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An Absent-Minded Cupid
(1909) United States of America
B&W : Split-reel / [?] 490 or 500? feet
Directed by (unknown)
Cast: (unknown)
Edison Manufacturing Company production; distributed by Edison Manufacturing Company. / © 9 July 1901 by Edison Manufacturing Company [J129735 (scene 1), J129736 (scene 2), J129737 (scene 3)]. Released 9 July 1909; in a split-reel with A Squeedunk Sherlock Holmes (1909). / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Comedy: Romance.
Synopsis: [From Edison promotional materials] A comedy subject. Harold borrows an overcoat to take his lady friend out to dine. The borrowed garment was put on by an absent-minded gentleman, causing Harold much distress when he discovered the fact. The absent-minded old gentleman, however, discovered his mistake and assuaged Harold’s feelings in a most satisfactory manner. // [The Moving Picture World, 3 July 1909, page ?] Poor Harold! Love was a canker in his heart because his limited means would not permit him to dress in swell clothes, while his rival for Florabel’s affections, the head clerk of the very office in which he worked, dressed in such elegant attire. It galled his clerkly soul to be thus contrasted in the fair one’s eyes, but he persisted in his wooing despite the condition of his suit. Did he but have money, how quickly he would administer a metaphorical slap on the head clerk’s love wrist. One portentous evening Harold determined his lady love should have a treat. He would dine her at a restaurant, but, alas! there was an overcoat needed. He bridged his trouble by borrowing one belonging to Percy, a fellow clerk, and hied himself forth with Florabel to sup. Here his troubles began. An elderly gentleman, afflicted with absent-mindedness, appropriated the overcoat as he went out, and with it went all of Harold’s small stock of money. When he had finished dining, what a situation Harold found himself in. No money to pay the bill. He was panic-stricken and Florabel was indignant. She was more, she was angered, and when the head clerk, who chanced to be in the restaurant, came forward, she accepted both his financial assistance and his arm, and Harold was left to think it over on the corner. The elderly gentleman soon discovered his mistake, however, and returning forthwith, was not long in finding Harold. Harold’s story was soon told, and the elderly gentleman was touched. He would do something, and he did. Although Harold knew it not, he slipped a substantial sum in the overcoat pocket with a note signed “An Absent-minded Cupid,” and Harold was placed on his financial feet and in a position to ask Florabel to wed. She accepted him, and in the morning what a dash he was able to cut in the office, oh! what a dash indeed.
Reviews: [The Moving Picture World, 17 July 1909, page ?] A comedy from the Edison studio in which the affections of a young man lead him into trouble, but an absent-minded Cupid gets him out and he is able to wed the object of his adoration. The film is good photographically and the acting is excellent. The picture is quite as comical as the usual run of comedies from the Edison works.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 24 August 2023.
References: LoC-MoPic-1 p. 1 : Website-AFI; Website-IMDb.
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