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1915Thanhouser CompanyOne reelComedy

The Mishaps of Marceline

Also released as Marceline, the Window Cleaner

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

“Marceline is a professional window washer. He goes from store to store with his mop and pail. First he gets a job cleaning a jeweler’s plate glass front, where he works havoc among the priceless valuables on display. Next he applies at a grocery, where he deluges the goods with soapy water. At last he winds up in a saloon and is set to washing the mirrors in the back bar. His ladder slips, and a hundred dollars’ worth of glass goes crashing to its ruin. Marceline is arrested and arraigned in court, where he has many other laughable adventures. No more popular comedian than the famous clown of the New York Hippodrome is to be seen on the screen. His appearance with Thanhouser marks his debut in motion pictures.”

Summary from Reel Life · 27 February 1915

What the papers said

1 article · 1 advertisement

Article

23 January 1915Reel Life1 min

“Helen Badgley, the Thanhouser Kidlet, and Leland Benham, who is seven, have been enjoying themselves for a fortnight past. Marsilene [sic], the famous clown from the Hippodrome, has been out with the studio forces at New Rochelle putting on Marsilene, the Window Cleaner. Helen and Leland daily visit the comedian in his dressing room and ply him with questions about clown life. Leland thinks now that he would like to become a professional clown, and when he isn’t working in pictures, he struts around the studio with a clown make-up on. The make-up is all his own—and it certainly is funny! Little Miss Badgley told Leland that he didn’t have to put on any make-up, however, to be a clown—and this made her leading man a trifle sore. The other day the two of them were on the stage between ‘takes,’ playing handball. Leland thought he would like to show the lady how to pitch a few curves. So he called, ‘Hey, Helen, I’ll bet you can’t handle a ball like this!’ And away went the ball, whizzing right past her diminutive nose. She was very angry, and stamped her little foot on the floor. ‘Leland Benham!’ she cried, ‘you be careful! Maybe I can’t do that—but I can act. You should worry if your goldfish tarnish!’ she added with consummate scorn. And she’s got Leland thinking over that yet.”

Advertisement

27 February 1915Reel Life1 min

“In which the world’s most famous clown—laughed at by thousands at the New York Hippodrome—appears for the first time in motion pictures, bringing with him the side-splitting antics that have made him famous as the world’s greatest fun-maker. Exhibitors: Book this rip-roaring comedy in which the great Marceline is at his funniest best.”

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

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Cast and crew

Cast
Joe Cooper
Marceline as clown

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. Marceline, a clown from the New York Hippodrome, was featured in this film. Refer to his biographical listing for additional information. 2. In some listings, The was omitted from the title and Mishap was singular. 3. In an article in Reel Life, January 23, 1915, Marceline was misspelled as “Marsilene.” 4. Thanhouser claimed that this film marked Marceline’s debut on the screen. However, a 1907 film produced by Winthrop featured the same clown and was titled Marceline, the World-Renown Clown of the N.Y. Hippodrome.

From Volume II: Filmography of Q. David Bowers’ Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, reproduced with permission and unchanged. Read the history of 1915 →

Cite as: Bowers, Q. David. Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, “The Mishaps of Marceline”. thanhouser.org/films/the-mishaps-of-marceline/

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