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A Proposal Under Difficulties
(1912) United States of America
B&W : One reel
Directed by C. Jay Williams
Cast: Augustus Phillips [Bob, Dorothy’s bashful suitor], Edna Flugrath [Dorothy, the daughter of the house], William Wadsworth [Dick, Dorothy’s other suitor], Bigelow Cooper [the florist], Alice Washburn [Jane, the housemaid], Richard Ridgely [the chef, the housemaid’s sweetheart]
Thomas A. Edison, Incorporated, production; distributed by The General Film Company, Incorporated. / From a screen story by John Kendrick Bangs. / Released 21 December 1912. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Comedy.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Dorothy, a much loved young lady had two suitors, Bob and Dick, both of them lack the courage to propose to her. Bob calls on her fully determined to pop the question and while alone in the drawing room decides to rehearse his proposal. Just as he utters the words “Will you be my wife” the house maid, with matrimonial aspirations, happens to enter the room and accepts him before he has time to explain. Bob’s embarrassing position is relieved by the ringing of the front doorbell only to he renewed the next moment by coming face to face with Dick, his rival, whom the gushing house maid has just ushered in. Now ensues a battle of wits between the two men, each trying to get rid of the other. Dorothy finally makes her appearance and the situation can readily be imagined. They smile and glare alternately making their position awkward, but exceedingly laughable. Meanwhile the house maid has descended to the kitchen and informed the chef, her admirer, that all is off between them as she is about to marry a fine gentleman. The chef, an impulsive individual is not so easily jilted and rushes into the drawing room with a carving knife seeking revenge. Dorothy, however, sternly commands him to return to the kitchen. In explanation the house maid claims that Bob’s proposal to her aroused the chef’s jealousy. This tangles matters up completely, and when the maid discovers that the proposal was not intended for her ears, she struts from the room to the kitchen below arriving there just in time to prevent the chef, her admirer, from committing suicide. Dorothy, Bob and Dick are still having a three-cornered struggle in the drawing room. Finally Bob clears the matter up by repeating the words he rehearsed, assuring Dorothy that they were intended for her. Dorothy really in love with Bob, accepts him then and there much to the chagrin of the other suitor who has to be satisfied with being best man.
Survival status: Print exists in the Museum of Modern Art film archive (Thomas A. Edison, Incorporated, collection).
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 13 October 2023.
References: Website-IMDb; Website-NFPF.
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