Another Job for the Undertaker
About Another Job for the Undertaker
A hotel bedroom has a sign on the wall: "Don't blow out the gas." A hayseed comes in with a bellboy, who sets down the bag and umbrella, turns a somersault, and leaves. The guest puts his hat and coat on the table. They vanish. He blows out the gas. The next shot is his funeral procession: Reuben's hearse, then carriages of his country friends.
Cast & crew
More about Another Job for the Undertaker
Edwin S. Porter photographed the short and co-directed it with George S. Fleming at Edison's new studio on East 21st Street. It is two shots. Edison copyrighted it on May 15, 1901. There is no head title on the film; exhibitors supplied one with a lantern slide.
Themes
Making
Porter and Fleming made the film as a trick subject: the hat and coat disappear by a stop-substitution, and a cut jumps from the blown-out gas to the funeral.
Look
Edwin S. Porter photographed it in two shots inside the Manhattan studio.
Technique
The film has no main title of its own. A separate lantern slide carried the title before the picture was projected.
Notes
- The Edison catalog of 1901 calls the picture "strictly up-to-date.
- The hayseed is called a Rube, and the hearse is "Reuben's.
- The comic Rube, like Uncle Josh, was a stock country-bumpkin type in American popular culture of the period.
Scenes
- The bellboy drops the luggage, turns a somersault, and exits.
- The hat and coat vanish from the table.
- The picture cuts from the blown-out gas to Reuben's hearse.
Quotes
Don't blow out the gas.
