the plump heart
by Douglas Messerli
Bobby Burns and Walter Stull (screenwriters
and directors) Busted Hearts / 1916 || Status unknown
I can find no evidence that this film still
exists, and generally others have described its availability as “status
unknown.” We do know, however, that it was directed in 1916 by Bobby Burns and
Walter Stull, and that it starred Oliver Hardy performing in drag as Peggy
Plum, with Burns playing the role of Pokes, and Stull performing as Jabbs,
obviously a vaudeville-like team of “Pokes and Jabbs.”
Farmer Plump’s daughter, Peggy (Hardy), has only had one beau in her life, although she has sought others who were rejected by her father.
After several days of traveling via boxcar, Pokes (Burns) arrives in
Pumpkinville, the Pokes’ hometown, and catches the sight of Peggy milking a
cow. He passes by and flirts, she responding in like manner, the two quickly
becoming friends.
Coincidentally, the town lawyer Marks is visiting the Plump’s house
delivering to farmer Plump a rather large sum of money, the transaction of
which Pokes has observed through the window.
He
convinces his new girlfriend to invite him in, and once within the Plump’s
house hypnotizes Peggy and steals her father’s money.
Poke further lures Peggy to elope with him. But once they arrive in the
city, he immediately spots of a more beautiful woman, deserting his new bride.
Without any money, Peggy is forced to get a job at Jabbs’ restaurant as
a waitress, almost immediately infatuating that establishment’s cook and her
fellow waiter, much to the discomfort of the dishwasher which leads to
roughhousing in the kitchen at the very moment when Pokes and his new
girlfriend (Ethel Marie Burton) enter the restaurant to have dinner.
Recognizing Pokes, Peggy gives the man who deserted her a heavy
thrashing, much to the amusement of the restaurant owner Jabbs (Stull) and the
other customers.
Peggy’s former beau, Runt (Fred Hanson), in search of Peggy, arrives at
that very moment, received with open arms by Peggy, his appearance soothing her
“busted heart.”
Clearly, the comic delights of this short film whose run time we do not
know, depended upon the ridiculousness of Oliver Hardy in female attire, and
the fact that she so readily attracted all the males she meets. Strangely, the
plot almost sounds like it might have represented one of John Waters’ films
with Divine playing Peggy.
Los Angeles, June 26, 2022
Reprinted from World Cinema Review (June
2022).
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