John R. Cumpson

It's a busy day at the office, and the stenographer is exhausted from trying to keep up with the demands on her skills. Even when she stays late, she cannot catch up with all of the work. But then a man comes into the office to demonstrate the many advantages of the Edison System, his company's new business phonograph.

A pair of young ladies cause trouble at the cinema with their lavish hats.

Mack Sennett appears as a policeman in this film produced by the Biograph Company.

After his wife receives an extravagant dress, a man find himself the victim of an attempted burglary; He hides in his fireplace, which is then fired. The police arrive and pursue the man, now covered in soot. He jumps onto the roof below his, landing two dandies into a trough of paint.

Mary Rollins is torn between selfish depravity and righteous living. After she's coerced into helping with the burglary of her minister's apartment, she comes face to face with her misdeeds.

Billy is out for a stroll when he spies a prepossessing-looking young woman. He follows and she enters the office of a spiritualist. Producing a tip, he is initiated into the mysteries of table rocking and other occult practices and becomes interested. In the séance he is impressed with the idea that he is out to mystify his friends, and the soothsayer sells him a book, which explains all about it. Repairing to the club he cons the book and engages in experiments. The results are magical and he hastens to announce the fact to his friends. They are skeptical and treat his efforts lightly. They make all manner of sport of his demonstrations and Billy waxes wroth. He is rudely disturbed and casts about for a method of revenge. Adjoining the room is the electrical apparatus and Billy enlists the services of the electrician by means of a generous bribe. A wire is strung to the table and the plans carefully made to humiliate the unbelievers.

Mack Sennett appears as one of character Mike McLaren's assistants in this film produced by the Biograph Company.

Mr. Jones at the Ball is a 1908 American silent short comedy film, part of the once-popular Biograph series centered around the titular Jones and his long-suffering wife. In this film, Jones rips his suit pants and chaos ensues.

Mack Sennett appears as a footman in this film produced by the Biograph Company.

Mack Sennett appears as a man in the crowd in this film produced by the Biograph Company.

Oh, the woe of simultaneous birthdays, as were Mr. and Mrs. Hardlucks', and both being of a generous nature, were seized with an insatiable desire to make on this anniversary of their nativity suitable gifts, each to the other, Hardluck has a watch, but no fob. Mrs. Hardluck has a wealth of hair, but no decorative comb for her hair. What is worse, finances are low, or rather exhausted. An idea strikes Hardluck. He will pawn his watch and buy a comb; thus surprising her. Mrs. Hardluck's mind is also illumined by a bright thought. She will sacrifice her hair, and with the money buy him a fob. This they do, of course, unknown to each other. Well, here's the situation: He had no fob for his watch, and she no comb for her hair; but now he has no watch for his fob, and she has no hair for her comb. Mack Sennett appears as an extra in this film produced by the Biograph Company.

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.

Mack Sennett appears as a party guest in this film produced by the Biograph Company.

A tramp tries to get himself arrested so he can sleep in the nice, warm jail, but the police keep ignoring him or arresting the wrong person.

Mrs. Jones Entertains

Jones's mother-in-law prohibits his smoking and drinking, so he takes her out for the evening and gets her drunk.

Mr. Jones stays out late playing poker with his buddies. While he's gone, a burglar starts to break into his home. Mr. Jones arrives home just in time to catch him. Instead of calling for the police, he restages the capture in an overdramatic fashion and makes sure his wife sees it. She is so grateful she forgets to be mad at him for staying out so late.

It would have taken more than the wonderful powers of deduction of a Sherlock Holmes to have dispelled the mystery that shrouded the disappearance of a case of jewels at the home of Robert Jenkins, a wealthy stockbroker, and although they were eventually brought to light, it was through a most remarkable accident.

Jones' new house looks like all the others on the street. One night Jones enters the wrong house and finds himself in a precarious situation.

Antonine, a worthless, good-for-nothing scoundrel, demands money of his cousin Galora, an energetic, provident husband and father. His demands are met with a positive rebuff, and when he becomes insistent be is forcibly ejected by Galora. As he leaves the tenement he vows to get even, and lies in wait until Galora has gone out on business. Climbing to the fifth floor, on which the Galoras live, he watches his chance, which comes when Mrs. Galora goes for an instant to visit a neighbor on the same floor. Darting into the apartment and raising the window he perceives the awful result of a drop to the ground, five stories below, and so evolves a plan that is dastardly in the extreme. Taking the infant child from the cradle, and placing it in a basket he lets it out with a short rope, the end of which he secures by letting the sash down on it, so that to raise the window would precipitate the baby to destruction.

