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1-14 of 14
- A father and daughter each enjoy their printed "Grouch Chaser" cartoons, which come to life for the audience. Meanwhile, the daughter is secretly planning to elope.
- Laura tells her companions at Miss Syntax's seminary that Jim, her sweetheart, is to visit her that afternoon. Shortly afterward, Jim climbs the fence surrounding the school playground, and after greeting the them girls, shows a copy of the "Grouch Chaser." The girls get a great laugh out of "Silas Bunkum's Boarders Picnic" in which Silas, his wife and their three guests spend a lively day in the country. They spread their cloth and prepare to eat on the grass, but a huge spider from an overhanging tree steals the old maid's wig and carries it up into the branches. A bird comes along and lays an egg in it. The boss of the whole situation, however, is the Limburger cheese, which finally compels even the dog to retreat. The bird is frightened from the wig-nest by the return of the spider and the spider drops the egg on the dog's head as he prepares for another attack on the cheese. The bird gets a whiff of the cheese and, asphyxiated, drops into the open mouth of the dog. A snake passes through the tunnels in the cheese and remarks that, "This subway air is awful." Finally, both humans and animals are vanquished, and the victorious cheese is left in possession of the field. Hearing the principal coming, Jim looks about for a place to hide. As she comes out of the door, he is obliged to jump into a barrel of rain water. Miss Syntax discovers the book in Glady's hand and is soon chuckling over "Kid Kelly Krusoe" in which Billy is reading the classic story of Robinson arid his man Friday. Dozing off, Billy is transformed in his dream into a regular Crusoe, with goat-skin suit and a parrot in place of a watch-dog. He finds "Friday," sure enough, and together they have some funny adventures until Billy is awakened by his mother's call to dinner. As they finish looking at this cartoon, Jim in the rain-water barrel, sneezes loudly, and Miss Syntax discovers him. As a punishment for the invasion of the school grounds, Jim is forced to stand, wet and shivering, until they look at the last cartoon, "Mr. Hicks in Nightmareland," in which Hercules, the oppressed, is seen smoking a big perfecto while sitting on the windowsill. At the approach of his better half, he puts the cigar in his pants pocket, and shortly afterwards falls asleep. He dreams that he has descended to the "Heated Region" and the devil proceeds to make him feel "at home." He is invited to eat some smoking dynamite bombs, but they all blow up just as he reaches for them. He is harassed by imps and denizens of the lower regions, and finally a miniature devil applies a fiery torch to his trousers. As the blaze burns him, he wakes up, and finds that his cigar has set fire to his pocket, and that the smoke is being noticed by Mrs. Hicks, who jumps up, seizes a fire extinguisher, and turns it upon him compelling him to jump out of the window to escape. Miss Syntax restores the book to Jim with a warning to never again invade the sacred precincts of the seminary.
- The reel, which is a burlesque on current news events, starts with the entrance of R.D. Goldberg, the cartoonist, to his office. He is attired in a frock coat and striped trousers, the dignity of which is belied by his contagious smile and the title which follows: "When you see the cartoonist you will probably think the secret of his genius lies in the peculiar cut of his coat. But it doesn't; it is not his own coat." He sits down to draw, but finds he has no ink. This is an awful state of affairs, and he calls the negro porter to his aid. So pathetic does he make his want known that the dusky one is moved to tears, and saves the situation, for he weeps the precious fluid. Goldberg gets enough to work with and dismisses the dinge with this injunction: "Cry a little later on, I might want to shine my shoes." Then comes the cartoon itself, a few of the titles of which may give a faint idea of the action they describe. Simp City, Texas: One-week old son of Mr. and Mrs. Hannibal M. Sawdust, showing the result of the new scientific method of bringing up a child on powdered pool balls and sterilized bay rum. This infant at the age of one week uses a safety razor and plays a good game of pinochle. A Study in Natural History: Trapping the wild African collar-button in the haberdashery fields of the Umslopogus. The collar-button is near sighted and is easily fooled. Paris Fashions Direct from Hoboken: Something smart and snappy to be worn while being beaten by your husband. The Shoplifter's Muff: It can hold anything but a grand piano.
- The romantic escapades of two couples at the beach form the framing story for four animated cartoons.
