Variety (December 1909)

VARIETY 21 "CHAINING THE CANARY LOOSE" ■ l.OdO FEET OF VARIETY'S OWN RELBABE (BY THE FOOT). A FILM BT THE INDBPBNDBNT-PATBNT'8 CO. lit TO 10th FOOT. The family is very poor. Mother hat lost her Job as a manicure and father can get no work aa a longshoreman in the Lone - acre Building. Two little girls, one 24 and the other 13, are starving. The son, who follows the horses, orders the father to go to work. Rising ■lowly from the silk-covered Ostermoor, which has been carelessly left in the corner, the old man kisses the whole family good-bye, makes a face at his son, and exits, followed by the dog. Father is looking for work. At the 189th foot the son discovers that they are at the post at Jacksonville and his "sure thing" is dying on his hands. Angrily he smaller every day and all sorts of persons are butting into the business. Forgive me and kiss our children. I have brought home the last loaf of bread I shall ever bring to you loafers. I am going out to get some money; honestly—if I can—if not I'll go back to manicuring. Tour wife and mother, Louise." It is finally the 200th foot and not a darned thing has happened. Surely there is film enough in that stretch to start something. The mother leaves the house and the camera catches a crowd of 300 people of all sizes and sorts watching the. picture man operate. She is encouraged by the spectacle, for she knows that the members of her family are not the sets forth to find Imh father and make him look harder for work. To assist the old man he takes along his field glasses. At the 190 foot the 24-year old little one crawls under the mattress for her beauty sleep; also to forget that she's hungry. At the 105th foot Mother comes in with a roll of French bread sixteen feet long and hands it to the 13-year old little one, who starts at the middle to eat it in both directions. She seems to be very hungry and is so engaged in trying to choke her- self with the bread that she forgets to nsk her mother where she got the money to buy it with. While one daughter is under the Ostermoor and the other is engaged in wilting the French lonf, the Mother sits down in front of a painted writing desk and with one stroke of the pen writes this "slide,'' which shows upon the screen : "Pear Husband and Children: I am tired of being a manicure. The tips are getting only people in France out of work. She knows by actual count that Pathe Frercs have 300 men. . r >00 women, 350 children, and a large assortment of live-stock, wagons, hacks, automobiles and other things in their employ that are starving and out of work; in fact, having visited the picture shows herself, she knows that there is more idleness and hunger in France in propor- tion to the length of the bread loaves and the amount of wine that is consumed to the running foot of film than could be stacked within all the beautifully painted interiors Edison has in his studio. Of course that sentence may be a little complicated ; but one must recall that this is a moving pic- ture description and there must be some sort of complication in this one at any cost. Sorrowfully Mother passes down the painted street ; forgetfully, once, she nearly walked through the canvas, but the pro- ducer yelled at her just in time, so she turned to the left. This happened at the 225th foot; and nothing as yet has been accomplished. At her wit's end, she avails herself of the "comedy" idea best liked by self rather hungry and coyly hoisting the Ostermoor to her shoulder takes it out of the room, indicating in the most unintel- ligable pantomime that she Is going to pawn FRANK OOOMBS and IN MURIEL STONE "THE LAST OF THE TBOUPE." FRANK COOMBS and MURIEL STONE, under the able direction of AlJtERT SUTHERLAND, are meeting with nuccesa In their fourth season with "THE LAST OF THE TROUPE." . some producers, and turning into the cor- ner drug store she buys a box of Red Circle pills. At the 247th foot she still has them. At the 2."»0 foot she has not. As she came out of the drug store she met her son going in and, hiding behind a pile of vegetables, she hears him telephone a bet; she known by the faces he makes that the hand-book man will not accept a mouth h<>t, and seeking safety in flight she starts a "chase," which runs for 113 feet. More than 700 people out of work watch the foolish antics of the mother rolling the Red Circles up hill. At the most exciting point in the (base there appears on the screen: "One Moment, Please, to Adjust Machine." We have almost reached 400 feet and following film traditions nothing has happened. How* ever, at the 401st foot father finds work. He is employed in the harvest field. It is 90 miles back to town and his starving folks. Night is coming on; and the trolleys will soon stop and it looks as though ho would have to walk. Tired from his long .'50 feet of cutting barley, he falls into deep sleep on his shovel handle. His dream starts at the noist foot and runs 000 to an inch. The fairy queen waves her wand and the Krie Canal comes to view. A drunken sailor in a motor boat invites the father to step in and take a ride. Thinking it is pretty soft for him the old man gladly atvepts and when last seen the lioat runs under the Brooklyn Bridge. Having been so long neglected it is time to turn the camera on the desolate home. The 24-year old child having had her sleep out finds her- it to buy something to eat. The betting is even that she will bring back three long loaves of bread and a bottle of red wine. The younger child, being fnll of bread, eri- dences no interest in the proceedings. But (Continued on Page 154.) THE FLYING MARTINS. Above all other*, the fastest working double trapeze artists In the work), presenting their new aerial sensation. This week (Dec. 6). Keith's, Philadelphia.