Volume II: Filmography

HIS UNCLE'S WIVES

 

February 2, 1913 (Sunday)

Length: 1 reel (686 feet this section) (split with Seven Ages of an Alligator at the end)

Character: Comedy

Director: Lawrence Marston

Cast: Jean Darnell, Harry Benham

Notes: 1. Some Fools There Were was originally scheduled to be released on February 2, 1913, but after the Thanhouser fire it was rescheduled to February 14, 1913, and the split-reel film containing His Uncle's Wives and Seven Ages of an Alligator was used in its place. 2. His Uncle's Wives, together with While Mrs. McFadden Looked Out, was originally scheduled to be released on December 29, 1912, according to The Moving Picture World, issue of December 28, 1912. A schedule published in the same magazine, issue of January 11, 1913, gave a contemplated release date as January 26, 1913, which also was given in a synopsis in The Billboard, January 20, 1913. 3. The film was designated as My Uncle's Wives in an article in The Moving Picture News, June 14, 1913.

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, February 8, 1913:

A young artist hears that an uncle in Constantinople has departed his life and left him his entire estate. He is pleased with the news as he is about to be married, and wires the executor to sell the estate and forward the proceeds. He hears nothing further until a letter arrives stating that the entire estate, excepting his uncle's wives, was expended to settle the debts, and the wives are on their way to him. The artist is utterly dismayed. But, the wives arrive, and when he hears that his fiancée, too, is on the way to visit the studio, he poses the girls as models and tries to hide the real condition of affairs from her. But the various wives persist in trouping around after him. Finally he reads of a theatrical company whose Oriental dancers have deserted. He takes the wives to the theatre, finds them ready work in the company, and proceeds to square matters with his fiancée.

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, February 9, 1913:

No more ludicrous situation has been devised in picturedom than is herein realized. Can you imagine the joy of a man who is about to be married and who receives word that there is nothing left of the estate after the debts have been squared, except a half dozen wives? And can you imagine the horror of that man when the entire troupe of wives visit him ensemble, and at a time when his fiancée is due for a call? Then you can imagine all that happens to the hero of this photo-comedy! He is an American, and he had an uncle who had settled in Turkey, and thus had acquired the multiple household. No more need be said, except to relate that he 'farmed' out his wives to the theatrical company as Oriental dancers, and thus was enabled to marry singly and settle down to whatever blessedness he might derive thereby.

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

By the terms of his uncle's will an artist suddenly inherits six wives, who come to him from Constantinople unexpectedly. His sweetheart, of course, makes serious objections, and he finally packs them off to join a theatrical troupe, and happiness is restored. Well pictured and rather entertaining.

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, February 5, 1913:

Our hero escapes from his embarrassing position with such ease that we are almost disappointed. The phone rings: there is a voice at the other end, which says, 'Will you forgive me, love?' and a response at this end of 'Yes,' and that is the end of the amusing adventure, when the writer might have made so much more out of his material. The theme is one that is more adapted to burlesque than farce, but the Thanhouser players, and Harry Benham in particular, without being ridiculous, have done excellently well with it. His uncle, who lives somewhere in a land of many wives, leaves the boy his wives as one of the legacies. The boy is not aware of this until they are actually on the spot, and, before he realizes it, they place him in a compromising position with his sweetheart and her mother. However, he sends the wives off to the theatre to make an honest living, and again he basks in the smile of the only girl.

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Copyright © 1995 Q. David Bowers. All Rights Reserved.