Volume II: Filmography

THE DOG IN THE BAGGAGE CAR

Production images from THE DOG IN THE BAGGAGE CAR. Courtesy Ralph Graham, M.D. (X-160-1, X-160-2, X-160-3, X-160-4)

British release title: HER DOG IN THE BAGGAGE CAR

April 13, 1913 (Sunday)

Length: 1 reel

Character: Comedy

Cast: James Cruze (the actor), Marguerite Snow (his wife)

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, April 19, 1913:

He smoked the baggage man's cigars, ate his lunch and cut other capers that go to make this month's star comedy picture.

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, April 19, 1913:

The actor and his wife suddenly found themselves 'at liberty' because the manager of their attraction had flitted unexpectedly. They wanted to get back to New York, but even though they sold all their wardrobe they could only arrange sufficient funds to pay for one ticket. The woman, however, had an inspiration: the railroad company carried baggage free. The thespians had no baggage, therefore she decided to ship her husband in a Saratoga trunk in the baggage car ahead. He consented to the plan. The plan was marvelously successful, and the husband was trundled aboard the train without arousing any suspicion. His wife found new troubles, however, for the heartless conductor refused to let her take her little pet dog into the passenger car. The baggage master was a sour person, who hated everybody, even dogs. Called out of the car for a moment, he returned to find that most of lunch had vanished. He blamed it on the dog. Later his cigar was smoked by some scoundrel, and again he blamed the dog, becoming so enraged that he finally hurled the helpless animal into the outer darkness between stations. The woman was very angry when she learned the fate of her dog. Being bright she suspected the cause of the trouble and extracting her baggage from the waiting heap she removed her husband from the trunk and ordered him to devote his time to searching for 'Tootsie.' Last heard of them the wife was at a railway station waiting on a trunk, the husband was down the road whistling for the dog, while the baggage master was declaiming bitterly against all human and dog kind.

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, April 26, 1913:

Here is a railway story with certain amusing incidents in it. A husband and wife are stranded actors in the West, with only enough money to buy one ticket home. The husband gets in a trunk and rides in the baggage car with the dog. When a baggage agent misses his sandwich, he blames the dog, and finally throws the animal out of the door. Then the wife gets off the train and makes the husband do likewise to recover the dog. A fresh little plot.

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, April 23, 1913:

Stranded in a small town, a young actor and his wife busy themselves in an effort to get back to Broadway. All the gowns of the girl are sold to a second hand clothes dealer, but the money realized on them is only sufficient to buy one ticket. The husband hits upon the idea of going back in the trunk, an idea that is successfully carried out. Humor is worked into the picture during those scenes in the baggage car. The pair possess a bull pup, which has been tied near to the trunk in the car. While the baggage man's back is turned the young husband eats his lunch. The baggage man imagines that the dog has taken it. He goes into the passenger car to complain to the girl, leaving his lighted cigar behind. When he returns he finds it half smoked and on the floor. Such a dog, he decides, is too big a beast to have around, and so he throws it from the moving train. This is all quite amusing, but the picture is finished up in a rather feeble way. On arriving at the station the wife forces the husband to chase back up the tracks in search of her pet.

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