Flora Finch

Flora Finch

Born: June 16, 1867
Died: January 4, 1940
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Flora Finch (17 June 1867 – 4 January 1940) was an English-born vaudevillian, stage and film actress who starred in over 300 silent films, including over 200 for the Vitagraph Studios film company.

Finch was born into a music hall and travelling theatrical family in London and was taken to the United States as a young child. She kept up the family tradition and worked in theatre and the vaudeville circuit right up until her 30s.

She had her first film roles at the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company starting in 1908. There she worked with Fatty Arbuckle, Mack Sennett (with whom she was romantically involved for a short time) and Charlie Chaplin amongst others.

Starting in 1910 at Vitagraph, she was paired with John Bunny for the first of 160 very popular shorts made between 1910 and 1915. These shorts, known as "Bunnygraphs", "Bunnyfinches", and "Bunnyfinchgraphs", established Finch and Bunny as the first popular comedy team in films. The duo became a short-lived trio, when Mabel Normand arrived at the studio.

After Bunny's death in 1915 she continued to make comedy shorts, but with less success. She started her own production company, "Flora Finch Productions", but was never able to regain her popularity. One of her best-known roles in the later silent years was Aunt Susan in Paul Leni's The Cat and the Canary (1927). She found film work in the sound era, but only in small supporting parts. The Scarlet Letter (1934) gave her one of her more substantial roles in sound films, and she had a cameo in one of Laurel and Hardy's best-known films Way Out West (1937). Her last film was The Women (1939).

Movies for Flora Finch...

The Women
Title: The Women
Character: Woman Window Tapper (uncredited)
Released: September 1, 1939
Type: Movie
A happily married woman lets her catty friends talk her into divorce when her husband strays.
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Stablemates
Title: Stablemates
Character: Singer at Beulah's
Released: October 7, 1938
Type: Movie
A boozy former veterinarian and a teenage orphan team together with dreams of entering a broken-down horse in the big race.
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A Night at the Movies
Title: A Night at the Movies
Character: Movie Patron (uncredited)
Released: November 6, 1937
Type: Movie
A Night at the Movies is a short film starring Robert Benchley. It was Benchley's greatest success since How to Sleep, and won him a contract for more short films that would be produced in New York. In this comedic short, a man and his wife suffer through a night at the movies. The film was nominated for an Academy Award at the 10th Academy Awards, held in 1937, for Best Short Subject (One-Reel).
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Way Out West
Title: Way Out West
Character: Maw (uncredited)
Released: April 16, 1937
Type: Movie
Stan and Ollie try to deliver the deed to a valuable gold mine to the daughter of a dead prospector. Unfortunately, the daughter's evil guardian is determined to have the gold mine for himself and his saloon-singer wife.
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Mama Steps Out
Title: Mama Steps Out
Character: Old Maid in Hall
Released: February 5, 1937
Type: Movie
A Fort Wayne, Indiana housewife (Alice Brady) drags her husband (Guy Kibbee) and daughter (Betty Furness) to Europe for culture.
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Postal Inspector
Title: Postal Inspector
Character: The Ugly Fraud (uncredited)
Released: August 16, 1936
Type: Movie
Postal inspectors track down money stolen from a railroad car.
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Women Are Trouble
Title: Women Are Trouble
Character: Society Woman
Released: July 31, 1936
Type: Movie
A young reporter tries to prove her mettle by exposing a liquor racketeering gang.
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Show Boat
Title: Show Boat
Released: May 17, 1936
Type: Movie
Despite her mother's objections, the naive young daughter of a show boat captain is thrust into the limelight as the company's new leading lady.
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The Scarlet Letter
Title: The Scarlet Letter
Character: Faith Bartle, the Gossip
Released: September 18, 1934
Type: Movie
In the seventeenth century, in Massachusetts, a young woman is forced to wear a scarlet "A" on her dress for bearing a child out of wedlock.
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Sweet Kitty Bellairs
Title: Sweet Kitty Bellairs
Character: Gossip
Released: September 5, 1930
Type: Movie
Kitty Bellairs, a flirtatious young woman of 18th Century England, cuts a swath of broken hearts and romantic conquests as she visits a resort with her sister.
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The Matrimonial Bed
Title: The Matrimonial Bed
Character: Vosin
Released: August 1, 1930
Type: Movie
Five years after Adolphe's death in a train wreck, he is discovered very much alive and with amnesia. Unfortunately he and his first wife are remarried and with children.
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Say It with Songs
Title: Say It with Songs
Character: Radio station beauty expert
Released: August 5, 1929
Type: Movie
Joe Lane, radio entertainer and songwriter, learns that the manager of the studio, Arthur Phillips, has made improper advances to his wife, Katherine. Infuriated, Lane engages him in a fight, and the encounter results in Phillips' accidental death. Joe goes to prison for a few years, and when he is released he visits his son, Little Pal, at school and is begged by him to run away together.
