Volume II: Filmography

GOOD MORNING, JUDGE

February 9, 1913 (Sunday)

Length: 1 reel

Character: Comedy

Director: Lawrence Marston

Cast: Mrs. Lawrence Marston (the woman who terrorizes several men), James Cruze (the man who bets he can marry the judge's daughter), Marguerite Snow, Eugene Moore

Note: This film represents Mrs. Lawrence Marston's first screen appearance, following her retirement from the stage 12 years earlier. She was the wife of Thanhouser director Lawrence Marston.

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

A young man received a note from his sweetheart, making an appointment, and he carelessly left it in a coat that was sent to the tailor. The note fell out of this and the tailor put it in the pocket of another man's coat. The other man was a henpeck; his wife discovered the note, and kept the appointment. In the mix-up, the wife and the first young man were arrested and arraigned before - the father of the latter's sweetheart! Oh, it is a scream!

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

A young clubman, who prided himself upon his popularity, made a wager with a friend that he would marry a certain society girl. His wooing met with great success as far as the girl was concerned, but her father, a judge, did not look with favor upon the young man, so the latter induced the girl to elope. She wrote her husband-to-be, telling him to have a closed carriage at a certain corner near her home and she would fly with him. The clubman received the note and rejoiced. But he carelessly left the missive in his coat, and his valet took the garment to the tailor to be pressed. The letter fell out and the tailor carelessly put it in the wrong coat, which, later developed, belonged to a weak little man whose wife ruled him with a rod of iron. The husband had told his wife that he would be detained at the office that night, and when the woman read the letter she was convinced that he was false to her. So she kept the appointment indicated in the missive, and when the carriage rolled up to the curb she dived into the carriage before the astonished girl, who was also waiting, could interfere. The carriage drove rapidly off. In the darkness the woman did not notice that the man was not her husband, but a stranger. She was strong and used her umbrella with telling effect.

When the police, summoned by the alarmed cabman, arrived, the young man was a very sorry-looking object. Both eyes were blackened and his clothing was torn. The officers who brought the pair to court nursed sundry bruises, dented helmets where the woman's umbrella had hit them, and numerous scratches where she had clawed them. The judge before whom the culprits were arraigned was the girl's father. He did not like the clubman and he pitied the henpecked husband, so the young clubman and the jealous wife each got 15 days in the workhouse. The girl heard of the affair and promptly broke the engagement, while the henpecked husband read a 'declaration of independence' of his own to his wife when she returned from her labor to the city, and henceforth his life was more happy than before the time when she had to say, 'Good morning, judge.'

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, February 16, 1913:

Thanhouser comedies contain many a laugh, but few contain more than are pictured in this. It is the crux of the tale which makes it so funny and not the general theme, which is old. The young couple cannot marry because papa does not like the young man, and papa is a stern judge. But they plan to elope, and the girl writes the man to await her to a closed carriage at a certain place, and he does so. But the note is carelessly left in a coat pocket and taken to the tailor's, where it is equally carelessly dropped out and more carelessly placed in another garment. It is thus brought before the eyes of a married woman who rules her poor husband with an iron hand. She thinks he is about to decamp with another female and goes to the meeting place and jumps into the carriage before the arrival of the girl. On discovering a strange man there is much excitement and a scrimmage that would make a prize ring look like a baby show. Both land in court, and the judge, knowing the woman and her husband and recognizing the disheveled and bruised young man, gives them both a jail sentence.

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, February 22, 1913:

A good love comedy, with a farcical close and some laughs strung along through it. James Cruze appears in one of his best characterizations. He bets $5,000 he can marry the judge's daughter within three months. The fight in the taxi was well pictured. An amusing offering.

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

At the club the young rounder makes a wager that he can win the judge's daughter within a month [sic]. The girl consents, but the judge overrules her. The boy plans to elope with her, but in the scramble that happens at the auto the wrong woman enters the machine. There is a mix-up, and our young rounder along with the headstrong woman go to spend 10 [sic] days in jail for fighting in a taxi. The idea for the comedy is exceptionally original and splendidly handled. It is one of the very best comedies this company has produced for some time.

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