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He Stubs His Toe
(1910) United States of America
B&W : Split-reel / 597 feet
Directed by Thomas Ricketts (Tom Ricketts)
Cast: J. Warren Kerrigan [Walter Crawford], Martha Russell
Essanay Film Manufacturing Company production; distributed by Essanay Film Manufacturing Company. / Released 11 May 1910; in a split-reel with A Quiet Boarding House (1910). / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Comedy.
Synopsis: [The Moving Picture World, 14 May 1910, page ?] A young chap is engaged to a winsome young woman, who, for convenience sake, we will name Walter Crawford and Madge Russell. Crawford is a promising young real estate and insurance man; moreover he is handsome, without any apparent physical discrepancies. We mention this last because it is an important issue in the story. Madge has a young girl friend, Elinor Doherty, to whom she introduces her lover as she and Crawford are about to take a spin in the latter’s auto. After the usual salutation and a brief conversation, Crawford and Madge whirl out of view, leaving the envious little friend staring after them. A few days later Crawford is hurrying along a business street when he stubs his toe. The injured member gives him pain and causes him to limp, so when he meets Miss Doherty on the street, she notices the limp and enquires the trouble. He laughs it off as only a little matter, and when she sees him enter an artificial limb store a little farther down the street, resorting to a process of deduction and imagination, she concludes triumphantly that “Walter Crawford has a cork leg!” The conclusion reached is only secondly gratifying to communicating the dread news to Madge Russell, the unsuspecting friend, and a note hurriedly written is dispatched to the girl of the engagement ring. It reads: “Dear Madge: Your fiancé has a cork leg. I can prove it!” Imagine Madge’s dismay, which, however, is heroically suppressed when she pens an acceptance of her friend’s challenge to “prove it.” “Come over tonight,” she writes, “and I will show you how grossly you are mistaken.” That evening Walter is invited over to Madge’s. Elinor Doherty has arrived, a box of candy smuggled under her cape for little Willie, Madge’s small brother, if the latter will perform a small stunt for her. “When Mr. Crawford,” she coaches him, “is seated next to your sister on this divan, gouge him in the right leg with this hat-pin.” According to instructions, Willie plies the hat-pin. There is a howl of surprise and pain from Walter, who bounds from the divan, clasping his injured leg and stifling his profanity. To Madge’s friend the experiment was a failure and the innocent Willie, who is about to be thrashed by his big sister, incriminates her as an accessory before the fact. A breach is threatened between the two girls, but Crawford, who has somewhat recovered from the hat-pin stab, smooths things over and makes them shake hands. The affair ends peacefully with Madge in her fiancé's arms and Willie enjoying his candy.
Reviews: [The Moving Picture World, 21 May 1910, page ?] A novel comedy, based upon what occurs sometimes when people jump at conclusions. Because a girl saw her friend’s lover limp and enter an artificial limb store she assumes that he has a cork leg and devises a plan to prove it. The unfortunate lover is furiously jabbed with a hat pin in the hands of his fiancé’s small brother, and the howl of pain that follows dispels any doubt regarding his physical equipment. But even though it was a scurvy trick, all is made good, and the friends get on as before. It is one of those unusual comedies that are in to attract attention because it is so much out of the ordinary.
Survival status: Print exists in the Library of Congress film archive.
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 15 February 2024.
References: Website-AFI; Website-Essanay; Website-IMDb.
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