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Come Across
Title: Come Across
Character: Cassie
Released: June 30, 1929
Type: Movie
Mary, a high society girl, wants to see how the other half lives, so she becomes a cabaret dancer in a New York nightclub. The owner of the nightclub, Pop Hanson, and his criminal friends, Harry and Cassie, scheme to rip off a Montana millionaire. Finding herself interested in Harry, Mary goes along with their plan and decides to pose as his wife. The gang moves into Mary's aunt's deserted mansion as their base of operations. A silent film with sound sequences.
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The Faker
Title: The Faker
Character: Emma
Released: January 2, 1929
Type: Movie
Rita Martin, the partner of a phony spiritualist who uses information supplied by her to gull and astonish the rubes, gets work as private secretary to John Clayton, a wealthy man who has just disinherited his worthless son, Frank, and left his entire fortune to his upright stepson, Bob Williams. At Frank's request, the spiritualist later performs for the elder Clayton a seance during which Rita impersonates the late Mrs. Clayton and arranges for a reconciliation between Frank and his father. Rita falls in love with Bob, however, and, in order to protect Bob's interests against Frank's, exposes the spiritualist as a faker. Frank is disgraced in his father's eyes, and Bob quickly forgives Rita for her past complicity in Frank's schemes.
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The Haunted House
Title: The Haunted House
Character: Mrs.Rackham
Released: November 4, 1928
Type: Movie
Four heirs to a family fortune are summoned to appear at the family estate for the reading of the will, where they meet the estate's staff, which includes a nurse, a crazed doctor, and a sinister handyman.
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Quality Street
Title: Quality Street
Character: Mary Willoughby
Released: November 1, 1927
Type: Movie
A fresh young beauty becomes an old maid waiting for her suitor to return from the Napoleonic wars. When he returns, clearly disappointed, she disguises herself as her own niece in order to test his loyalty.
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Rose of the Golden West
Title: Rose of the Golden West
Character: Señora Comba
Released: September 25, 1927
Type: Movie
Juan is about to elope with the convent-bred Elena, when he is chosen to assassinate the governor who is about to hand California over to the Russians. Since the governor also happens to be Elena's father, this puts him in quite a fix.
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The Cat and the Canary
Title: The Cat and the Canary
Character: Susan
Released: September 9, 1927
Type: Movie
Rich old Cyrus West's relatives are waiting for him to die so they can inherit. But he stipulates that his will be read 20 years after his death. On the appointed day his expectant heirs arrive at his brooding mansion. The will is read and it turns out that Annabelle West, the only heir with his name left, inherits, if she is deemed sane. If she isn't, the money and some diamonds go to someone else, whose name is in a sealed envelope. Before he can reveal the identity of her successor to Annabelle, Mr. Crosby, the lawyer, disappears. The first in a series of mysterious events, some of which point to Annabelle in fact being unstable.
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Captain Salvation
Title: Captain Salvation
Character: Mrs. Snifty
Released: May 14, 1927
Type: Movie
A young divinity student helps and protects a down and out prostitute, at the cost of his own standing in the community.
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'Morning, Judge
Title: 'Morning, Judge
Character: The Judge's Wife
Released: September 1, 1926
Type: Movie
After Uplift Society-champion Crabbine Hicks has the musical revue shut down, her son Buster hides the out-of-work chorus girls in their home, while Crabbine is out of town. While cooking sausage, Buster starts a fire...
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The Brown Derby
Title: The Brown Derby
Character: Aunt Anna
Released: July 4, 1926
Type: Movie
Tommy Burke, a good-natured young plumber who refers to his monkey wrench as his pipe organ, is unaware of his inferiority complex. One day he learns that an eccentric uncle has died, leaving him a brown derby said to bring good luck to its wearer. Meanwhile Edith Worthing and her Aunt Anna are expecting Edith's wealthy uncle, Adolph Plummer, from Australia. On a call to their house, Tommy is mistaken for the uncle, being announced as "a plumber," and soon a mutual romance develops with Edith. They are wedded by mistake when serving as witnesses to marriage by elopement. Farrell, a rival for Edith, learns of Tommy's deception and persuades Edith to elope with him; but Tommy follows in hot pursuit, in his pajamas and derby. At the last minute, a message arrives telling Edith that she and Tommy are already married.
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Fifth Avenue
Title: Fifth Avenue
Character: Mrs. Pettygrew
Released: January 24, 1926
Type: Movie
When her cotton crop is burned, Barbara Pelham, a beautiful southern girl, comes to New York to find work as a fashion designer, staying with Mrs. Kemp, a woman she meets on the northbound train. In Mrs. Kemp's house, Barbara encounters Peter Heffner, a wealthy stockbroker, and discovers from him that she has taken up residence in a whorehouse. There is a police raid, but Barbara escapes arrest and returns home. Heffner's son, Neil, goes south to inspect some family property and there meets Barbara, with whom he falls in love. They decide to be married, and she accompanies him to New York, where she meets the elder Heffner for a second time. He denounces her as a whore, but Barbara goes to Mrs. Kemp, who explains the misunderstanding to everyone's satisfaction.
