Volume II: Filmography

EXPRESS C.O.D.

May 4, 1913 (Sunday)

Length: 1 reel

Character: Comedy-drama

Scenario: Lloyd F. Lonergan

Note: The title of this film appeared several different ways, including Express C.O.D. (with quotation marks) and Express C-O-D.

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, May 10, 1913:

Narrating the success story of 'The Rabbit Millionaires' which is also a love story which could never have been written if a particular package hadn't been shipped 'Express C.O.D.'

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, May 10, 1913:

It is said that luck comes to every man once, but in the case of a certain crabbed old express agent, Dame Fortune made a bunny nose at him. When the opportunity to achieve fortune came to him, the express agent did not realize it. He had just been rejected by the woman he loved, a beautiful widow, and life looked very dark to him. Then an express package arrived, consigned to the woman he loved and containing two rabbits, the property of her small son. If the widow had paid the express charges right away the chances are that this story would never have been written. But the rabbits were detained in the musty railroad station, their new owner being out of town, and by the time she returned she absolutely refused to pay the board bills of Mr. and Mrs. Rabbit and all the little Rabbits. There were many arguments between the woman who was beautiful and the man who was scorned, and the rabbits kept on multiplying. Finally it reached a point where the woman would have lost all her savings had she tried to pay the bill, so she agreed to marry the express agent on his promise to cancel the debt. Now they live very happily together, and they are known among their neighbors as 'the rabbit millionaires,' because of the nature of their fortune.

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, May 11, 1913:

There is a good deal that is interesting in this release. The comedy situations are natural and the work of the players smooth and easy. The pretty little widow upon whom the express agent has been casting longing eyes goes on a visit to relatives in the country, taking with her her little son. While on the visit the child becomes much enamored of some rabbits which are shown him, and he is sent a couple by express. In due time after their return the rabbits arrive, with the name marked very distinctly on the box. The widow, coming to look after the expected present, is unwilling now to pay the bill and goes home, leaving the box of rabbits with the agent. The rabbits in their strange home continue to multiply at an alarming rate and the express agent has rabbits to burn, while the little boy sorrows for his pets. At last the widow, to please her child, comes again to plead with the agent to forego the bill and give the rabbits. His answer is that he will do so on condition that she will marry him. The widow consents, and the outcome of the story is that her husband becomes a rabbit millionaire, the owner of a large rabbit farm.

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, May 10, 1913:

The widow quarrels with the express agent, who is in love with her. She refuses to accept the box of rabbits sent to her C.O.D. for her child. The rabbits multiply in the express company's office and finally, when the widow and the agent bury the hatchet, they get married and start a rabbit farm. The idea is amusing and parallels that in a well-known short story entitled Pigs is Pigs, by Ellis Parker Butler.

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, May 7, 1913: This review is reprinted in the narrative section of the present work.

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