A Dinner Bell Romance (1913)
Hiram Stedmand runs the village hotel, Hiram does not believe in having women around, and Lin Yet, a patient Chinaman, gives the dinners that camp-like Oriental flavor which palls upon the susceptible pallet in the course of time. Hiram is outraged and almost driven to strong drink when the widow Monahan has the audacity to try to make a living by running a boarding-house next door. They do not speak as they pass by. Honors are about equally divided when Mrs. Monahan's pretty niece, Louise, arrives. Hiram stands without and sounds the tocsin of the hand-bell. Louise appears with another bell and makes a duet of what was originally intended to be a solo. The boys arrive, stop in their tracks, see the pretty Louise and follow the siren, and Hiram returns and kicks the astonished Oriental, who innocently inquires, "Whatte matter?" Lin Yet is fired, and Hiram hires a French cook, but Francis does not make the required change in his fortunes. Hiram ponders. A miracle happens; Hiram gets an idea. He advertises for a pretty waitress. One comes. She is French and chic, and a number of the boys desert the pretty Louise and follow the click of Marie's tinkling high heels. The following day the rivalry is keen. The cowboys assist their favorites in their bell-ringing by ballyhooing for the adjoining establishments. A few of the remarks are rude, and the cowboys mix it, and Irish hot is served outside instead of inside the dining-rooms. The sheriff has his hands full, but the savory smell emanating from two doors helps to postpone hostilities. Hiram makes unpleasant faces at the widow, who retaliates with references to her neighbor's antecedents and ancestors. Hiram does not care. The four bits are coming in again, and all is well, when he commits the error of admonishing Marie for flirting with the French cook. Marie calls him something, which sounds like "cushion," and Francois snaps his excited fingers, and says, "Peeg," and they go in high dudgeon. They apply to the widow for work, and their services are accepted. Hiram is plunged in gloom. Hiram again resorts to the novelty of thinking, and another bright idea is the result. The next time he meets the buxom widow, he steps aside and raises his hat, and the widow is so flabbergasted that she forgets to bow. This leads to an invitation to dinner, and that leads to other things, which culminate with the pretty Louise blessing her elders and the now- genial Hiram displacing the widow's boarding-house sign and nailing it on the hotel beside his own.
All Releases
Domestic
–
–
International
–
–
Worldwide
–
–
| Filmmakers | Role |
|---|---|
| David Horsley | Producer |