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A Kiss for Cinderella
Title: A Kiss for Cinderella
Character: Second Customer
Released: December 22, 1925
Type: Movie
An adaption of a novel by Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie.
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The Live Wire
Title: The Live Wire
Character: Pansy Darwin
Released: September 20, 1925
Type: Movie
The Great Maranelli, a stunting circus clown, falls instantly in love when he sees Dorothy Langdon, who does not think too much of him and lets him know it. He is so smitten that his works suffers to the extent that he is soon just a hobo drifting along the open road. When he again encounters Dorothy, she gets him a job as a salesman with her father's light-and-power company, and proves to be a a real "live-wire" salesman. He is then put in charge of the lighting in an amusement park being built under Dorothy's supervision, and trouble comes many directions, guided by Dorothy's cad fiancée who wants to make the stock in the project worthless so he can buy it cheaply.
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The Wrongdoers
Title: The Wrongdoers
Character: Society Woman
Released: September 3, 1925
Type: Movie
Philanthropical druggist Daniel Abbott, occasionally robs the rich to take care of the poor, goes to court with his young ward, Jimmy Nolan. In the courtroom Daniel meets Mrs. Warren, who, despondent over her inability to care for a newborn baby, has been charged with attempted suicide. Daniel takes mother and daughter under his wing, watching with pride as the girl, Helen, and his ward, Jimmy, grow to a tender adolescence. Sylvester Doane, a tenement owner, falls in love with Helen, and Daniel makes plans to rob him. Jimmy learns with shock of the plans and goes to Doane's apartment to prevent the robbery. Jimmy takes the gems to forestall his father, but he is found with them in his possession and put in jail.
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The Adventurous Sex
Title: The Adventurous Sex
Character: The Grandmother
Released: June 12, 1925
Type: Movie
A young man spends so much time at work on his airplane that he neglects his girl. She goes out on her own to live the high life, but her reputation is soiled by an adventurer. The young woman resolves to kill herself, and throws herself into the water rushing towards Niagara Falls, but is saved at the last minute by her former sweetheart.
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Men and Women
Title: Men and Women
Character: Kate
Released: March 23, 1925
Type: Movie
Will Prescott (Richard Dix) is a bank cashier whose assistant, Ned Seabury (Neil Hamilton), has made a killing in the stock market. With his newfound riches, Seabury proceeds to woo Prescott's wife, Agnes (Claire Adams), by buying her luxurious items that her husband can not afford. Seabury makes no secret of his aim, and Prescott desperately steals some of the bank's bonds, hoping to make enough money to keep Agnes by his side.
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The Midnight Girl
Title: The Midnight Girl
Character: Landlady
Released: February 14, 1925
Type: Movie
A corrupt art patron finds himself in love with the same girl as his stepson.
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Monsieur Beaucaire
Title: Monsieur Beaucaire
Character: Duchesse de Montmorency
Released: August 11, 1924
Type: Movie
The Duke of Chartres is in love with Princess Henriette, but she seemingly wants nothing to do with him. Eventually he grows tired of her insults and flees to England when Louis XV insists that the two marry. He goes undercover as Monsieur Beaucaire, the barber of the French Ambassador, and finds that he enjoys the freedom of a commoner’s life. After catching the Duke of Winterset cheating at cards, he forces him to introduce him as a nobleman to Lady Mary, with whom he has become infatuated. When Lady Mary is led to believe that the Duke of Chartres is merely a barber she loses interest in him. She eventually learns that he is a nobleman after all and tries to win him back, but the Duke of Chartres opts to return to France and Princess Henriette who now returns his affection.
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Roulette
Title: Roulette
Character: Mrs. Smith-Jones
Released: January 19, 1924
Type: Movie
Before he can avenge a crooked card game, Dan Carrington suffers heart failure and dies in his chair. John Tralee, the cheater, feels a pang of guilt when he discovers that he has taken all of Carrington's money and adopts the dead man's little girl, Lois. The girl grows up and the gambling hall becomes her second home.
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Luck
Title: Luck
Character: The Plumber's Best Girl
Released: March 1, 1923
Type: Movie
A young man is bet $100,000 that his famous luck can hold out and he can make that sum in one year's time, literally starting with nothing. He proceeds to Pennsylvania, where prize fight winnings are used to build a new town.
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When Knighthood Was in Flower
Title: When Knighthood Was in Flower
Character: French Countess (uncredited)
Released: September 15, 1922
Type: Movie
Mary Tudor falls in love with a new arrival to court, Charles Brandon. She convinces her brother King Henry VIII to make him his Captain of the Guard. Meanwhile, Henry is determined to marry her off to the aging King Louis XII of France as part of a peace agreement.
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Orphans of the Storm
Title: Orphans of the Storm
Character: A Starving Peasant (uncredited)
Released: December 28, 1921
Type: Movie
France, on the eve of the French Revolution. Henriette and Louise have been raised together as sisters. When the plague that takes their parents' lives causes Louise's blindness, they decide to travel to Paris in search of a cure, but they separate when a lustful aristocrat crosses their path.
