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Baseball, That’s All
(1910) United States of America
B&W : One reel / 950 feet
Directed by [?] Gaston Méliès and/or William F. Haddock?
Cast: Francis Ford [the husband], Edith Storey [the wife]
G. Méliès production; distributed [?] on State Rights basis? by G. Méliès. / Produced by Gaston Méliès. Scenario by David Reichgott. Cinematography by [?] William Paley? / Released 8 September 1910. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / A contemporary reviewer in The New York Dramatic Mirror guesses that the film was “evidently pictured on the dilapidated Yonkers grounds” in New York.
Comedy: Sports: Baseball.
Synopsis; [The Moving Picture World, 10 September 1910, page ?] He’s a regular “fan” and studies the baseball news as carefully as some people do their Bibles. He comes to breakfast with his dear little wife and finds his morning paper as usual at his plate. “By Jove!” he shouts, as he glances at the news, “a game this afternoon.” Then he begins to wax eloquent about the strikes, flies, home runs and base hits, putting his hand in the hominy, knocking the coffee pot from the table, and winding up his exposition by pulling the table-cloth off and everything else with it. He has gone the limit and wifey can humor his craze no longer. She swoops down upon him with an umbrella and gets in some “swats” that nearly knock the cover from his dome. He makes a run for the office with a deep laid plan to go to the ball game by pretending he has a toothache. The plan succeeds and he starts for the grounds. Just after he has worked the toothache excuse, the boss picks up the newspaper and the first thing he strikes is the baseball announcement. “Ah,” says the boss, “it’s me for the ball park,” and off he goes to see the sport. After a few liquid applications to his tooth, the clerk is on his way. Passing a newspaper office, he sees the baseball scores of the previous day and begins to air his views as to the merits of the different teams, gets into a scrap, and is “taken in.” He tells the judge how the row began and his love for the national game. The judge discharges him and in considering the matter decides to take in the game himself. At the ball game we are right into the spirit of it and we are rooting just as hard as any of the fans, excepting the young clerk who makes himself such a nuisance he is told to sit down, shut up, hire a hall and do several other things. A slide for home is made by one of the players and “clerky” loses all control of himself, waves his hat, falls over on the judge and his boss, who has not recognized him until now. The old man fires him from his employ and the judge threatens to arrest him. All in, hat busted, clothes torn and hair disheveled, the young enthusiast gets home and crawls into bed. Sleep cannot subdue his ardor. In his dreams he raves, roots and rants about the boys at the bat. Not until his wife enters the room and empties a pitcher of water on him does he wake and his fever cool. Then, and not until then, does he reckon the cost of one day’s game of baseball. With an aching brow and conscience he vows “never again,” falling into the arms of his forgiving wifey.
Reviews: [The Moving Picture World, 24 September 1910, page ?] The exaggeration is humorous, of course, though the destruction which follows some of the antics of the characters seems scarcely warranted; there is nothing funny in destruction. The peculiarities of baseball fans are well known and this film has gathered the worst of them into one picture and presents them quite as much as a warning, perhaps, as a means for exciting laughter.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Sports: Baseball
Listing updated: 27 May 2024.
References: Edelman-Baseball p. 195; Thompson-Star pp. 11, 46, 75, 123-125, 229 : ClasIm-226 p. 54 : Website-AFI; Website-IMDb.
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