Alice Howell's landlady wants her out of the house so she can rent the room to some crooks. She presents Alice with a bill for $500. Alice tries to kill herself, but her dog is caught in the effort and she rushes him to a doctor, who saves the beast. However, while he is doing so a crook steals a pearl necklace the doctor was giving to his fiancee. Alice runs into Dick Smith. He has her hold his guitar while he goes offscreen, while Alice performs and her dog collects donations.
It's a wonderful short comedy, filled with gags. Despite the poor condition of the print (like many movies from the Prelinger Archives, it could use restoration, particularly of the titles), it's clear that Frederick Emerald, who was producing these comedies, offered Alice and husband Dick Smith a free hand, and they knew how to take advantage of that.
Like fellow comedienne Gale Henry (who was running her own comedy series at this time; if the producers of THE ALICE HOWELL COLLECTION are looking for another comic actress to spotlight in a DVD set, look no further), Alice liked to work with dogs, and her personal pet has a major role here. Unlike Miss Henry, who raised and trained dogs for the movies after her performing career tapered off, Miss Howell collected real estate.
It's a wonderful short comedy, filled with gags. Despite the poor condition of the print (like many movies from the Prelinger Archives, it could use restoration, particularly of the titles), it's clear that Frederick Emerald, who was producing these comedies, offered Alice and husband Dick Smith a free hand, and they knew how to take advantage of that.
Like fellow comedienne Gale Henry (who was running her own comedy series at this time; if the producers of THE ALICE HOWELL COLLECTION are looking for another comic actress to spotlight in a DVD set, look no further), Alice liked to work with dogs, and her personal pet has a major role here. Unlike Miss Henry, who raised and trained dogs for the movies after her performing career tapered off, Miss Howell collected real estate.