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Lessons in Love
Title: Lessons in Love
Released: May 1, 1921
Type: Movie
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Salome
Title: Salome
Released: January 1, 1921
Type: Movie
Herodias, spurned by Egyptian prince who is in love with Salome, has him secretly thrown in dungeon next to the Baptist. Herodias threatens to kill her lover if Salome does not ask for death of the Baptist. Salome does so, later rescues the prince and flees with him into the desert.
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Oh Boy!
Title: Oh Boy!
Character: Miss Penelope Budd
Released: June 22, 1919
Type: Movie
Oh Boy! 1919 film
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The Great Adventure
Title: The Great Adventure
Character: Rags's Aunt
Released: March 10, 1918
Type: Movie
Ragna "Rags" Jansen has found local success and acclaim in her small town as an actress, but dreams of stardom on Broadway.
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Prudence the Pirate
Title: Prudence the Pirate
Character: The Aunt
Released: October 21, 1916
Type: Movie
To her aunt's dismay, Prudence isn't interested in society life. She'd rather listen to the butler's tall tales of being a pirate. Nixed from a boat trip, she rents a schooner, recruits a crew and raises the jolly roger.
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A Night Out
Title: A Night Out
Character: Mrs. Marie Haslem
Released: January 31, 1916
Type: Movie
A grandmother has an adventure for the first time in her life when she decides to have a night out.
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The Lady of Shalott
Title: The Lady of Shalott
Character: Ivy Skinner - the Lady of Shalott
Released: March 26, 1915
Type: Movie
On discovering that their beau, Timothy, the village schoolmaster, is quite unable to choose between them for a life partner, Ivy and Lily Skinner agree to draw lots. Ivy, who is of a romantic, novel-reading nature, loses and is broken hearted. She seeks solace in her favorite, Tennyson, and in reading "The Lady of Shalott" becomes imbued with the determination to die as did the heroine in the book.
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The Smoking Out of Bella Butts
Title: The Smoking Out of Bella Butts
Character: Bella Butts
Released: January 8, 1915
Type: Movie
Anti-smoking campaigner Bella Butts enlists the help of the mayor's wife to enact a ban on tobacco, much to the chagrin of the town's cigar-addicted menfolk.
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Sweeney's Christmas Bird
Title: Sweeney's Christmas Bird
Character: Mrs. Sweeney
Released: December 25, 1914
Type: Movie
A pet parrot dies and get mixed up with the neighbor's Chrismas turkey.
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Fixing Their Dads
Title: Fixing Their Dads
Character: The Widow Hathaway
Released: November 18, 1914
Type: Movie
Both deadly rivals for the hand of the Widow Hathaway, Kirkland and Livingston, gentleman farmers, are so bitter, they do all possible to break up the love match between Dick and Florence, their respective children, causing great unhappiness.
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Bunny Backslides
Title: Bunny Backslides
Character: Flora Winslow - a Widow
Released: October 30, 1914
Type: Movie
While Flora Winslow, a widow is engaged to Bunny, she attends a lecture on eugenics and decides that her intended husband is too fat. She tells him he must reduce, and as she wishes to become stouter, they agree to attend Dr. Sweatem's Sanitarium.
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Hearts and Diamonds
Title: Hearts and Diamonds
Character: Miss Rachel Whipple
Released: September 25, 1914
Type: Movie
Tupper meets the wealthy Miss Whipple at a baseball game. When she declares that she just adores baseball players, Tupper starts up a team.
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Polishing Up
Title: Polishing Up
Character: Mrs. John Bunny, alias Vivian Astor
Released: August 14, 1914
Type: Movie
When his wife goes away on vacation, a husband decides to use that time to do a little "playing around" and winds up at a resort hotel with two young girls. Unbeknownst to him, his wife is at the same hotel, planning a little "playing around" of her own.
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A Train of Incidents
Title: A Train of Incidents
Character: Miss Prim
Released: July 3, 1914
Type: Movie
Comedian John Bunny on a train all confused.
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Mr. Bunny in Disguise
Title: Mr. Bunny in Disguise
Character: Euphemia Jones
Released: May 7, 1914
Type: Movie
LOST FILM. A comedy in which Johan has no desire to meet the unmarried Sarah, and so has his friend Freddy pretend that he is Johan.
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Tangled Tangoists
Title: Tangled Tangoists
Released: April 23, 1914
Type: Movie
John and Flora meet at a ball, but neither can do these modern dances, so they sit out… and run into each other later at a dance studio. Bunny exudes his usual Pickwickian charm. Miss Finch gets involved in a nice bit of physical comedy when her gawkiness makes the dance lesson less than successful.
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Love's Old Dream
Title: Love's Old Dream
Character: Miranda, Simon's Sweetheart
Released: January 21, 1914
Type: Movie
An old maid vies with a beautiful young student for the affections of an elderly professor.
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Father's Hatband
Title: Father's Hatband
Character: Mrs. Henpecko
Released: October 29, 1913
Type: Movie
A short comic film in which Sam and Doris use the hat of Doris’ father (a manager) to send letters to each other.
