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1914Thanhouser CompanyOne reelComedy

Sid Nee’s Finish

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

“Sid Nee, a Chinese laundryman, is sought by officers of the law. He escapes to a small town where he opens a laundry. Kate Kelly, who takes in washing, soon finds that Sid Nee has robbed her of her business. She determines to wreck his establishment, but this scheme being frustrated, she hits upon the still more profitable plan of going into partnership with the Chinaman. Meanwhile, the police have traced the fugitive. Kate’s sweetheart, Mike Doolan, who believes that she is going to marry the Chinaman, leads the officers to the house of the justice of the peace, and when Kate and Sid Nee come out with their document, the latter is grabbed and hauled away. Then Mike finds that what he had supposed was a marriage license is merely a business contract.”

Summary from Reel Life · 12 December 1914

What the papers said

2 reviews · 4 articles

“Sid Nee, a laundryman sought by the officers of the law, goes to another town and opens a laundry, taking Kate Kelly’s trade away from her. She hits upon the plan of going into partnership with the Chinaman and they enter into the office of justice. Her sweetheart, thinking they are about to be married, sets the police on their trail, but he finds that what he thought was a marriage license is really a business agreement.”

The Morning Telegraph · 20 December 1914

“A comedy number in which Sidney Bracy impersonates a Chinaman who starts up in opposition to a widow washerwoman. The action is only moderately amusing.”

The Moving Picture World · 2 January 1915

Articles4 · 17 October 1914 – 12 December 1914

17 October 1914The New Rochelle Pioneer1 min

“Sidney Bracy, the wonderful ‘Jones the Butler’ in the Mystery, has had another honor thrust upon him. Thursday he began as a director, taking the lead in his own picture, the script for which was written by John William Kellette—Sid Nee’s Finish. It is a ‘laundry’ farce, and Sid places the part of the ‘Chink.’ Fanny Bourke, the inimitable comedienne of Thanhouser’s, will play the part of Kate Burke, and in their support will be James Murray, Joe Phillips, and Joe Clements. George Grimmer is his assistant, and George Webber, whose camera work in The Mystery has been termed perfect, will turn the crank of the Pathé.”

24 October 1914The New Rochelle Pioneer1 min

“Sidney Bracy began the interior work on Sid Nee’s Finish at the local studio on Thursday. He will finish the picture this week. Kellette wrote the script.”

24 October 1914The New Rochelle Pioneer1 min

“Lawrence Fowler, who has charge of the darkroom producing the ‘still’ pictures at the local studio, is doing the camera work for Sidney Bracy’s first effort as a director—Sid Nee’s Finish—and is doing excellently.”

12 December 1914Reel Life1 min

“Mr. Bracy is one of the cleverest character leads in pictures. Recently he has turned playwright. And his farce entitled Sid Nee’s Finish is one of the funniest sketches on the Mutual Program. It is an Irish vs. Chinese romance, and in calling the unhappy celestial of the piece ‘Sid Nee,’ Mr. Bracy has made a pun on his own name. He also appears in the role of the Chinaman.”

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.

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Cast and crew

Director
Sidney Bracy
Cast
Fan Bourke as Kate Burke [or Kelly]
George A. Grimmer
James Murray
James S. Murray
Joe Phillips as Mike
John William Kellette
Joseph Clements
Joseph H. Phillips
Leland Benham
Sidney Bracy as Sid Nee
Photographed by
George Webber
Lawrence Fowler

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

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More about this film

Bowers’ notes
  1. This film was produced in mid October 1914. 2. It is not clear if Lawrence Fowler or George Webber was the cameraman, or if both were (see articles from The New Rochelle Pioneer below). 3. This film represented Sidney Bracy’s first directing effort. 4. The character Kate’s surname variously appeared as Burke or Kelly (see below).

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, “Sid Nee’s Finish”. thanhouser.org/films/sid-nee-s-finish/

Where a print is held

Held by
No print known