The OG mistaken identity romp where a tiny man courts a large lady and chaos ensues.
Mr. Hallate is leaving for a trip and his loving wife is helping him to get his belongings out with him. At last everything is ready and she goes on the stoop and watches him get into the rig. Augustus Slip, who happens to pass at this moment, sees her and, like other men of small stature, becomes deeply enamored with the ponderous Mrs. Hallate. He goes and purchases a bouquet and, returning to the house, walks into the parlor and forces his attentions on Mrs. Hallate. She, however, will have none of him, and as he refuses to leave, flies for revenge to the maid in the kitchen. The maid happens to be entertaining her friend, Officer O'Brien, and Mrs. Hallate is indeed glad to see a limb of the law, and requests him to eject the eloquent Augustus. Meantime, Mr. Hallate has missed his train, and accordingly returns to his home. Augustus hearing him enter, hides behind a curtain, and when the officer enters Hallate is the only man in sight.
Practical Effects
Real 1910 stoop-sitting and curtain-hiding technology.
Acting
Billy Quirk's desperate tiny-man physical comedy.
Director
Theodore Wharton
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This 1910 short reflects early cinema's obsession with 'marital suspicion' plots, where wives were always presumed guilty and chaos reigned. The 'ponderous' descriptor for Mrs. Hallate was considered hilarious body humor at the time.
Director Theodore Wharton and star Billy Quirk were prolific in the silent era; Wharton later directed serials while Quirk became a reliable comic supporting player through the 1930s.
US
