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Learn more- The hero, more appropriately the victim, encounters as hazardous a lot of mishaps as could befall any martyred individual with a degree of safety for life or possible avoidance of fatal injury. The first section of soothing scenography affords the only interval for a long breath. A maid is busy about the dining room of a well furnished home, is late with breakfast, everything goes wrong and she superstitiously points to the calendar, which shows the date to be Friday the 13th. She worries over this discovery and becomes more confused. The mistress enters and shows decided anger because the morning meal is not served. Then hubby enters (this is where the "big noise" begins because he is the funny man), he, the victim, is already late at his office, and insists on breakfast being brought forth immediately. Everything served is only half cooked and consequently tough. He frets at this, then burns his fingers on a hot dish, in fact, on several hot dishes, is also superstitious about the weird looking calendar date, becomes more annoyed and excited, tucks the tablecloth under his chin in his confused search for a napkin, gets up hurriedly, pulls the table-cover with him, upsetting all the dishes. This makes him so sore he kicks the table over, then seeks composure from a cigar, which proves to be an ill weed. The maid appears, he tries to take his spite out on her, but is thoroughly antagonized in this attempt. His wife is far from sympathetic over his misbehavior, and when he leaves the house she follows him. He falls in the snow just outside the door, sees his wife and "lights a rag," with his hearts idol in close pursuit. Next the victim tries to catch a car to get downtown, misses it and is next seen in conflicting unison with the snowy street. He then sees two men in a fighting argument. They exchange their rights a couple of times and he intervenes by shoving them apart. Both are angered at this interference, and throw him in a snow-heap, head first, sufficiently hard to break his corpus callosum, but still actively intent upon getting to his office, he hires a bicycle, which turns out a failure, is bruised considerably, and throws the wheel from him with such fierce disgust that the tires comes off. Succeeding this he hires an express wagon, drives it himself, frantically, runs amuck, gets out and upon seeing the wagons number to be 13, almost prostrates. Goes further and appropriates a delivery sled, makes another reckless drive, turns a sharp corner and is thrown head over heels in a snow bank. He finally gets to the office, so lame that he sends for a pair of crutches. But he is still able to get mushy with his young lady office assistant, at which point the wife arrives. Catching him engaged thus blissfully, she immediately proceeds to flog him. The girl is frightened to a shrivel. Boy brings crutches and the victim starts for home, enthusiastically encouraged by his hearts idol, who energetically flogs him the best part of the way, if not all. He is next seen beaten to a frazzle, and laid out, with his crutch appurtenances, on the front steps of their suburban domicile. Upon their return a message awaits them announcing the intended visit of his mother-in-law. The wife is vigorously vindicative toward this verisimilitude, but the victimized individual experiences a velocity of vicissitude in his mental vicinity which vibrates with no vehement viscosity of venial verse or shows any vestige of approval toward this veracious visitation of his vernacular relation, only stronger. The fair maternal ancestor soon arrives, heading a procession of handles, baggagemen and a trunk of ancient pedigree, which brings up the rear. After several narrowly successful escapes, the victim succumbs to her cordial embraces, with extreme fear and anxiety, in which lovably consolidated state of affairs we leave them. -- The Moving Picture World, March 28, 1908
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