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The Feudists
Title: The Feudists
Character: Second Wife, Mrs. Craig
Released: August 23, 1913
Type: Movie
The Craigs and Smiths, next-door neighbors, are the best of friends until Smith builds a chicken house. Their two gardens are connected and their children fraternize as if all belonged to one large family. Sidney Craig manages to set loose Smith's chickens, who get into Craig's garden and work havoc among his pet seedlings.
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Those Troublesome Tresses
Title: Those Troublesome Tresses
Character: Mrs. Jones
Released: August 18, 1913
Type: Movie
Farce in which two neighbouring couples test each other's jealousy. The women decide to make the men jealous and vice versa. The men buy horse hair to make the women believe it is hair of another woman; the women pretend to have received love letters. Final match result: women seem more jealous than men.
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The Pickpocket
Title: The Pickpocket
Character: Patrick's Suffragette Wife
Released: July 21, 1913
Type: Movie
A John Bunny comedy short featuring his usual leading lady Flora Finch. Confusion over a stolen ticket puts Finch in jail.
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Bunny's Dilemma
Title: Bunny's Dilemma
Character: Aunt Eliza
Released: June 19, 1913
Type: Movie
John Bunny gets into an awful stew when he hears from his Aunt Eliza that she is coming to visit him and that she is bringing along her cousin, Jean, whom she wishes him to marry. He doesn't at all like the idea of abandoning his bachelor life and appeals to his friend, Jack Holmes, for aid. Jack is persuaded to masquerade as Bunny, whom his aunt has never seen, while Bunny himself gets into feminine garb and poses as the cook.
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A Lady and Her Maid
Title: A Lady and Her Maid
Released: May 21, 1913
Type: Movie
The photographer sends miss Ophelia a dozen photographs of her in different poses. Selecting the best one, she presents it to her favorite boarder, Billy, who does not think much of it and who gets very indignant when it is compared with the photo of his sweetheart. Miss Ophelia goes up to her room in tears and tells her faithful maid, Belinda, that her heart is broken. Belinda goes down and forcibly tells Billy what she thinks of him. Miss Ophelia resolves on suicide, because no one seems to love her. Belinda gets back in time to prevent this and, to divert her mistress, she suggests that they go together to a beauty specialist. Arriving there, both receive attention. Miss Ophelia gets a new complexion, while Belinda gets new teeth. Both invest in new gowns and dresses and the transformation is complete. At supper time, the boarders are all astounded.
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Vampire of the Desert
Title: Vampire of the Desert
Character: Hagar
Released: May 16, 1913
Type: Movie
Ishmael, the son of Hagar, an old hag, living on the edge of the desert, falls completely under the charms of Lispeth, a vampire. One day there passes the miserable hut in which these three strange people live, a wealthy banker, named William Corday, his wife and son. Derrick. Lispeth wields her magic power over the husband and soon has him in her power. When he attempts to kiss her, she repulses him. So clever is she that the wife has no idea of her husband's unfaithfulness.
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Cutey and the Chorus Girls
Title: Cutey and the Chorus Girls
Character: Flora Scrawny
Released: April 9, 1913
Type: Movie
Cutey tries to make an impression on a couple of chorus girls. He attends the burlesque show with his friends...
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The Locket; or, When She Was Twenty
Title: The Locket; or, When She Was Twenty
Character: Mrs. Evelyn Jones
Released: February 22, 1913
Type: Movie
A woman in a crowded trolley car accidentally puts a locket with her picture in it into a man's pocket; when the man gets home, his suspicious wife finds it.
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Stenographer Troubles
Title: Stenographer Troubles
Character: A Typist
Released: February 6, 1913
Type: Movie
A comic one-act film featuring the character Bunny, which takes place in an office.
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The Classmate's Frolic
Title: The Classmate's Frolic
Character: The Director of the School
Released: February 4, 1913
Type: Movie
A comedy about a group of school girls who bring a street musician to school with them.
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The Little Minister
Title: The Little Minister
Character: Jeanne - the Dishart's Servant
Released: January 13, 1913
Type: Movie
To start a little in advance of our story, Lord Rintoul, of the English nobility, finds a little Gypsy girl three years old, who had been deserted by her parents. Fifteen years later, Gavin Dishart, the Little Minister, receives an appointment, his first, at Thrums, Scotland. This was made possible through the self-sacrifices of his widowed mother, to educate him for the ministry. The community of Thrums is made up of weavers, who work hard, have little and accomplish much. They are ultra-religious and look upon their pastor with such reverence that he is a little lower than the angels. While naturally intelligent, they are grounded in dogma and intolerance. Just after the Little Minister takes charge of the "Auld Licht Kirk" and the Manse, the weavers resent a reduction, by the manufacturers, in their pay and a strike is declared.
