March 27

I decided to watch some comedy shorts for Gloria Swanson. I have the Gloria Swanson DVD Set and the first DVD is dedicated to comedies. She was in a Charlie Chaplin short His New Job (1915). She was basically an extra as a secretary in the casting office.

The Danger Girl (1916) she is interested in Bobby Vernon. Several other women come around who tempt him away. Gloria dresses up as a man to take the other women away from him. She is very convincing except when she physically fights.

Teddy at the Throttle (1917) she plays a heiress with Wallace Beery as her guardian. Her boyfriend Bobby Vernon asks her to marry him and she agrees. Wallace with his sister have been stealing funs from both of them. They decide that Bobby will marry his sister. Wallace gets another telegram that if Bobby doesn’t marry Gloria that Gloria would get the funds. Wallace doesn’t share the information and decides to marry Gloria. Bobby breaks his engagement to Gloria and gets engaged to another woman. At a party the couple decide to elope. Gloria resists Beery and finds out the truth. She tries to get to Bobby to tell him what is going on, but keeps getting pushed away by his eager fiancée and then locked in the coat closet. Beery gets her out of the closet and she tells him she knows the truth and will have him arrested. She goes after the couple. The weather has changed to a terrible storm and the couple get stranded in the mud. Gloria also gets stranded and gets a man help her out of a puddle, he gets stuck and she steals his bike. She catches up with them to tell Bobby the truth but will have nothing to do with him. Beery to stop her from telling the police ties her up to the railroad tracks with an iron chain (when I saw this several years ago at a festival a groan came from the audience). She whistles for her dog Teddy and he comes running. He can’t get her out. She gives him a note. He takes it to Bobby. The two of them race to her. Bobby can’t get her out and tries to signal the train. Teddy goes to the train and gives the engineer the note. They slowdown and the train goes right over her and breaks the chain. Teddy trees Beery and he is arrested. Bobby, Gloria and Teddy get on the train.

Sultan’s Wife (aka Caught in a Harem) (1917) Gloria and Bobby Vernon are on a boat and agree to marry when they reach land in India. Bobby has a dog Teddy, and Gloria has a monkey. Bobby takes a liking to the native girls. Gloria helps a rajah when he falls out of his carriage. The rajah tries to get her to go to his castle, but she escapes him. The monkey runs away and goes into the palace. Gloria and Bobby follow. The rajah recognizing the money plans to trick Gloria. She is taken into the harem. The prime minister who is unhappy with the rajah get the single men in the city to go against the rajah to divorce some of his wives so they can marry. Bobby finds Gloria. They decide to switch cloths so she can get away. She as Bobby is to be executed. Bobby as Gloria dances and everyone likes the dancing and everyone dances the same. The men start to revolt which creates a diversion and the two go back to their clothing. Teddy and the monkey are outside the palace. They get a note to Teddy who gets the note to Bobby’s father at the docks. Bobby is once again caught and to be executed. Teddy comes over the wall gets the executioner and scares the men into another room. Once again Teddy saves the day.