prima donna of the kitchen
by Douglas Messerli
Allen Johnston (scenario), Ned Finley
(director) The Leading Lady 1911 | difficult
to obtain or lost film
In this work John Bunny plays an Irish cook,
Bridget O’Flynn who seems to have found her way into a starring role in a play
until....
Theater Manager Matthew Talon (Van Dyke Brooke) has just engaged most of
cast for the play “The Irish Washerwoman” except for the leading lady, a role
that he and Muggs, the playwright (Robert Gaillard) are finding difficult to
cast. Muggs finally sees a picture in the daily newspaper of a downtown
restaurant cook whose look perfectly meets his type, and convinces Talon to
engage her.
She arrives and after a look over by the stage manager, Mr. Small
(Wallace Reid), rehearsal begins. Bridget, however, new to the theater and used
to getting her own way about everything in the restaurant where she is
employed, disagrees with Mr. Small’s suggestions, her argumentations almost
leading to a brawl.
Talon and Muggs manage to smooth things over, but when rehearsal resumes
the entire cast, stage manager, producer, and playwright are forced to bear a
series of absurd and comic incidents which finally sends Bridget back to her
kitchen where nearly everyone is happy for her to remain.
Los Angeles, January 20, 2022
Reprinted from World Cinema Review (January
2022).
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