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Three Black Bags
Title: Three Black Bags
Character: Mrs. Brown
Released: January 13, 1913
Type: Movie
"Slick-Fingered Mag must he captured, or I will know the reason why!" These are the proud words of Detective Brown, as he prepares to go in search of the elusive "Mag." He packs his traveling bag and leaves it open upon the sofa in his room; then goes downstairs to eat his breakfast. "Slick-Fingered Mag," seeing the front door of Brown's home ajar, enters and makes a sneak upstairs. She carries a bag of the same character as Brown's. She gathers up all the valuables she finds handy, not overlooking some of Mrs. Brown's choicest jewels. Hearing sounds of approaching footsteps, she becomes excited and empties the "swag" into Brown's bag, supposing it to he her own, and with it, escapes from the house, leaving her own bag behind her. Mrs. Brown, placing some clean linen in her husband's grip, sees the female apparel.
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A Cure for Pokeritis
Title: A Cure for Pokeritis
Character: Mrs. Sharpe
Released: December 31, 1912
Type: Movie
This domestic comedy depicts a woman who stops her husband's gambling habit by having her cousin stage a fake police raid on the weekly poker game.
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Freckles
Title: Freckles
Character: Madame Legrand
Released: December 26, 1912
Type: Movie
A comedy in which a man secretly has his pustules removed. His secrecy leads his wife to believe that he is cheating.
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The Unusual Honeymoon
Title: The Unusual Honeymoon
Character: Mary McGregor, His Wife
Released: December 18, 1912
Type: Movie
Newly married Thomas and Mary MacGregor attend the village fair on their honeymoon. The balloon ascension is advertised for the afternoon. Everything is in readiness and Mary induces Thomas to enter the basket of the balloon. Some mischievous boys cut the ropes holding the balloon and it rises, taking the pair on a honeymoon trip entirely unexpected. They travel fast and long until the balloon collapses upon a desert island, among a tribe of cannibals, who think the couple are gods descended from the skies. Thomas deposes the king and runs things with a high hand. The natives, however, as they become better acquainted with Thomas and Mary, realize that they are only human beings like themselves. They decide to put an end to their reign and begin preparations for their execution and cooking. The night before the day they are to be put to death, Thomas and Mary escape to the seashore, where they hail a passing vessel, which lands a boat loaded with men, who rescue the terrified couple.
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The Hand Bag
Title: The Hand Bag
Character: Miss Amanda De Rosville
Released: November 9, 1912
Type: Movie
A comedy in which the unattractive young woman De Roseville loses her handbag. The bag is found by a pretty girl, but then she also forgets about it. When a young man brings the bag back, he expects to find the cute girl, instead of the ugly Ms. De Roseville.
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An Elephant on Their Hands
Title: An Elephant on Their Hands
Released: October 15, 1912
Type: Movie
While in his cups, an older gentleman buys a surprise for his family—one that eats peanuts and weighs 11,000 pounds. (MoMA)
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Mrs Lirriper’s Lodgers
Title: Mrs Lirriper’s Lodgers
Character: Mrs Wozenham
Released: October 15, 1912
Type: Movie
A glimpse of the life of a few lodgers in a boarding house, focusing on the young couple Mr and Mrs Edison.
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She Cried
Title: She Cried
Character: Factory Worker
Released: October 2, 1912
Type: Movie
A short comic film about a woman who cannot get the hang of her work in a cardboard factory.
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A Vitagraph Romance
Title: A Vitagraph Romance
Character: Principal of Miss Flint's Seminary
Released: September 17, 1912
Type: Movie
After meeting a handsome writer, Senator Carter's daughter leaves home and enters the employ of the Vitagraph Company as an actress. After waiting wistfully for her return, Senator Carter passes a theatre one day and sees his daughter featured in one the "Movies". He goes to the studio and after being shown through the plant he finds his daughter and reconciliation takes place. Besides being an interesting drama, the picture shows in detail the entire plant of the Vitagraph Company.
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Bunny's Suicide
Title: Bunny's Suicide
Character: Mrs. Spink
Released: September 5, 1912
Type: Movie
A tragicomedy in which the suicide attempt of the character Bunny is seen by a neighbour, who quickly calls for help.
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Captain Barnacle's Legacy
Title: Captain Barnacle's Legacy
Character: Markham's African Sister
Released: September 4, 1912
Type: Movie
Captain Barnacle receives a letter telling him that Mr. Markham, a South African whose life he saved some years ago, has died, leaving him a legacy in money and some property and jewels in South Africa. The will stipulates that he shall visit the property in person.
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Saving an Audience
Title: Saving an Audience
Character: A Suffragette
Released: August 23, 1912
Type: Movie
Four young college students find themselves with no money and a lot of debts. Each has received a peremptory refusal from home to send any more money to them and they are in despair. Suddenly Claude has an idea. They will hire Susan B. Gabonthy to lecture for them, clear about one hundred dollars apiece, and have enough to tide them over into the next term.
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Suing Susan
Title: Suing Susan
Character: Miss Susan - a Spinster
Released: August 9, 1912
Type: Movie
A romantic comedy in which two new neighbours initially cannot get along, but their staff get along just fine.
