read the note. His son was in .danger, dying perhaps. Tbe coster's child would certainly die without bis aid. A moment sufficed to show him clearly where his duty lay. He dispatched a hurried note to bis wife and remained at the bedside of the poor man's child. Mrs. Strong called in another di^^tor and prepared a glass of musrtard and water for Jackie. Jackie, however, suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. Shoot and hunt as they would for bim.