One of the world's best short stories, "Boum-Boum," by the French academician, Jules Claratie, furnished the idea for this very emotional picture. The little boy who loved the clown was so sick that they couldn't get him to take his medicine. In his delirium, he kept asking for the clown. His parents didn't know what it was he wanted. They bought a clown doll, but it wouldn't do. Then the mother remembered that the boy had loved "Boum-Boum," the famous clown, and the father went to Boum-Boum's sumptuous home and the clown consented to come. The child was awakened from the fatal lethargy by the clown's best performance. The picture of the clown at the child's bedside is made very effective. He is dressed as in the circus. The contrast, heightened by the anxiety that the woman who plays the mother, pictures nobly, seems to get hold of some of the deep things of life. It seemed to move the spectators strongly. This picture is more than merely acceptable. - The Moving Picture World, August 19, 1911
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