''Listen Lester'' is a 1924

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

William A. Seiter William Alfred Seiter (June 10, 1890 – July 26, 1964) was an American film director. Life and career Seiter was born in New York City. After attending Hudson River Military Academy, Seiter broke into films in 1915 as a bit player at Mack Senn ...

, with a screen adaptation by

Lewis Milestone Lewis Milestone (born Leib Milstein (Russian: Лейб Мильштейн); September 30, 1895 – September 25, 1980) was an American film director. Milestone directed '' Two Arabian Knights'' (1927) and '' All Quiet on the Western Front'' (1 ...

and William A. Seiter, based upon the 1918 stage play of the same name. Released by

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

on May 20, 1924, the film stars

Louise Fazenda Louise Fazenda (June 17, 1895 – April 17, 1962) was an American film actress, appearing chiefly in silent comedy films. Early life Fazenda was born in her maternal grandparents' house in Lafayette, Indiana, the daughter of merchandise bro ...

and

Harry Myers Harry C. Myers (September 5, 1882 – December 25, 1938) was an American film actor and director, sometimes credited as Henry Myers. He performed in many short comedy films with his wife Rosemary Theby. Myers appeared in 330 films between 1908 ...

. Prints of the film exist in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

film archive.

Plot

Widower Colonel Dodge ( Alec B. Francis) enjoys being single, but when Arbutus Quilty (

), his former sweetheart, threatens to sue him for

breach of promise Breach of promise is a common-law tort, abolished in many jurisdictions. It was also called breach of contract to marry,N.Y. Civil Rights Act article 8, §§ 80-A to 84. and the remedy awarded was known as heart balm. From at least the Middle ...

, he decides its time for him and his daughter Mary (

Eva Novak Eva Barbara Novak (February 14, 1898 – April 17, 1988) was an American film actress, who was quite popular during the silent films, silent film era. Biography On February 14, 1898, Eva Barbara Novak was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Jos ...

) to take themselves a little vacation trip to Florida. Angry, Arbutus enlists the aid of lady detective Miss Pink (

Dot Farley Dorothea "Dot" Farley (February 6, 1881 – May 2, 1971) was an American film actress who appeared in 280 motion pictures from 1910 to 1950. She was also known as Dorothy Farley. Biography Born in Chicago, Dorothea Farley was the daughter of ...

) and follows the two to Florida. At his hotel, the Colonel enlists the aid of the

hotel detective A hotel detective is a person in plain clothes hired to monitor the security of a hotel and investigate various security, morality, or rule violations therein. They are distinct from uniformed security guards employed by a hotel. Hotel detectiv ...

Listen Lester (

) to get back the incriminating love letters he had written to Arbutus. The detective accomplishes his task but is himself foiled when Miss Pink recovers the letters. A hotel clerk then gets them back, but in turn loses them back to Arbutus. Mary in the meantime is sparking up a romance with Jack Griffin ( George O'Hara), but Jack believes that the Colonel is her beau instead of her father and declines involvement. In desperation, Arbustus enlists the aid of Lester to fake she and Mary getting kidnapped in the hope that this will bring the men to their senses. One of the fake kidnappers takes himself too seriously and gets a bit rough with Mary. Jack rescues the women and he and Mary reconcile. Out of ideas, Arbustus decides to stop chasing the Colonel. When the Colonel realizes how much he would miss her attentions, he discovers that he does love her after all. Both couples get married.

Cast

as Arbutus Quilty *

as Listen Lester *

as Mary Dodge * George O'Hara as Jack Griffin *

Lee Moran Lee Moran (June 23, 1888 – April 24, 1961) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. Moran was active in vaudeville before he began performing in films at Nestor Studios in 1909. He transcended the silent film era of motio ...

as William Penn * Alec B. Francis as Colonel Dodge *

as Miss Pink

References

External links

* {{William A. Seiter 1924 films 1924 comedy-drama films American silent feature films American black-and-white films 1920s English-language films Films directed by William A. Seiter American independent films 1924 independent films 1920s American films Silent American comedy-drama films English-language comedy-drama films English-language independent films