Lost1911Thanhouser Company1,000 feetComedy

Bertie’s Brainstorm

Name: Bertie’s Brainstorm
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1911-01-17

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

“Bertie Fawcett is a dudish chap, who believes that he has won the heart of May Vernon. May, however, regards Bertie as very much of a joke, and is in love with Jack Mace, who is her ideal of manly beauty. May’s father has no objection to Jack personally, but he does not propose that the daughter he idolizes shall wed a weakling or a ne’er do well. Therefore, he tells May in a letter that if ‘that young man wants to marry you, he must show his ability by earning his own living during vacation.’ Unfortunately for Bertie, he sees the letter, and egotistically jumps to the conclusion that he is the person referred to. He starts out to make his own living, but soon finds that it is not as easy as it sounds. He is successfully a writer, a billposter, a village constable, and a living target in the baseball show, but fails to shine in any one sphere. And then to cap the climax, when he returns to claim his bride, he finds that May is married to Jack.”

Summary from The Billboard · 21 January 1911

What the papers said

3 reviews · 1 advertisement

Read in full · 1 min

“This is a farcical comedy, showing the ill-fated adventures of Bertie in love with a girl whose heart belongs to a rival. The father, desirous of marrying his daughter to a capable supporter, demands that the chap who gets her must show his ability. Bertie, accidentally coming upon the letter, empties his pockets and starts out to make a fortune. The adventures of the unfortunate Bertie are such as will make the usual motion picture audience chuckle with appreciation. The film is, of course, a farce essentially. The photography is well up to the Thanhouser standard.”

The Billboard · 28 January 1911

“A love story, representing a fop trying to earn his living in competition for the hand of a girl. His amusing experiences add zest to the pictures. The girl improves the time and upsets his carefully laid plans by marrying the other fellow.” …

Read in full · 1 min

REVIEW by Walton, The Moving Picture News, January 28, 1911:

“This beats the brainstorm in Les Miserables. It is a Doré nightmare.”

The Moving Picture World · 21 January 1911

More reviews

25 January 1911The New York Dramatic Mirror1 min

“This is a series of adventures of Bertie, the brainless, to make a man of wealth of himself. A letter from the father of one of the girls on whom he was inflicting his society fell into his hands informing the young lady that before she could marry that young chap he must prove his power to earn his living. Bertie was quite vain enough to think himself the chap. He starts out and after a series of adventures more or less amusing returns to claim his bride, but finds her wedded to another. The fun is of the run and smash kind, but good because there is always reason in it. Bertie, however, is apt to miss laughs by anticipating his intentions.”

14 January 1911The Moving Picture World1 min

“Bertie’s Brainstorm is funny to see and you’ll roar when it reaches your screen. Bertie was a foolish young fop (but then all fops are fools!) and the things he did to prove himself a wise man are just too ludicrous for anything! It all began in a surreptitious letter addressed to his lady love—a note which contained some slighting remarks about Bertie’s rival—but which Bertie thinks are intended for himself. For Bertie was not only a fool, but a meddling one. He deserved his brainstorm! Why, the picture shows, along with the magnificent mess into which it got him.”

Have you seen this film, or a print of it?

Prints of films thought lost still turn up in attics, private collections and archives. A record like this one is how the next one gets found.

Tell us about a print

Cast and crew

Cast: William Russell
Writer: Lloyd F. Lonergan

Every name opens that person's page, with each film they appear in and which of them you can watch.

Watch instead

Films you can watch from the same company

Matched by cast, director and kind

12:35

1910 · Same castThe Winter’s Tale

14:20

1912 · Same leadThe Little Girl Next Door

15:13

1912 · Same leadThe Star of Bethlehem

More about this film

Bowers’ notes: A series of “Bertie” films was projected but failed to materialize. The present film was the initial effort. The character of Bertie may have been suggested by Bertie Nizril, a foppish young Englishman in Thoroughbred, a stage play in which Edwin Thanhouser played the part of Bertie in 1896.

From Volume II: Filmography of Q. David Bowers’ Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, reproduced with permission and unchanged. Read the history of 1911 →

Cite as: Bowers, Q. David. Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, “Bertie’s Brainstorm”. thanhouser.org/films/bertie-s-brainstorm/

Where a print is held

Held by: No print known