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1914Thanhouser CompanyOne reelComedy

A Can of Baked Beans

No copy you can watch online. No print is known to survive. What follows is what does: the release, the cast, the story, and what the trade press said at the time.

The story

“The Morton twins, Jack and Bill, and their larger brother, Frank, leave home on a Boy Scout expedition with three cans of baked beans of the acid or explosive variety. The youngsters decide to warm the beans up by putting the unopened cans into the fire. Nearby, hidden by the shrubbery, sit three Italians. Bang! The beans exploded. In great excitement, the Italians make off along the beach. Seated in a canoe a few yards off shore are Alice Morton and sweetheart Arthur. They see the three Italians race madly along the shore. Meanwhile, the boys put a note reading: ‘Unless you leave $50 under keel at 12 o’clock tonight we will blow up your boat,’ in the cabin of a splendid yacht under construction in the Yacht Club’s boat yard nearby. The note is found by workmen and the police are notified. Alice and Arthur, returning home, recognize three Italians walking up the street. Alice, upon her return, overhears her brothers discussing their prank. Meanwhile, Arthur causes the arrest of the innocent Italians. They are thrown into jail. Alice tells Arthur what she overheard. The Italians are released. The final scene shows Arthur delivering a fatherly spanking to his prospective brothers-in-law, with the aggrieved Italians looking on approvingly.”

Summary from Reel Life · 21 February 1914

What the papers said

1 review

“This picture play serves the purpose of introducing the Turner twins to the public under their management. They are dressed up in cowboy, pioneer or some other suits of some kind, and with a larger boy to go out to hunt Indians; all three having near guns [sic]. They camp and proceed to prepare for a snack, placing a can …

Read in full · 1 min

“This picture play serves the purpose of introducing the Turner twins to the public under their management. They are dressed up in cowboy, pioneer or some other suits of some kind, and with a larger boy to go out to hunt Indians; all three having near guns [sic]. They camp and proceed to prepare for a snack, placing a can of beans on a fire, which explodes, startling three tramps and the rest of the neighborhood, thereby causing great comedy. This picture might be a good one if it was different. The twins are clever, but put them in something fit for children to see that it is more wholesome.”

The Moving Picture World · 28 February 1914

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Cast and crew

Cast
Carey L. Hastings as Mrs. Morton
Dorothy Jordan as Alice, sister of the boys
Justus D. Barnes as Mr. Morton
Kenneth Clarendon as Arthur Dexter, Alice’s sweetheart
Roy Hauck as Frank Morton
The Turner Twins
Writer
Theodore Osborn Eltonhead

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More about this film

Bowers’ notes

This film marked the Thanhouser film debut of the Turner twins, who had appeared on the stage in numerous productions.

From Volume II: Filmography of Q. David Bowers’ Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, reproduced with permission and unchanged. Read the history of 1914 →

Cite as: Bowers, Q. David. Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, “A Can of Baked Beans”. thanhouser.org/films/a-can-of-baked-beans/

Where a print is held

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No print known