''Outwitting Dad'' is a lost 1914 American silent

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 ...

produced by the

Lubin Manufacturing Company The Lubin Manufacturing Company was an American motion picture production company that produced silent films from 1896 to 1916. Lubin films were distributed with a Liberty Bell trademark. * * History The Lubin Manufacturing Company was forme ...

and featuring Billy Bowers,

Raymond McKee Eldon Raymond McKee (December 7, 1892 – October 3, 1984), also credited as Roy McKee, was an American stage and screen actor. His film debut was in the 1912 production ''The Lovers' Signal''. Over the next 23 years, he performed in no less ...

, and

Oliver Hardy Oliver Norvell Hardy (born Norvell Hardy; January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his ...

in his first known screen appearance.

Plot

Bob Kewp wants to marry Lena Gross, but Lena's father, Herman Gross, refuses permission. Bob dresses his brother Reggie as a bandit and Reggie chases Gross into a stable. Believing that his life is in danger, Gross agrees to the marriage. While Reggie stands guard outside the door, Bob and Lena run off to get married. Reggie falls asleep and receives a thrashing from Gross when he discovers the trick. When the newlyweds Bob and Lena return, Lena persuades her father to approve of the wedding.''The Lubin Bulletin'', vol. 1, no. 11 (April 29, 1914), p. 17
John McCabe
''Babe: The Life of Oliver Hardy''
(New York: Citadel Press, 1989), p. 18.

Cast

* Billy Bowers as Herman Gross *

as Bob Kewp *

as Reggie Kewp (credited as O. N. Hardy) *

Frances Ne Moyer Frances Ne Moyer was an actress who appeared in silent comedy films. She worked for Lubin Manufacturing Company, Lubin. She was born in Westfield, New York and attended Miss Nardin's Academy in Buffalo, New York where she lived. Marguerite Ne ...

as Lena Gross

Production

''Outwitting Dad'' was filmed in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

in the spring of 1914. It was produced and directed by

Arthur Hotaling Arthur Douglas Hotaling (February 3, 1873 – July 13, 1938) was an American film director, producer and writer. He directed 113 films between 1910 and 1928, including the 1914 in film, 1914 film ''Outwitting Dad'', which featured the onscr ...

, who supervised the Lubin Manufacturing Company's Jacksonville productions.Rob Stone, ''Laurel or Hardy: The Solo Films of Stan Laurel and Oliver "Babe" Hardy'' (Temecula, CA: Split Reel Books, 1996), pp. 2–3, 18.Simon Louvish
''Stan and Ollie: The Roots of Comedy and the Double Life of Laurel and Hardy''
(New York: St. Martin's Press, 2002) pp. 91–92. It was released on April 21, 1914, as one half of a split reel (two short comedies on a single 1000-foot reel of film), sharing the reel with ''The Rube's Duck'', featuring Billy Bowers and Jerry Hevener. The film is remembered chiefly as the earliest recorded onscreen appearance of Oliver Hardy, then 22 years old. According to his wife, Lucille, Hardy had been at the film lot, "just hanging around watching the Lubin Company work, when suddenly they needed a fat boy for a comedy sequence." He performed well enough on this occasion to earn a contract with the company.John McCabe
''Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy''
(New York: Doubleday, 1961), p. 70. Whether the film in question was ''Outwitting Dad'' is unclear; because the role of Reggie is a large one and integral to the plot, rather than a spur-of-moment comedy sequence, it seems likely that the story refers to a smaller, uncredited role in an earlier lost film. Like most of the earliest Lubin shorts, ''Outwitting Dad'' does not survive. It is assumed that the negatives and original prints perished in the disastrous explosion and fire that destroyed the Lubin film vault in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 13, 1914."Lubin Mourns Lost Negatives"
''Motography'', vol. 12, no. 2 (July 11, 1914), p. 64.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews. ''Motion Picture News'' called it "a fine comedy," but ''Moving Picture World'' compared it unfavorably to ''The Rube's Duck'' on the same reel, dismissing it as "a comedy that's about on par with the 'also rans' of the pioneer days of animated pictures". The ''New York Dramatic Mirror'' described it as "overacted at times, and not especially funny", but it did single out Hardy's performance for special notice.

References

{{reflist 1914 films 1914 comedy films 1914 lost films 1914 short films 1910s American films 1910s English-language films American black-and-white films English-language comedy short films Films directed by Arthur Hotaling Films shot in Jacksonville, Florida Lost American comedy films Lubin Manufacturing Company films Silent American comedy short films

Plot

Cast

Production

Reception

See also

References