Volume II: Filmography

CLARENCE CHEATS AT CROQUET

(Falstaff)

December 9, 1915 (Thursday)

Length: 1 reel (1,010 feet)

Character: Comedy

Scenario: Lloyd F. Lonergan

Cast: Alfred Hickey (Clarence), Barbara Gilroy (Alicia), Charles Emerson (Peter, the pitcher), Riley Chamberlin (variously known as "the wicked wicket keeper" and "the wicked wicket wonder"), Frances Keyes (his aged grandmother)

Notes: 1. This film was originally scheduled to be released on November 25, 1915, and many printed schedules bore that date. A release date of December 5, 1915 appears with the synopsis in Reel Life, November 27, 1915, but a schedule printed in the same issue gives the release date of December 9, 1915. The actual release date was December 9, 1915. 2. In the entry under Barbara Gilroy in the Motion Picture News Studio Directory, January 29, 1916, this film is listed as Clarence Koopoy Cheats at Croquet.

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, November 27, 1915:

"Clarence, the idol of his native village, is the star of the Croquet Club. He bears himself creditably until the return of Peter, the pitcher, formerly a member of the National Baseball League. Peter, to please Alicia, the president of the Croquet Club, tries to take an interest in croquet. He arouses the animosity of Clarence. Blows follow, but the pitcher wins. Clarence withdraws, limping with pain. The wicked wicket keeper of the club fans the feud. He induces Clarence to challenge his rival to a croquet match. When it becomes evident to Clarence that the ex-pitcher is going to win, he yields to temptation, and cheats. The wicket keeper catches him in the act, and that night, summons him to his home, where he demands a large sum of money. The aged grandmother of the wicket keeper lies ill. Alicia, coming with broth for the old lady, overhears the conspirators. Bursting open the door, she fearlessly denounces them. The wicket keeper makes her a prisoner. But the grandmother, rising to the emergency, summons the pitcher, who discharges the keeper, and makes Alicia his bride. Clarence still wanders through the streets of his native town, a creature shunned and despised."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, December 4, 1915:

"This is an ordinary sort of comedy in which two rival lovers have differences, and the one wins out because of his honesty, or rather Clarence gets in wrong because he cheats at croquet. There is considerable amusement to be got out of the comedy."

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