Fox Trot Finesse
About Fox Trot Finesse
Ferdie's wife wants to fox-trot every night. To stay home he fakes a bad ankle and hops on a crutch. She sees him walk without it and writes her stern mother to come and stay while he heals. Rather than face the mother-in-law, Ferdie admits the limp was a sham and tears the letter up.
Cast & crew
More about Fox Trot Finesse
Sidney Drew directed, produced, and plays Ferdie for the Vitagraph Company of America. Mrs. Sidney Drew, Lucille McVey, plays his wife. Ethel Lee is in the cast. The General Film Company released the short on 1 October 1915. It runs 16 minutes.
Themes
Background
The fox-trot was the new ballroom step in 1914 and 1915, and Vitagraph built a short on a husband trying to dodge it.
Making
Drew kept the comedy inside a parlor: a crutch, a letter, and a wife who will not sit out the dance.
Music
Silent.
Preservation
A print circulates on Wikimedia Commons as Fox Trot Finesse (1915).
Notes
- The joke is a domestic one-reeler: a fake sprain against a fox-trot craze.
- Ethel Lee is billed third, with Sidney Drew and Mrs. Sidney Drew.
- Vitagraph billed the Drews as a couple on screen and off.
- A picture file is on Wikimedia Commons.
- General Film Company was the distributor, not the producer.
Scenes
- Ferdie hops on the crutch until his wife catches him walking.
- He rips up the letter inviting her mother before it can be sent.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Fox Trot Finesse (1915).webm)
