Volume II: Filmography

JENKS' DAY OFF

August 2, 1910 (Tuesday)

Length: 960 feet

Character: Comedy

Note: This film was listed with the apostrophe after the k, as Jenk's, in several Thanhouser advertisements.

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, August 6, 1910:

"Jenk's day off was a day of woe instead of the day of joy he meant it to be. It taught him to never, never leave his wife's side - not even for a day! The day you show the 'Day Off' will be a big day at your place - provided that you announce it a bit a day or so before."

ARTICLE, The Moving Picture World, August 6, 1910:

"Apron-string hubbies harken to the lesson given Jenks, who is one of your kind, and profit by it. Jenks yearned, as you do, to hie himself away from wifey's side for a bit and get some solid enjoyment all by his lonely. Instead he runs into the swiftest bunch of people that ever accumulated in one good reel, and it makes him wish he hadn't made the sudden trek."

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, August 6, 1910:

"Mr. Jenks and his family are spending the summer in a fashionable summer hotel, and Mr. Jenks is kept bored and busy performing the many services demanded by his wife. He hits upon the bright idea of sending himself a business telegram which would necessitate his immediate presence in the city, then starts out on a little vacation on his own account. Walking on the beach he discovers a secluded spot, and leaving his clothes on the beach he takes a swim. In the meantime, a convict, who has escaped from a nearby penitentiary, has entered a house nearby in search of a change of clothes, his stripes being too conspicuous. The convict locks a woman of the house up and ransacks the house, but the only garments he can find are women's clothes, and, deciding that they are better than stripes, he dons them. As the convict in his new disguise is walking along the beach he sees Jenks' clothes lying there and promptly makes another change.

"There is nothing for Jenks to do when he comes out except to array himself as a woman. On his way back to the hotel he passes the house that has been robbed and is unlucky enough to hear the woman's cry for help. When she gets out of the closet, through his aid, she naturally believes that he is the convict, and screams for help. Jenks, frightened, runs away, but is captured after a chase in which the entire village takes part. His wife and daughter witness humiliation, and it's almost impossible for them to 'square things.'"

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, August 7, 1910:

"This is a pretty good story and tells of the mishaps of old man Jenks, who steals away by a subterfuge from his wife, who is in the country. He is sorry he ever left his wife because he gets into much trouble."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, August 20, 1910:

"A humorous story of a gentleman who, bored at the summer hotel where his family is stopping, decides to take a day off. He gets into many amusing scrapes, landing in the hands of the police on the charge of robbing a house ultimately. Then comes the difficulty of squaring things with his wife and daughter. It all might happen, anyhow, and that, perhaps, makes it all the funnier."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, August 13, 1910:

"There is clever ingenuity in this comic plot, and the acting is very good. Jenks is bothered on his vacation by his wife, who wants to be continually waited on, and he finds an excuse to get away, going to a seashore place by himself and taking a swim. An escaped convict has stolen a woman's clothing in a house nearby and has left the lady locked in a room. He sees Jenks' clothing on the shore, makes an exchange, and leaves the woman's dress, which Jenks is later forced to put on or go naked. He is then arrested as the convict, and only the timely arrival of his wife and the arrest of the convict lets him out. The acting is very good, being quite natural except as to the wife, who lacks sincerity. Jenks should also have taken more time to write the telegram to himself. Two dashes of a pencil is hardly sufficient."

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