Volume II: Filmography Volume II: Filmography
(Falstaff)
October 28, 1915 (Thursday)
Length: 1 reel (1,025 feet)
Character: Comedy
Scenario: Lloyd F. Lonergan
Cast: Carey L. Hastings (Sophie, the star), Reginald Perry (husband)
Note: The title was hyphenated as The Soap-Suds Star in the film itself.
SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, October 30, 1915:
"Some of the vaudeville manager's 'star acts' had failed to make good, others were still detained abroad. The manager called his press agent in, scolded him and ordered him to secure a vaudeville team, adding that 'they must be extremely funny and extremely cheap.' Within a short time the agent returned and proudly announced he had found 'an absolute novelty, and at a joint salary of $15.'
"'I dodged all the agencies,' he explained, 'and down on one of the side streets I ran across an old-time ham actor. I followed him. He went into a laundry, and tried to get his duds out without paying for them. Well, the woman who ran the joint was a regular comedy queen. She didn't say much, but she certainly was full of 'pep.' She nearly wrecked the laundry with that actor, and I never laughed so much in my life. When I offered them an engagement the man balked, but the woman accepted for both of them, saying he could work out his laundry bill anyhow.' The manager tried the act out, and it made a big hit. The morning papers gave much space to the 'Soap Suds Star,' Sophie, the laundress. Much to his dismay, however, the press agent found the manager in an extremely bad humor. 'It's all your fault,' he said bitterly. 'You get me to hire amateurs, and now they are going to be married, and quit vaudeville for the classics.'
"'I think it a dandy idea,' said the agent. 'Sophie as Juliet would coin money for any manager. Why not try them out in the balcony scene?' The manager, impressed, retained his 'Soap Suds Star,' and his leading man. Sophie's bad temper, however, spoiled her artistic career. She was on the job as Juliet, all right, but Romeo nearly missed the performance, and when he did appear he wore his street clothes, explaining with an alcoholic smile that he had been out with the boys and really had no time to dress. Sophie left her art to chastise him, but after a lively chase he escaped by leaping into the river, and the one-time actress returned to her laundry, believing she was a widow. But her husband came back, and Sophie forgave him. Then, finding that his clothes had been well sprinkled in the river, she ironed him out, and gave him a life position in the laundry."
REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, October 30, 1915:
"A couple employed in a laundry do a shop act in vaudeville successfully; when they try Shakespeare they fall down. This is not particularly strong, though some of the burlesque scenes in the Romeo and Juliet performance are amusing. The couple then go back to the laundry. Fairly strong comedy."
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Copyright © 1995 Q. David Bowers. All Rights Reserved.