Lost1913Thanhouser CompanyOne reelComedy

Waiting for Hubby

Name: Waiting for Hubby
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1913-08-17

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

“He was a ‘distinguished tragedian’ who was never weary of telling of the famous theatrical family from which he was descended. As a matter of fact, his people were everyday farming folk, and were ashamed of their actor relatives. A wealthy aunt died and left her fortune to the thespian, provided that to secure the legacy he must give up the stage forever and live in her old home. His career had consisted mainly of ‘one night stands,’ so the actor gladly withdrew from the footlights. In the small town the natives looked with awe upon the former actor. He appeared at numerous entertainments and classic roles and many maids, matrimonially inclined, set their caps for him. He married, and his wife was fully aware of the treasure she had won. He was a model husband until one eventful evening he left his house to post a letter, telling his devoted wife that he would return in a moment. Hour after hour passed away and he did not return. His wife thought of terrible mishaps which might have befallen him and was in deep anguish. The husband really meant to mail the letter and return home at once, but he saw a hospitable-looking saloon and entered to have ‘just one good drink.’ He was soon very unsteady on his feet, but very happy and at peace with the world. He decided to have the time of his life, and he did, but a bitter awakening awaited him when he reached home and his disillusioned spouse beheld his condition.”

Summary from The Moving Picture World · 23 August 1913

What the papers said

3 reviews · 1 advertisement

Read in full · 1 min

“Riley Chamberlin has won laurels for himself in this film, in which he has played masterful comedy. It would be a pleasure to see this clever pantomimist oftener in leads, having proved himself worthy. His work in this film is really a delight on account of its finesse. The theme of the picture is not new, a picture of great similarity having been done recently by the Edison Company, but the manner of its development and general finish of the production is worthwhile.”

The Morning Telegraph · 24 August 1913

“A thoroughly amusing picture, in which Riley Chamberlin impersonates an old-style actor of the Shakespearean School. He marries a wealthy widow, but later pines for a night out with the boys. She sends him out to mail a letter and he comes back many hours later after some very laughable experiences. Mr. Chamberlin has a true comedy sense and succeeds in giving us a truly funny ‘jag’ where many others have failed.”

The Moving Picture World · 23 August 1913

More reviews

10 August 1913The New York Dramatic Mirror1 min

“From first to last this film excites laughter. There is nothing of the slapstick in the picture, the humor is all clean-cut and quiet, and with the playing of Riley Chamberlin in the lead role one is forced to acknowledge it is one of the best comedies seen for weeks. As a matter of fact, Mr. Chamberlin and the supporting cast make the piece more than any other factor. The director must in a way be responsible, but just how far is a question one cannot answer from the outside. Mr. Chamberlin, as an old actor, finds that a small fortune has been left to him by his distant relative on condition that he leave the stage. He leaves and settles down in a quiet village, where his talents, displayed in an amateur way, are approved highly by the neighbors, and more particularly by the widow. Ere long the old fellow marries and seeks contentment as a model husband. But one of his old friends buttonholes him while he is out one evening to post a letter, and what hubby doesn’t know isn’t worth telling. But the wife at home imagines that some awful calamity has befallen him. The police are finally called to her assistance, and hubby is treated to a ride in the little red wagon. There is something so natural and sincere in the work of Mr. Chamberlin, and, in fact, the whole picture, that one cannot but be amused.”

13 August 1913The New York Dramatic Mirror1 min

“Hubby was the model hubby until the evening the picture pictures. Then the series of mishaps that befell him were wondrous to behold. And meantime wifey waited.”