- To make a dainty miss stop right in the act of powdering her face is an achievement. To make her forget the laws of Eve and the shiny spot on the tip of her little nose is still a greater achievement. And, to the Animated Grouch Chaser goes all the credit. The powder puff is lying idle and the little miss is laughing uproariously. Let's see why. Oh, no wonder. On the first page, the story of the Black's Mysterious Box greets her eye. Henry, the Black, has found the box. He thinks he has struck rich and takes it home with him. But when Henry tries to open the box, a pair of long, hairy arms emerges and Henry begins to get his. Henry gets his; he gets everybody else's, in fact, and then the mysterious arms reach out and draw Henry into the box. Henry comes out, of course, but not by his own efforts. He gets a gentle lift, and when he finally comes back to earth, he sets out to leave the box far behind and out of sight forever. On and on he speeds, breaking all the rules of motion, and leaving town after town behind. At last, exhausted, he stops by the wayside to fill his lungs with air. But the mysterious box is not to be outdone. Coming along at a million miles a minute, it strikes Henry and carries him off with it to eternity, forever. Thus endeth the tale of "The Black's Mysterious Box." All this time, the dainty miss who has been looking at the Animated Grouch Chaser is quite worn from laughing, but it's contagious, so she goes to the next picture. Hicks goes to see the dentist, who makes Hicks see stars. With his saw and hammers, his steam shovels and drills, his chisels and his dynamite, he tries to cure Hicks' toothache. Just at the crucial moment, when he feels his head coming out with his tooth, Hicks wakes up. Gosh, what a nightmare. Will Hicks not go to see a dentist? Certainly, he will not.
- The cartoons are prefaced by several scenes acted by "real" actors, thus the cartoon episodes are ushered in in a novel way. The scenes are in a barber shop where Professor Bing comes to get shaved. There is a good amount of funny business between the occupants of the emporium and in the excitement the barber inadvertently massages Professor Bing with the shoe paste. The first of the cartoons is "Dr. E. Z. Bear's Busy Day." He is visited by a giraffe, who has been stricken with "mushroomatis." At first, Dr. Bear is at a loss as to how to treat the tall animal, but finally gets a ladder, climbs it, and saws off the mushroom which has been growing out of the giraffe's neck. A leopard also comes in for treatment, which consists of hammering various vacillant spots into place where they remain, much to the comfort and satisfaction of leopard. "One Hundred Years of Fashion Slavery" shows the evolution of the present day garb for women. It goes a step further and shows the atrocity which will be worn in 1920. It resembles the abbreviated garment we read of in Genesis. "The Hicks in Nightmareland" completes the cartoons. Hercules of dwarfed proportions, undertakes to reproach the brawny janitor for the dearth of hot water in the flat. As Hercules delivers his tirade beneath the gaze of the towering giant, he gradually realizes his insignificance and soon dwindles away until nothing but a small puddle remains. The janitor, who has said nothing, sees the puddle and in characteristic fashion rubs the mop over it and then disappears into his flat.
- Andy Estes has just returned from the store with a copy of the Grouch Chaser, which he gives to the cook. It is raining, and Andy inadvertently places his rubbers on the table, next to the carrots for the soup. The cook reads the Grouch Chaser and in a minute is in spasms of laughter. She first turns to "Hot Off the Pen," in which the old couple in bed are annoyed by a dog who persists in singing to them. The dog listens to a band-man play on a huge brass instrument, and decides that he has music in him. The artist runs short of ink, and looking at the dog, sees he has swallowed the bottle. The cook is convulsed with laughter, but continues to neglect the soup and goes on reading. "Nightmareland" next greets her gaze. The baseball fan has a dream in which he sees himself batting against a star pitcher. The pitcher serves up all kinds of grapevines and fadeaways and the fan strikes out. The cook, without taking her eyes from the book, drops Andy's rubbers into the soup. In the meantime Andy and his parents are waiting for dinner. "Dr. E.Z. Bear" is the next cartoon. He treats a hippopotamus with pills which have to be shoveled into Lady Hippo's mouth. Instant relief is noted. By this time the angry father comes out and demands the dinner. The cook serves soup in which Andy's rubber has been boiling. The whole family then takes the book and sees "Tom, the Tamer." Tom is blowing his brass instrument, and the elephant, wishing to help him fill "that thing with wind," blows through the other end of the horn. Tom is inflated to four times his size. The elephant then supplies a vacuum cleaner and draws Tom, not only back to his natural size, but into the cleaner.