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The Foster Child
Title: The Foster Child
Released: July 12, 1912
Type: Movie
Mr. and Mrs. Caspar, home-loving, industrious people, long for a little one to bless their lives and their home. Their hopes are not in vain. One night, when they are sitting in the quiet, they hear the voice of a baby. Mr. Caspar, opening the door, finds a deserted child lying on the door-step. Tenderly lifting it in his arms, he brings it to his wife, who cares and nurtures it with a mother's love. Their adopted child is just one year old when a son is born to Mrs. Caspar, and an added joy comes to bless their union.
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The Troublesome Step-Daughters
Title: The Troublesome Step-Daughters
Character: The Governess
Released: July 6, 1912
Type: Movie
A widower with four grown daughters remarries and brings his new wife home to meet them. The girls set out to make life as difficult as possible for their new mother.
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Diamond Cut Diamond
Title: Diamond Cut Diamond
Character: Mrs. Bunce
Released: May 23, 1912
Type: Movie
A silent comedy in which a jealous woman wants to catch her husband in the act of infidelity.
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Her Forgotten Dancing Shoes
Title: Her Forgotten Dancing Shoes
Released: March 23, 1912
Type: Movie
The night of the grand reception and dance finds Belle Oakley in high glee as she leaves for the reception. She arrives at the reception and discovers that she is without her dancing shoes. She announces her loss and immediately all the young men volunteer to go in search of them. Harry Brown, who was not as quick as the others, is left behind and sits dejectedly on the curb while the others drive away.
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The Old Silver Watch
Title: The Old Silver Watch
Released: March 19, 1912
Type: Movie
Mary Collins dies leaving two children; Mildred ('Lucie') and Frank. On her deathbed, she gives Frank a silver watch that belonged to his father. The children are separated from each other and grow up with foster parents. Lucie and Frank meet again when he rescues her from a thief. They fall in love, unaware they are brother and sister. On their wedding day Frank is shot by the vengeful thief. The bullet however is stopped by the silver watch. On seeing the watch, Lucie realizes that they are brother and sister; the marriage is cancelled.
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Irene's Infatuation
Title: Irene's Infatuation
Character: Mme. Frangiapani
Released: March 6, 1912
Type: Movie
Irene and Helen are worshipers at the shrine of Frangiapani, the tenor of the hour. When he sings at a concert, they meet in Irene's room, take the printed program of the concert, and one of them plays the accompaniment of the song he is actually singing. Irene sees an advertisement for a maid and waitress at Madame Frangiapani's home. The wild thought enters her brain that if she applies and gets the position, she will be nearer her adored. She puts the plan into execution, gets the position, and is waiting for the signor to appear. He does appear in a towering rage, at an adverse criticism in a paper which he is holding in his hand. His wife tries to soothe him and treats him like a little, unreasonable, bad-tempered child.
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Stenographer Wanted
Title: Stenographer Wanted
Character: The Chosen Stenographer
Released: February 26, 1912
Type: Movie
Two businessmen need to hire a stenographer, but their wives get suspicious when they notice a parade of beautiful young women entering and leaving their husbands' office.
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The First Violin
Title: The First Violin
Character: Helen's Step-Mother
Released: February 2, 1912
Type: Movie
Old Von Shultz, the first violin, finds as he grows older a longing for companionship. Hurrying from the theater the old musician finds little Helen sleeping on the steps of the stage door. He picks her up and takes her to his comfortably furnished home. The old man even grows childish, he is so pleased with the little tot's presence and he gives her the love with which his heart abounds. The next day he learns from the morning papers that Helen's mother and father were lost in a fire. He spends many happy hours with her, playing with her toys. He takes her to rehearsals with him, where she is the pet of the musicians. One year later Helen shows an aptness for the stage. This delights the old musician and the child grows nearer and dearer to his heart. A sad blow, however, comes to him when the Children's Society take the little girl away from him and once more he finds himself a lonely old man.
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In the Clutches of a Vapor Bath
Title: In the Clutches of a Vapor Bath
Character: Mrs. Bunny
Released: December 30, 1911
Type: Movie
Bunny purchases a Vapor Bath, guaranteed to make the fat thin and do the trick with neatness. In his anxiety to make a trial of the bath he forgets to lock the library door....
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Her Crowning Glory
Title: Her Crowning Glory
Character: The Governess
Released: September 11, 1911
Type: Movie
A widower becomes infatuated with his daughter's governess, to the displeasure of the child and her nurse.
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The Strategy of Ann
Title: The Strategy of Ann
Character: Headmistress of the School
Released: July 29, 1911
Type: Movie
A Short comedy starring Mabel Normand. The film is considered lost.
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Treasure Trove
Title: Treasure Trove
Character: Patience
Released: July 25, 1911
Type: Movie
Patience and Anne, two spinsters of the old school of aristocratic birth, have managed to keep up appearances under very trying conditions and with limited means, until they are reduced to such circumstances they are obliged to sell their household furnishing, of antique pattern, to raise the necessary "wherewithal" to live and pay the mortgage off the old home.
