Volume II: Filmography

SOME FOOLS THERE WERE

February 14, 1913 (Friday)

Length: 1 reel

Character: Comedy

Director: Lucius J. Henderson

Cameraman: Arthur A. Cadwell

Cast: Florence LaBadie (girl reporter incognito), Jean Darnell (the aunt), William Garwood (unsuspecting bachelor), William Russell (unsuspecting bachelor), Riley Chamberlin (unsuspecting bachelor)

Location: California

Note: This film was originally scheduled for release on February 1, 1913 (an error, for February 1, a Saturday, was not a Thanhouser release day), then rescheduled to February 2, 1913, Sunday. After the Thanhouser fire, the film was again rescheduled, this time to February 14, 1913.

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, February 15, 1913:

Men guests at a summer resort meet a real 'charmer' there and are charmed! Each does not know, though, that the other has met the lady in the case, who, in loving remembrance, has taken a snapshot of them all. Then they learn she was a writer collecting data and photos for a magazine story on 'Fools You Meet at a Summer Resort!'

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, February 15, 1913:

A very pretty girl came to a summer resort hotel. Three bachelors, who had been idling away their time at the resort, brightened up perceptibly, and laid plans to make her acquaintance. But unfortunately the girl chanced to pass as they were discussing the details and overheard them. The first man 'sprained' his ankle. The girl and her aunt helped him tenderly to the hotel. The 'sprain' ceased as soon as the two women left him. The second man 'accidentally' hit the aunt in the back while golfing. He was a good golfer and the ball struck her where he had intended it should, right between the shoulder blades. He profusely apologized and was forgiven, incidentally making the girl's acquaintance. The third man, older than the others, and a finished prevaricator, informed the girl he knew her father. She did not ask any embarrassing questions, but charmed him in the confiding way she accepted his statement. There was intense rivalry among the bachelors, but the girl seemed to like all of them. She delighted in posing them in odd attitudes while she snapped them with her little Kodak, telling them 'how funny' they looked.

The day came when the belle had to leave. The three bachelors sadly bade farewell, and she assured them that they would hear from her soon. They did! For the evening's newspaper contained a picture of the fair enchantress, who, it seemed, had been stopping at the hotel under an assumed name. She was really a well-known writer, who had been collecting data and photographs for a magazine article on 'Fools One Meets at Summer Resorts.' The bachelors were stunned. They remembered the cute little snapshots the girl had taken of them, and realized that they would look 'funny' (as the girl expressed), in a magazine article. They had been very sentimental and foolish, they all realized, and there is no doubt that they had furnished much material to the young authoress.

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, February 16, 1913:

It is staged at a summer resort. There is a debutante who is a magazine writer, though the fact is not disclosed until well toward the close of the play. There are three rivals for her attention, each a bachelor, and each meets her in his own way, forcing an introduction, as each thinks, very cleverly. The girl might have been deceived had she not overheard their plans while in the laying. But she heard them and took advantage of all that followed. Her little camera recorded many amusing scenes, and when she left the resort and her three admirers she told them they would hear from her and they did. But it was like hearing the report of a bomb. She informed them she was a magazine writer, this information being derived from a newspaper, however, and that she had been writing an article on 'Fools One Meets, etc.' And the three bachelors realized that they were among the fools.

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, February 22, 1913: This review is reprinted in the narrative section of the present work.

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, February 12, 1913:

She is a pretty girl and a charming comedienne, the little actress playing the lead role in this capital farce. She arrives at the hotel; the boys catch sight of her and plan to make her acquaintance. The aftermath is awful when the 'sports' discover how they have been taken in and trifled with. The players have caught the spirit of the piece with uproarious success.

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