Video Details      

As in a looking glass



Opens on a split stage set of two rooms with a door and wall between them. In the living or dining room on the left of the frame, an elderly, bearded man sits at a table, reading the newspaper. In the bedroom on the right, a boy in a suit with short pants attaches a long string to the end of a dresser drawer, with the other end hanging from a hole in the wall to the other room. As the boy works and watches, a woman dressed in a long-sleeved white blouse, striped skirt to the knee, and dark stockings enters the main room with a pitcher, which she sets on the table in front of the gentleman and then exits. The boy finishes with the drawer, replacing it in the bureau, and then quietly enters the other room unnoticed. He feeds more of the string through the hole in the wall, attaches the loop at the end of it to a leg of his grandfather's chair, and retreats to the door to watch. The woman enters the bedroom and powders her face and fixes her hair in the mirror above the dresser. She tries to open the top drawer--the one the boy has rigged--but it appears stuck. After struggling with it, she succeeds in yanking it open, falling backwards in the process. As the drawer opens, the attached string pulls over the man and the chair. When the man sees the boy jumping with delight at the door, he chases his grandson out of the room.                                               
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Video Information
Year: 1903
Genre: Historical
Keywords: Practical jokes--Drama; Boys--United States--Conduct of life--Drama; Falls (Accidents)--United States--Drama; Grandfathers--United States--Drama; Silent films; Comedies; Vaudeville; Shorts;
Duration: 00:01:01
Color: No
Sound: No
Amount of Motion: Medium
Language: English
Sponsor: Thomas Edison
Contributing Organization: Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division
Transcript Available: No

Digitization Information
Digitization Date:
Digitizing Organization: Library of Congress

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