Mary Pickford has become an artist! When Billy Quirk comes by, she asks his opinion of the masterpiece she has painted. He being in his salad days, green in judgment, tells her. This wounds her, but when Joseph Graybill appears, his offered opinion is that it is wonderful. So, Billy's out and Joe is in.
I'm not usually amused by Frank Powell's comedies for Biograph, but this one has some pizzazz to it. In this period, many comedies were of the one-gag practical joke variety, minimally motivated and unornamented. In this one, Billy has plenty of motivation. What's more, he's something different at Biograph. He's not just an actor trained in the new understated Griffith pantomime: he's a comic. He performs to and for the audience, slipping in asides, making rude gestures that only we see. In short, he's funny, and so is this movie.
I'm not usually amused by Frank Powell's comedies for Biograph, but this one has some pizzazz to it. In this period, many comedies were of the one-gag practical joke variety, minimally motivated and unornamented. In this one, Billy has plenty of motivation. What's more, he's something different at Biograph. He's not just an actor trained in the new understated Griffith pantomime: he's a comic. He performs to and for the audience, slipping in asides, making rude gestures that only we see. In short, he's funny, and so is this movie.