- Hercules is transformed into an angel, he looks through a telescope - handed to him by an exceedingly comely angel, and observes his wife perspiring over a washtub.
- Jip, the dog, in "The Kelly Kids' Kabaret" is ground into sausages before our very eyes. When the dog's natural enemy, the cat, makes fun of him after the "skin game" has been worked upon him. the indignant sausages come to life and give the sarcastic feline a run for his money, the chase ending in an artist's studio, where the hungry artist seizes the sausages and prepares to turn them into an artist, via his mouth. "The Suburbanite" is a satire on the woes of the commuter, whose troubles at home and while on his daily trips to and from the city go on, like Tennyson's brook, forever. Our old friend, Mr. Hicks, the redoubtable Hercules, soars to celestial heights, is transformed into an angel, and through a telescope, watches his termagant wife sweating over a wash-tub. Then the bottom drops out of heaven and Hercules awakes. Once more he is a mere husband, the slave of the woman he promised to love, honor, obey and support. In "Cupid vs. Divorce" we see Cupid, with the aid of a microscope, diagnosing the causes of incompatibility and, eventually, rendering divorce powerless and enforcing the law of "Everlasting Love." This time the ones who are made merry by the mirth-provoking cartoons are a quarrelsome young couple, a bad small boy and a pair of Chinese laundrymen, the action taking place in the establishment of the latter two.
- Dyspeptic Daniel is seated in a restaurant where he proceeds to make it uncomfortable and disagreeable for the rest of the diners. Magazines and papers which are handed him as temper emollients, are thrown aside by the irascible Daniel. Finally a copy of "The Animated Grouch Chaser" is placed before him. One glance at the cover serves to supplant clouds with sunshine and Daniel begins to delve into the book. The first cartoon series which meets his gaze is "Jones' Hair Tonic will Grow Hair Instantaneously." We are at once made acquainted with a congenial bald-headed man, who, in his youth, had never been warned against patent medicines, hair restorers, and bust reducers, and our new friend rubs his shining pate generously with the restorer. The result is prodigious. Hair immediately crops out, and following a second application, the hair grows out and down over the victim's face. He resembles the wild man from Borneo under a circus tent when his wife sees him. She shears the hair off with difficulty. By this time Dyspeptic Daniel is convulsed with laughter, He turns a page and finds another series, "A Duckling's Repast." A curious duckling, knowing that it was a cat and not a duckling that was at one time killed by curiosity, swims around a cake of soap which has been left on a stone in the lake. Little Ducky eats the concentrated bubbles and the agony she goes through is cleverly depicted on the screen. Finally, the duckling starts to blow out soap bubbles. Mother Duck is alarmed and to prevent her charge from getting into more trouble, makes a meal of her. Of course, this is only a cartoon and the little duckling will be regenerated soon and entertain us some more. At the conclusion, Dyspeptic Daniel is so elated that he eats everything in sight.
- There are various bits of acting injected between the cartoon subjects. Mrs. Waite chaperones her daughter and the latter's sweetheart rather severely advising them to wait until they are married before they kiss. The Grouch Chaser is produced and soon mamma is distracted from the young persons by it and the lovers are not disturbed for a time. The first cartoon is another of "The Hicks in Nightmareland." Hercules, this time, dreams that he takes a tonic which gives him great strength. He lifts a safe into a trunk with the ease of a Sampson crushing a toothpick. He wakes up to find his wife slapping his little bald head because he had talked loudly in his sleep. "The Three Loose Jointed Dancers" shows a dwarfed colored man with a silk hat, an ostrich and a skeletonic son of Terpischore tripping the light fantastic. Some clever cartoon work is also seen in "The Lovers' Version of a Chaperone." The two lovers are seated on the sofa with the ugly chaperone guarding them. Suddenly the chaperone evolves into a most hideous dragon. In this monstrous form the chaperone continues to glare at the couple through its bulging eyes, and opens the large mouth wide, showing its fangs. The dragon is then reduced to the chaperone again. The real chaperone sees the picture, and realizes that it is time for her to make herself scarce.
