Match Making Dads (1914)

John Graham and Jim Sanders meet at the club and renew their college-days acquaintance. John learns that Jim has a son, Charles, and suggests a match between him and his daughter Mabel. Jim agrees, but Charles and Mabel resent a marriage of such cut-and-dried conditions. Mabel tells her father that she most certainly will not marry a man she has never seen, and Charles tells his father that he won't stand for a forced match. The fathers meet to talk matters over, and the young folks write farewell notes and prepare to leave. Mabel gets away safely and goes to a hotel; her father and a detective take up the search. Charles is less fortunate and must skin out the back way and run. His father reads the note, sees his escape, and follows. At the hotel Mabel is given a wrong suitcase, that of a male guest; she is so tickled with the pajamas that she decides to try them on and see how they look on her with her short, curly hair. Charles enters the window with little ceremony; seeing what he thinks is a boy he makes himself at home while his father stalks around outside trying to locate his hideout. Mabel's father enters the hotel and with the detective comes to the conclusion that a girl registered under an assumed name, Ethel Bellew, must be his daughter. This is further confirmed by the man who got her suitcase coming to the office to complain about the feminine items. Father recognizes his daughter's clothes and is quickly ushered up to her room. Mabel, hearing her father's voice, throws herself upon Charles' chivalry and tells him that she is a girl, not a boy. Charles leaves her and walks into his father's arms. Mabel's father is admitted and after explanations are made, she is taken home. The next day Charles decides to look up the identity of his fair acquaintance. He reads the name Ethel Bellew and recalls an article in the morning paper referring to a female "Raffles" known as Ethel Bellew. He shows the clerk and they decide that they must be one and the same. His romance is shattered, but when he meets Mabel on the street later and she tries to pass him without being recognized, he has her arrested. At the police station he swears to her identity, but is smiled at in view of the hotel register that the clerk brings. They decide to call up the number she gives and both fathers repair to the police station, where the identities are made clear. The old men quarrel and the children seeing the humorous side of it become interested in each other. Charles recalls to Mabel's mind what their parents wish and guests that they put it into operation. The quarrel between the old men is halted abruptly by Mabel slipping into Charles' arms.

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Summary Details
GenresComedy Short