Volume II: Filmography

A BUM MISTAKE

a.k.a. A BAD MISTAKE

(Princess)

November 20, 1914 (Friday)

Length: 1 reel (653 feet)

Character: "A clever tramp comedy"

Cast: Clifford Saum (Mills, the tramp comedian), John Reinhard (the real tramp), Mayre Hall (September Morn), Boyd Marshall (Doom, the drummer), Edward N. Hoyt (telegraph clerk) Joe Phillips

Notes: 1. The surname of Clifford Saum is erroneously spelled "Saums" in some publicity. 2. The character name September Morn was taken from a controversial painting of the same name, which showed a side view of a nude girl standing in a pool on a misty morning. The image, which was widely reproduced, offended many and delighted many others. 3. The title was listed as A Bad Mistake in The New York Dramatic Mirror, November 11, 1911 and in several November 1914 issues of The Moving Picture World. This may have been a working title or an alternate title. 4. This film was far short of the average reel length of about 1,000 feet.

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, November 21, 1914:

"Mills, a vaudeville tramp, and his companion, September Morn, receive a telegram from the Royal Order of Crows to perform at their banquet. They are unconsciously forestalled, however, by a regular hobo, who arrives at the depot, and after stealing Doom the drummer's satchel, is seized and borne off by the delegates of the Royal Order to the banquet hall. A little later the actor tramp and his actress partner reach the depot, where they are grabbed by the constable summoned by Doom. On investigating the satchel Mills carries, however, they fail to find anything therein save September Morn's little union suit. The vaudeville tramp and his companion arrive at the hall just in time to see the hobo being presented with the loving cup. They expose the impostor, who is driven from the hall. Then the Royal Order showers its money and flowers upon the delighted comedian."

REVIEW, The Bioscope, March 4, 1915:

"A wildly farcical extravaganza of the grotesque knockabout type. Such plot as the film possesses hangs upon a confusion in the identities of a real tramp and a music-hall artist who sets out to attend a banquet in his stage attire as a tramp comedian. Rapid action and quite humorous."

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