Volume II: Filmography

TOODLES, TOM AND TROUBLE

(Falstaff)

December 23, 1915 (Thursday)

Length: 1 reel (1,015 feet)

Character: Comedy

Scenario: Lloyd F. Lonergan

Cast: Colin Campbell (Tom Turner), Baby Gereghty (Toodles), Lady - a dog (Trouble)

Note: This film was originally scheduled to be released on December 20, 1915, and many printed schedules reflected this date.

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, December 18, 1915:

"Toodles, a very attractive baby, is idolized by all his relatives but especially by his young aunt, Violet. One day all the women of the household go shopping, and Toodles is left in the care of Tom Turner, an energetic young businessman. Obedient to his Violet's wishes, Tom takes the baby to the park. He happens to meet there an old friend, and leaving the infant comfortably sleeping on a bench, ventures to enjoy a little stroll. During his absence, an officious person takes charge of the baby and sets out with him in search of his parents. A little girl lays her doll on the bench. Instantly a playful dog seizes it in his mouth and makes off with it - just as Tom comes into view. Tom supposing, of course, that a ferocious canine is bearing off Toodles, gives pursuit. The dog runs in front of a speeding automobile, and Tom escapes death by a miracle. Next a trolley car almost ends his mortal career. A coal scoop and a quarry explosion figure in the chase, at the end of which Tom picks up a bit of the dog's collar and a lock of the supposed baby's hair, and returns, grief-laden, to the park. Meanwhile, the officious person is having his trouble with the infant. He has been trying to persuade everybody he meets to relieve him of the child, and now seems to be facing imprisonment for kidnapping. His relief is certainly as great as Tom's joy is hilarious when the latter seizes Toodles and makes off for home. Auntie Violet is so impressed with Tom's qualities as a baby-tender that she suffers him to move the wedding date a month nearer."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, December 25, 1915:

"This is an amusing comedy in which a dog steals a big rag doll that is left by a child in the corner of a park. The baby has been left there previously by a father [sic] that had been entrusted with the child's care for the afternoon. During a short absence the child supposed to be deserted is taken charge of by another man. Hence the chase after the dog and the wax doll, who is really a fine actor. This picture will be found very amusing."

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