Billy the Bear Tamer
About Billy the Bear Tamer
Constance's father, who fancies himself a hunter, forbids her to see Billy and takes the family to a mountain cabin. Billy follows. The pair write by carrier pigeon and let the guide in on a plan. Billy buys a bear suit and posts signs threatening a fifty-dollar fine for killing any bear under fourteen feet long. The guide loads the father's rifle with blanks. In the woods Billy, in the suit, taps the father on the shoulder. The father later looks through a window and sees the bear carry Constance off. Billy reappears in his own clothes, torn, with a bearskin and with Constance, and plays the rescuer. A period synopsis says the father, grateful, agrees to the marriage.
Cast & crew
More about Billy the Bear Tamer
Lee Beggs directed. Edward J. Montagne wrote the scenario. Billy Quirk plays Billy and Constance Talmadge plays Constance. Albert Roccardi plays her father. Edwina Robbins and Phil Sanford are also in the cast. Vitagraph produced the one-reel comedy, about 300 meters. General Film Company released it in the United States on July 15, 1915.
Themes
Making
Beggs plays the joke on the father's vanity. The signs, the blanks, and the suit are all arranged so a tap on the shoulder will do the work of a hunt.
Preservation
A print survives. The Internet Archive holds a copy, and Grapevine Video released a VHS.
Notes
- Constance Talmadge plays the daughter, before her later feature comedies.
- The Moving Picture World synopsis of July 1915 has the father consent once Billy returns with Constance.
- An Italian catalogue summary says the bear trick does not go the way Billy expects. The English trade synopsis stops on the consent.
- Grapevine Video later issued the short on VHS.
Scenes
- Billy posts the fourteen-foot bear signs, then taps Constance's father on the shoulder in the suit.
- The father sees the bear carry Constance past the cabin window. Billy returns in torn clothes with a bearskin.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-billy-the-bear-tamer)
- Grapevine Video (VHS)
