The Hansom Cabman
About The Hansom Cabman
Harry Doolittle (Harry Langdon) wakes with a hangover on his wedding day at the Venus Arms. A woman from the night before says they married at the party, and then fiancée Betty Brief (Marceline Day) and her mother walk in. The mother shoots at him; metal trays in his pajamas stop the bullets. Judge Brief (Andy Clyde) jails him. Betty visits the cell. Harry escapes down an elevator shaft, disguises himself as a hansom cabman, and is chased under a wanted poster that now carries his own face. Betty and her mother find him on the cab and tell him the woman has confessed.
Cast & crew
More about The Hansom Cabman
Harry Edwards directed and Mack Sennett produced the short. John A. Waldron is credited with the writing. The title joins 'handsome cabman' and 'hansom cab.' Released 12 October 1924.
Themes
Background
An October 1924 Mack Sennett short, released the month before All Night Long.
Making
The short uses a hotel room, a jail, and a horse-drawn cab as three separate gag stages, with Langdon still in his pajamas for the arrest.
Music
Silent, with English intertitles.
Preservation
A print survives and is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- Madeline Hurlock plays the woman from the party, billed in descriptions as the vamp. Leo Sulky plays the butler.
- Charlotte Mineau plays Betty's mother. Thelma Hill and Elsie Tarron play bridesmaids.
- In the lockup a prisoner talks to a drawing of Napoleon about the sardine situation in Denmark, and Harry stamps on an invisible rat.
- Harry mops a jail kitchen with what the guard says is cream-of-tomato soup.
- Two passengers ask for the Mah Jongg club, and opium smoke from their pipes sends Harry walking across car roofs onto a police van.
Scenes
- Baking trays in Harry's pajamas stop two shots from Betty's mother.
- A new wanted poster goes up with Harry's face while he is dressed as a cabman.
- Opium smoke from the cab fare sends him walking along the roofs of cars in traffic.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons
