The Rogue
About The Rogue
Billy, dressed as a tramp, is drying dishes in a kitchen when he smashes a plate. The mistress catches him drinking her tea and throws him out. He gets a waiter's job in a café and loses that too. A car and a girl land him at her house, where he is fed and fussed over during a tea. He lets a mouse loose among the guests. The old man puts him out. The end finds him back in the street.
Cast & crew
More about The Rogue
Arvid E. Gillstrom directed. Grace Gershon wrote it. Louis Burstein produced the two-reel King Bee comedy, released 15 January 1918. It runs 26 minutes. Billy West plays Billy. Oliver Hardy, billed as Babe Hardy, plays the café owner. Ethel Marie Burton is the girl, Leo White the count, and Rosemary Theby the sister. West's costume copies Chaplin's tramp, down to the hat, cane, and shoes. Hardy's café owner is played in the manner of Eric Campbell.
Themes
Making
King Bee built the short around West's tramp imitation. Gillstrom puts him in a kitchen, a café Hardy runs, and a parlor, and ends him back outside.
Preservation
A 26-minute print is the length given for the two-reel release.
Notes
- Motion Picture News of 9 March 1918 printed the synopsis: kitchen, café, the girl's house, the mouse, and the door.
- West wears the bent shoes, thin cane, and derby associated with Chaplin's tramp.
- Hardy is billed as Babe Hardy.
- Leo White, who often played dandies in Chaplin comedies, is the count here.
- A plate smashed in the kitchen, and the dust that hits the mistress when she opens the door, open the reel.
Scenes
- Billy smashes a plate, raises a cloud of dust, and drinks the mistress's tea.
- At the tea he turns a mouse loose, and the old man shows him the door.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-the-rogue)
