A Wringing Good Joke
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About A Wringing Good Joke
In a kitchen set, a woman works at a washtub while a man sits nearby with his feet up. A boy ties the chair to laundry that is about to go through the wringer. When she cranks the wringer, the line pulls the man over backward, the tub spills, and the boy dances at the mess. The Edison catalog also describes the woman slipping on a piece of soap as she tries to help him up.
Cast & crew
More about A Wringing Good Joke
James H. White directed it for Edison. Thomas A. Edison copyrighted it on 28 April 1899 (no. 29258). The negative was listed at 50 feet. A 1900 Edison subject of the same title, associated with Edwin S. Porter, may be a new negative or a remake.
Themes
Background
An Edison comedy from 1899, sold as a short catalog subject in the same years as the company's other domestic joke films.
Making
The gag is a single kitchen set: chair, tub, and clothes wringer, with the boy as the engineer of the accident.
Music
Silent.
Preservation
The Library of Congress catalog describes a viewable print of the subject. A December 1900 Edison film of the same title is catalogued separately.
Notes
- The American Film Institute dates the release to April 1899 and names Edison Manufacturing Company as producer and distributor.
- The Library of Congress description has the man reading a newspaper with his feet on a table before the wringer pulls him over.
- American Mutoscope and Biograph used the same joke in Tommy's Ringing Good Joke on His Dad (1899) and How Tommy Got a Pull on His Grandpa (1903).
- IMDb lists the film as featured in the compilation Edison: The Invention of the Movies (2005).
Scenes
- The wringer takes the towel tied to the chair and pulls the seated man over into the spilled tub.
