Volume II: Filmography

IT'S AN ILL WIND

(Falstaff)

May 28, 1915 (Friday)

Length: 1 reel

Character: Comedy

Director: Arthur Ellery

Cast: Ethyle Cooke (the mother), Maurice Steuart (her son), Eldean Steuart (another son), Ethel Jewett (servant), Frances Keyes

Note: The surname of Maurice and Eldean Steuart was spelled as "Stewart" in Reel Life, May 22, 1915. In some credits, Eldean's first name appeared erroneously as "Al."

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, May 22, 1915:

"A heedless servant demolishes the dolls' trolley line with which Maurice and his little sister Lou are playing. The children seek revenge. Stealing up to the roof, they cut the clothesline. The wind is blowing hard, and the whole week's washing sails away before the eyes of the distracted Norah. The clothes have a remarkable career, and affect the lives of many different people. A young man, much the worse for liquor, stumbles into his room, and is horrified to see what he supposes are snakes crawling up and down his window. It is only the shadow of a belt and some neckties on the clothesline, but it makes him resolve to turn over a new leaf. An old maid's hopes are vainly raised by the sight of overalls on her balcony. A clothes' dealer sees an opportunity to get some stock for nothing - but finds he can't overtake the runaway apparel, which travels rapidly on over the housetops. At last, the clothes come to rest on the fire-escape outside a tenement window. A poor widow and her three children are overjoyed to find dresses and skirts and stockings, and many other things which they need, all come to them out of the air, like a gift from heaven."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, June 5, 1915:

"A good novelty, in which two mischievous children cut loose a lineful of clothes. It is blown across the river and all over New York City, double exposure being used to accomplish this. The photography contains a shadow in places, but on the whole this little offering makes good."

# # #