A Serenade by Proxy
About A Serenade by Proxy
Muriel Jackson loves Thomas Perkins. Her father does not. At the same time hired man Zeb Hawkins is getting nowhere with Romantic Molly, the cook. Muriel talks Zeb into a serenade. The song pulls the house, the cook, the hostler, and the disapproved lover into one scene, and the finale uses that pile-up. Gertrude McCoy is Muriel. Augustus Phillips is Thomas. William Wadsworth is Zeb. Alice Washburn is Molly.
Cast & crew
More about A Serenade by Proxy
C. J. Williams directed Al Giebler’s story. General Film released the one-reeler on 29 January 1913. It runs about 14 minutes. Frank A. Lyon and Mrs. Wallace Erskine are Muriel’s parents. Edward O’Connor is Mike the hostler. Bigelow Cooper is the minister. The Museum of Modern Art holds a British release version from the Edison collection.
Themes
Making
Williams aims two courtships at one window. The daughter coaches the hired man. The father, who objects to Perkins, is standing where the song lands.
Reviews
The Moving Picture World of 15 February 1913 said the picture gave excellent entertainment, with good photography, and that it did not hold very strongly except when Washburn, Wadsworth, and O’Connor were on screen.
Music
Silent. The joke is a serenade, not a recorded song.
Preservation
The Museum of Modern Art holds the British release version.
Notes
- The Moving Picture World, 15 February 1913, praised Washburn, Wadsworth, and O’Connor and thought the story better written than acted.
- The serenade is the scene that joins the daughter’s romance to the kitchen romance.
- MoMA’s print is the British release version, not a later reconstruction.
- An Internet Archive copy is filed as silent-a-serenade-by-proxy.
Scenes
- Muriel persuades Zeb to sing under the cook’s window.
- The serenade draws the father, the hostler, and Perkins into the same fuss.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-a-serenade-by-proxy)
- Museum of Modern Art
