Author Archive: Retro

Chased from his apartment by a policeman, ne’er dowell Rastus Jones finds refuge in a Chinese laundry, where he wreaks slapstick havoc and has a memorable encounter with an improperlyfilled opium pipe.

The Star Prince falls to earth on a star and is found and reared by a woodcutter. Because the haughty prince is cruel to the beggar who claims to be his mother, a fairy transforms him into an ugly pauper. Ashamed, the prince sets out to find his mother. On his quest, he survives several adventures involving the wicked witch and the little princess, who falls in love with him. When the evil dwarf tries to force the princess to marry him, the Star Prince rescues her, whereupon he is changed back to his original form. The dwarf, however, is turned into a pig, while the Star Prince marries the beautiful princess.

The members of a Chinese family living in the US have a curse put upon them for becoming to “westernized”.

Set in a tenement boarding house, a lonely confirmed bachelor occupies a room across the hall from a dour spinster. Children run amok in the hallways playing pranks. Believing the bachelor perpetrated one particular prank, the spinster woman enters his room to confront him. She is followed by a neighbor child. Meanwhile, the other children have stolen a scarlet fever quarantine sign and posted it on the bachelor’s door. The police, unaware that the quarentine sign is a prank, enforce the confinement. But aided by the sweet disposition of the toddler quarantined with them, the icy relations between spinster and bachelor begin to thaw, . . .

Mr. Newlywed will not allow his wife to have a dog. Her uncle, taking pity on her, goes out to buy one. Meanwhile, Wilkens and his wife, butler and maid to the Newlyweds are informed they must retrieve their “secret” child from friends who were watching her. Uncle comes home with the dog, a cute puppy, and shows his niece. He hides it in the sideboard. Mr. Newlywed shows the uncle an article in the paper about a mad dog running wild in Passaic (Solax Film Co. was located in Ft. Lee, NJ). Quickly, Uncle sneaks the puppy out in his coat. The Wilkens’ bring their baby in and hide him/her in the same sideboard! Mrs. Newlywed feels guilty and writes Mr. a note telling him to look in the sideboard and not to be to angry for she will never deceive him again. He looks and, seeing the baby, screams, bring everyone into the [...]

A recent immigrant learns several hard lessons about how husbands in America are expected to behave.