The Idle Rich (1915)
Waddy Robbim and Artie Helpim, traveling men, have just been kicked off a freight ear by a brakeman. They walk into the town of Hicksburg and happen along just as a young bank messenger drops a bank note from a satchel. After an elaborate reception ceremony the bill is received into Artie's waistcoat pocket. The bill is marked $1,000 and the transients are exultant. While walking through a lane, the couple meet a bad boy smoking a cigarette. After admonishing the lad, Artie confiscates the cigarette and a policeman starts in pursuit of the hobos. The bad boy takes the opportunity to toss a brick at the pair and the blue-coated minion is the target for it. The policeman comes up with them, draws a couple of photographs of notorious criminals from his pocket and compares the men with them. He decides that a better likeness could not be found. The pair manage to get away, however, and land in a restaurant. They order up everything in sight, and when the manager asks for payment of the food, they offer him the $1,000 bill. He says it is bogus and a general fight ensues. The policeman, still suspicious of the characters, has set up a dictaphone in the restaurant in order to overhear something that would incriminate the "traveling men." As the fight in the restaurant is at its height, the policeman enters and tries to arrest the marauders. He gets the worst of the battle, and the tramps leave as the policeman is beating up the manager. The "newly rich" try to pass off the bill on Tony a fruit dealer. Soon all, including the policeman, are sliding all over the sidewalk on banana skins thrown promiscuously about. The chase continues, A. Conan Burns, a defective detective, being added to the pursuing force. The policeman finally arrests the tramps and to prevent the officer from disgracing their family by reporting their arrest, they give him the $1,000 bill. The policeman pockets it and soon after, the trio meet Detective Burns. The policeman hands over the bill and accepts the reward of $1,000 offered for the return of it. The tramps look on in amazement as the reward is passed over. The policeman once more compares the tramps with the photographs of the criminals, and then lets them go.
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Domestic
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Worldwide
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GenresComedy
Short
IMDbPro
See more details at IMDbPro
| Filmmakers | Role |
|---|---|
| Charles Ransom | Director |
| Cast | Role |
|---|---|
| William Wadsworth | |
| Arthur Housman | |
| Marc McDermott | |
| Augustus Phillips |
