Volume II: Filmography

GUSSIE, THE GRACEFUL LIFE GUARD

(Falstaff)

August 13, 1915 (Friday)

Length: 1 reel (1,000 feet)

Character: Comedy

Director: Arthur Ellery

Scenario: Lloyd F. Lonergan

Cast: Peggy Burke (Daisy, the cashier), George Renevant (Ted Jerrold), Kenneth Clarendon (Tom, Daisy's brother), Carey L. Hastings (Charlotte Keen), George T. Welsh (the innkeeper)

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, August 7, 1915:

"Ted Jerrold, a young and extremely good-looking clerk, is enjoying himself at the seashore, when he receives word from his employer that his services will no longer be needed. Daisy, the pretty cashier at the hotel, suggests to the proprietor that Ted be taken on as life guard. 'The girls all lose their hearts to him,' she says. 'he'll pack your hotel to the roof.' So it is arranged. Ted, as a matter of fact, cannot swim a stroke. Daisy's homely brother, Tom, had patrolled the beach alone formerly. Now his irresistible sister persuades him to cooperate in her scheme. 'All you need do,' she tells Ted, 'is look handsome and save the old ladies and children who fall into shallow water. My brother will do the work.' All goes well, until Ted, his head turned by the flattery of fair summer visitors, attaches himself to Miss Charlotte Keen, a rich old maid. Daisy is incensed. She confides in her brother. Tom swims out under the boat in which Ted has taken Miss Keen for a row, and deftly upsets them. He then saves them both. Miss Keen cannot forgive Ted for being an imposter. And he, seeing that lady's false hair float off in the water, also is sadly disillusioned. Expecting to be fired, he goes back shamefacedly to Daisy. But she tells him not to worry about losing his job. Then it dawns upon the young man that the little cashier is worth a whole beach full of summer girls."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, August 21, 1915:

"A particularly pleasing comedy number, with a fresh little plot. Gussie goes broke at the summer hotel and the girl gets him a job as lifeguard, although he can't swim. Her brother does the rescuing. This has snap to it and it is unusually well photographed."

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