The amateur dramatic society chooses the Joneses' residence as the location of its next meeting, and both Joneses catch 'the acting bug' in this split-reel subject.

A contest is being held in Cremona for the best violin, with Giannina's hand in marriage as the prize. Filippo is secretly in love with her, but is also ashamed of being a cripple, so he switches his superior violin with that of another apprentice, Sandro, whom Giannina loves.

A man arrives home late and drunk as usual. His wife reminds him that he's supposed to take their daughter out to a play. While watching the play, he's faced with his own drinking evils and how his life would be without them.

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.

Henry and Marion have a lover's quarrel and part in anger. They do not reconcile, and ten years pass without contact. Marion becomes a society girl and spends her time at parties with her friends. Henry has become very ill and wishes to see Marion one more time. He writes asking her to visit. When she recieves the note, she laughs and tosses it on the floor, but, later, on a whim, decides to take all her drunken friends with her to visit him. When they arrive, Marion finds Henry dead, clutching her portrait in his hand. She sends her friends away and falls to her knees in remorse. Mary Pickford's debut!

"Fine feathers make fine birds", and handsome gowns make handsome women. Hence it is when Isabelle appears on the scene clad in a gown that is a masterpiece of the dressmaker's art she easily fascinates the male contingent, among whom is Enrico, the sweetheart of Veronica, a street singer. Enrico is so enraptured at the sight of Isabelle in her resplendent attire that he becomes her abject slave, casting aside the poor, peasant-clad little Italian street singer, who has loved him devotedly. Crushed almost beyond endurance the poor girl stands sobbing at the entrance of the park where the inconsistent lever left her. Her tears attract the attention of a wealthy young couple who happen to pass. In answer to their queries she tells them how contemptibly her sweetheart acted, and all because of the fascinating influence of a gown.

Mr. Bumptious insists on wallpapering the parlor himself, in order to save money.

After three years at sea, Edward returns home to find his sweetheart forced into an engagement with a much older man.

Mrs. Jones leaves her baby with the maid and goes shopping for a new hat. Meanwhile, the maid invites a band of gypsies into the house for a palm reading. After the gypsies leave, no one can find the baby, and everyone assumes it's been kidnapped-- until the baby is found under a hatbox.

All the young men in the mining camp flirt with Lucy. Bud, the youngest of them, doesn't stand a chance. At a dance, Bud dresses as a woman and all the men flirt with him and abandon Lucy. When his disguise is revealed, the other men are too embarrassed to approach Lucy, and Bud dances the rest of the night with her.

A new bride has made a batch of biscuits. Her husband pretends to like them, so she delivers the rest to his office. But one bite of these biscuits makes you violently ill, and soon all his visitors (he runs a theatrical booking agency), plus the workmen at home, are ill; when she shows up at the office, they all go after her.

Nekhludoff, a Russian nobleman serving on a jury, discovers that the young girl on trial, Katusha, is someone he once seduced and abandoned and that he himself bears responsibility for reducing her to crime. He sets out to redeem her and himself in the process.

Nellie flees her old life and goes east to become a nurse, where she marries a doctor. One of her old colleagues finds her and tries to blackmail her. When the blackmail plot is exposed, Nellie's husband expresses his complete faith in her.

At the Italian boarding house the male boarders were all smitten with the charms of Minnie, the landlady's pretty daughter, but she was of a poetic turn of mind and her soul soared above plebeianism and her aspirations were romantic. Most persistent among her suitors was Grigo, a coarse Sicilian, whose advances were odiously repulsive. The arrival at the boarding house from the old country of Giuseppe Cassella, the violinist, filled the void in her yearning heart. Romantic, poetic and a talented musician, Giuseppe was indeed a desirable husband for Minnie.

Mr. Jones jumps to the wrong conclusions when he sees a bouquet of flowers and a man's hat in the parlor.

Miguel casts out his daughter when she marries a poor man, causing his wife to leave him, too. After he is unable to find a reliable cook, he reconciles with his daughter so he can get a good meal.

Mons. Flamant, a typical roué of the French nobility, is surrounded by all the pleasures and pastimes his fabulous wealth can procure. In a quest of diversion he visits the art rooms, just as a young girl enters with a magnificent piece of sculpture and places it on sale. The roué is so impressed with the work and the girl that he purchases it at once and follows her to the atelier, where he learns that she is the maid of the sculptress, whom he sees and at once falls passionately in love with her, but when he learns that she is totally blind, his feelings change to one of deepest pity.