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The Subduing of Mrs. Nag
Title: The Subduing of Mrs. Nag
Character: Mrs. Nag
Released: July 14, 1911
Type: Movie
Mrs. Nag objects to her husband having a pretty female stenographer in his office, and orders him to employ one of his own sex. So Miss Prue, the good-looking stenographer to whom Mrs. Nag objects, dresses in man's attire. On her way to business one morning she sends a bouquet of flowers to Mrs. Nag, with the inscription, "Compliments of an ardent admirer." Miss Prue apprises her boss of her deed, and when Mrs. Nag arrives at his office, he accuses her of having another admirer. Miss Prue is victorious and when we see her in the last scene she is her own admirable self once more, seated before the typewriter in Mr. Nag's office, with every prospect of being an uninterrupted and permanent employee. Mild and docile, Mrs. Nag modestly enters the office, but offers no objections or interruptions, submissively waiting for her husband to escort her home.
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Two Overcoats
Title: Two Overcoats
Character: Mrs. Maggie Gallagher
Released: June 24, 1911
Type: Movie
Solomon keeps a clothing store, he has in stock two overcoats of exactly the same make and pattern. Michael Gallagher, who is passing by and in need of an outer garment, notices Solomon's display and buys one of the coats. Shortly after the first sale, Peter Dempsey, a bachelor, happens along and takes quite a fancy to the remaining twin overcoat and Solomon makes another sale. Gallagher and Dempsey dine, at the same time, in the same restaurant. Finishing his meal, Gallagher leaves hurriedly and takes Dempsey's coat, quite naturally mistaking it for his own. When Dempsey is through with his meal, he puts on Gallagher's coat quite satisfied that it is his own. That night Dempsey goes to call on his sweetheart, who admires his new overcoat, and as she helps him off with it, a letter in a woman's hand-writing falls out of the pocket.
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The Sleep Walker
Title: The Sleep Walker
Released: June 23, 1911
Type: Movie
A young woman does strange things, which are explained when it is discovered she is a sleep walker.
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The Wooing of Winifred
Title: The Wooing of Winifred
Released: April 11, 1911
Type: Movie
In order to inherit their uncle's property, two cousins must marry each other.
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The New Stenographer
Title: The New Stenographer
Character: The old stenographer
Released: February 18, 1911
Type: Movie
A capable but homely new hire becomes ill and recommends her beautiful cousin during leave. The bosses and clerk get a surprise at the end.
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In Northern Forests
Title: In Northern Forests
Released: January 1, 1911
Type: Movie
A story of escape and manhunt in the Canadian forests.
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Muggsy's First Sweetheart
Title: Muggsy's First Sweetheart
Character: Uplifter
Released: June 30, 1910
Type: Movie
A scrappy lad from the skids attempts to court a well-to-do maiden. During his visits to her family estate, he upsets the Uplift committee that's weaseled their way into the home.
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The Way of Man
Title: The Way of Man
Character: The Mother
Released: June 28, 1909
Type: Movie
A woman is scarred in an accident and refuses to stand in the way of her lover's marriage to another.
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What Drink Did
Title: What Drink Did
Released: June 2, 1909
Type: Movie
A man leaves his wife and two daughters for work in a carpentry shop. At work, he initially refuses a beer with lunch, then gives in. After work, two friends take a little while to convince him to go for a refreshing malt beverage, then to have another and another....
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Jones and the Lady Book Agent
Title: Jones and the Lady Book Agent
Character: The Lady Book Agent
Released: May 10, 1909
Type: Movie
After overhearing Jones mocking her, the lady book agent slips a suggestive note into Jones's pocket. A jealous Mrs. Jones finds the note, and a huge quarrel erupts.
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A Wreath in Time
Title: A Wreath in Time
Character: Actress on Stage
Released: February 8, 1909
Type: Movie
A few of us have had the chance to read our own obituary notice, but it fell to the lot of John Goodhusband the rare privilege of viewing his own elegiac cinerary floral offerings, and at the time John was anything but a "dead one."
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Those Awful Hats
Title: Those Awful Hats
Character: Woman with largest hat
Released: January 25, 1909
Type: Movie
A pair of young ladies cause trouble at the cinema with their lavish hats.
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Mr. Jones Has a Card Party
Title: Mr. Jones Has a Card Party
Character: Guest
Released: January 21, 1909
Type: Movie
Mr. Jones, since his last escapade, had made strenuous efforts to amend the reputation he had gained in the eyes of the ladies of the Temperance League. But Oh! the ordeal, for such it was, was telling on him, and his pent-up spirits were threatening ebullition, when at last the chance comes. The league arranges to attend a three-days' convention out of town, and when Mrs. Jones departs, Jones sends a note to Smith, telling him to bring the gang, and they would have a "Prayer Meeting," enjoining him not to forget the "fixings." Well, the gang are not long in putting in an appearance, for they feel that every minute's delay is a chunk lost from a golden opportunity for fun.
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The Helping Hand
Title: The Helping Hand
Character: Mrs. Harcourt
Released: December 29, 1908
Type: Movie
Mack Sennett appears as a wedding guest in this film produced by the Biograph Company.