His Bread and Butter
About His Bread and Butter
Hank Mann, a waiter, says goodbye to his wife, Peggy Pearce, walks backward into a stopped trolley, and sits down still staring at her photograph. The woman next to him gets a coin instead of an apology and throws him off. At the restaurant the headwaiter gives him a sign to post: “Wanted Lady Cashier Must Not Be Married.” Pearce takes the job and hides the marriage. Slim Summerville, the owner, and headwaiter Bobby Dunn both court her. Mann finds her dancing with Summerville, grows jealous, and the secret comes out. The couple walk off reconciled. The police are left with two cars jammed into an inverted V. Edward F. Cline directed. It is his first film as director.
Cast & crew
More about His Bread and Butter
Mack Sennett produced it. K. C. MacLean photographed it. Triangle Film Corporation distributed it. Wikipedia times it at 20 minutes. A television-database listing dates the United States release 16 April 1916 and notes the alias A Jealous Waiter. Claire Anderson and Wayland Trask are billed. Also known under that waiter title.
Themes
Making
Cline’s first directing job is a Keystone cafe farce: a hidden marriage, two suitors, and a trolley crash left for the police.
Look
K. C. MacLean shot the trolley, the cashier’s desk, and the wrecked cars.
Notes
- The cashier sign is what forces the marriage to stay secret.
- Mann is the waiter, not a customer. Summerville runs the place.
- A dining-room party runs up a bill and slips out while Mann is blindfolded to pick who pays.
- The last image is the two cars, fronts pointed up.
Scenes
- Mann walks backward through one trolley and into the next, still holding his wife’s picture.
- He posts the sign that bars married cashiers.
- The police study two cars locked nose-up.
Quotes
Wanted Lady Cashier Must Not Be Married