Schneider is trying to write a speech but he can't concentrate with all the noise around him. During the night, Schneider catches burglars in his house, but when he sees they are stealing all the noisy distractions, he helps them get away.

Sight unseen, a man buys a bag that turns out to contain burglar tools. He can't get rid of the bag, even when he's robbed. The thieves assume he's a colleague and return the bag and tools.

A young courtier gambles in a tavern and wins a coat from the leader of a gang. In the pocket he finds details of a plan to kidnap the Queen. He returns to the castle and hides until the kidnappers show up, then he exposes the kidnapping plot.

A father wants to marry his daughter to a rich man, but she's in love with someone else. She borrows a tramp's wooden leg, pretending that it's hers, and the disgusted suitor rejects her.

A young wife instigates a duel between a dashing count, with whom she has been having an affair, and her elderly husband. In the duel, the husband is mortally wounded and his now repentant wife chooses to join him in death.

A philandering husband arranges an ill-planned rendezvous at the same restaurant his wife and daughter are dining at.

An orphaned girl raised by a miner in the wilderness falls in love with a tenderfoot, even though the miner loves her as well.

A short silent comedy in which Billy, who has lied to his wife so that he can go out on the town with a friend, gets caught by her.

Sisters guarding their house from a burglar set upon stealing their daddy's money.

Jack Windom experiences a sensation of awe at the reception of the Hindoo dagger from his old chum, Tom, who was traveling in India. Hanging the dagger on the wall. Jack goes out. For some time Jack has discerned a coolness in his wife, and his jealous misgivings were verified when he returned and found her in company with a stranger. Seizing the dagger from the wall he chases the recreant lover from the house and then follows the wife to the bathroom, wither she has flown in terror. Mercilessly he plunges the dagger and flies the place. The lover in hiding sees him leave and returns, and calling aid succeeds in reviving the wife, who afterwards with careful treatment recovers and marries her paramour. However, either from the baneful influence of this diabolical dagger, or the woman's capricious nature, just one year later the second husband enacts the same scene, but with fatal results.

A royal woman rejects her arranged marriage. The cardinal hatches a plan: the suitor will shave and change clothes. He arranges with 4 clowns to stage an attack on the princess which he easily repels. It works; the princess falls for him, especially when the cardinal arranges his arrest.

A woman in love with an unsuccessful author tries to convince a publisher to accept his work.

A shoe-factory worker puts a note in a shoe box offering to marry the lucky buyer. As a result, she is dismissed from her job, but her employer finds her so attractive that he suggests a new job for her, as his wife.

This might be termed a comedy of errors, for the overzealousness of a lot of good-hearted simple folks places them in a rather embarrassing position. Lillie Green, who keeps a boarding house, receives a letter from her old school chum, Polly Brown, whom sin hasn't seen in years, to the effect that as Lillie has never seen her little darling daughter, she will send her for a few days' visit, asking that someone meet the child at the 3:40 train. Lillie's boarders are a bunch of kind-hearted bachelors, who at once prepare to give the "Little Darling" the time of her life, buying a load of toys, etc., for her amusement, also procuring a baby carriage with which to meet her at the train. You may imagine their embarrassment when they find that Tootsie, instead of being a baby, proves to be a handsome young lady of seventeen, whose tastes run rather to garden gates, shady lanes and quiet nooks, than toys. (Moving Picture World)

Two lovers elope and expect to be pursued by her father. But the clever father has tricked them into running off, and celebrates their wedding when they return home.

One of the members of a suicide club learns he has inherited some money, but only after he drew the fatal lot and is expected to kill himself. Presumed to be a lost film.

A girl from the New York slums falls in with crooks. After her love is arrested following a barfight turned deadly, her life seems directionless-- that is, until she's saved from the streets by a band of Salvationists. She enrolls, and soon afterward encounters her former love in the same bar. Her faith is real, and strong, and her former love doesn't like this.

Two members of a vigilante group known as 'The White Caps' post a warning sign on a man's home. When the man comes home, he tears down the sign, and then proceeds to abuse his wife both verbally and physically. As soon as she can get away from him, the wife leaves home with her child to find a place of refuge. When the vigilantes find out about this, they arm themselves with rifles and immediately go to confront the abusive husband.

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....