- The film opens with a scene in a hotel lobby. Bobby, the bellboy, is busily engaged in a perusal of "The Grouch Chaser." Mae, the telephone operator, is attending to everything but the switchboard. A travelling man enters and soon is telling a story. Bobby is apparently dissatisfied with the way in which the story was told and refers them to "The Grouch Chaser," which contains a cartoon illustrating the same idea. "Tales of Silas Bunkum" is the first tickler. Silas tells his yarns in such a way as to hold the attention of all in the lobby. The salesman takes hold of Mae's hand, and caresses it fondly. There is a large solitaire diamond on the hand. The hook is again referred to and Silas is seen to be the target for all kinds of fruit and vegetables. A crook, meantime, has entered and removed the ring from Mae's finger, she being too absorbed in "The Grouch Chaser" to notice it. She discovers her loss later and accuses the salesman. The crook is unsuspected and goes to register. He is joined by the salesman, and they turn the pages of the book to "A Chip of the Old Block." In this story an artist draws a girl and leaves the studio. The artist's son enters and draws a picture of his father adjoining it. The drawings come to life and some funny situations are resultant. The salesman throws back, his head to laugh, and the crook tries to remove his scarf pin, but is caught in the act and turned over to the police. "Mr. Hicks in Nightmareland:" Hicks dreams he has a powder that will neutralize his wife's irascibility and starts to blow the magical powder into the air upon returning home from a café. He wakes up to find that he is blowing into his wife's face. Mrs. Hicks is thus irritated, and kicks Hercules into the waste basket.
- I met a girl in the country and loved her from the first. But she was a nurse and had to go back to work. When a fellow's in love, he'll do anything, so I played sick and went to the sanitarium where she worked. That part was easy, but the fussy old patients in that place always kept yelling for something or other, and I hardly got a moment to talk to nursie. Then I got a brilliant idea. I got out my copy of the Animated Grouch Chaser, and every time a patient yelled, nursie gave that patient the book. That kept them quiet, all right. And no wonder when they saw Kid Kelly's stunts. Kid Kelly has a lollipop. Little girls like lollipops, so Kelly just naturally gets in strong with girlie. Then Fido swipes the lollipop, and girlie starts to bawl. Poor Kelly has an awful time getting girlie to shut up. Then Sissy Boy comes along, and tries to steal Kelly's kid, ah, what Kelly does to Sissy Boy. Poor Sissy Boy. Then there's Hicks and his trip to Dr. Cook's pole, chased by a bear just mean enough to do anything. Then there's Tom, the Tamer and the Trick Kangaroo. No wonder those other patients stopped yelling. They weren't patients anymore. The book cured them. Needless to say, I won nursie. She agreed to be my wife, and the doctors couldn't stop her either. I must say, though, if it weren't for the Grouch Chaser and the way it kept those cranky patients still, I never would have gotten a chance to tell nursie I loved her.
- "Two's company, three's a crowd." Donald and Eleanor are in love, so that Jim realizes it is up to him to pick a peach for himself. There is only one room left at their country boarding house and Jim wants to make sure that no one but the proper peach rents it. In order to keep the proprietress busy while he interviews the applicants for the room, Jim gives her the animated picture book to look at. There's the fly Mr. Fly, who is looking for a mate. In his travels, he imbibes rather too freely of the fiery water, and then, but what self-respecting fly would marry a drunkard? And Mr. Fly flies into the embraces of flypaper forever. Meanwhile, Jim is busily picking his peach. He turns away a stoutish lass who wants the room with her sister, but rents it to what he thinks is The Peach. But when that peach relaxes and takes off that wig of luxuriant curls, etc., Jim turns yellow. The peach is a lemon. Let's see what the proprietress is laughing at. It's Kid Kelly, who has just smoked papa's butt. How the room swims, and how his head whirls, and oh, poor Fido. Gosh, what a strong cigar. It reminds us of the day we stole that first one from Dad. The proprietress has just turned another page when Jim emerges from the house, pursued by the cling-stone. Nothing left to do; he is going to end it all, and he heads for the lake. Then he meets the corpulent miss and her sister, the one whom he refused the room to, uh, mamma, what a sister that is; those eyes; that hair; those teeth. That settles it. Jim heads for the lake with the lemon in hot pursuit and then, bubble, bubble. Poor Jim.