Uncle John - Cast

Uncle John (1915)
Short | 20 min | Short, Drama

Uncle John (1915)

Short | 20 min | Short, Drama

Jimmy Moore, age eight, earned enough money by selling newspapers for supper for Alice and Pudge, who were waiting for him in the tenement. It was a bitter cold day. The father hadn't shown up for more than a week and the three children ...See moreJimmy Moore, age eight, earned enough money by selling newspapers for supper for Alice and Pudge, who were waiting for him in the tenement. It was a bitter cold day. The father hadn't shown up for more than a week and the three children were trying to keep the little home together. Old John Waldron, many times a millionaire, never had any patience with charity and settlement work. When Horace, his only son, took it up with the fortune left him by his mother, the Old Man was disgusted. The discussions between father and son on charity and how the old man is getting more penurious every day get more and more acrimonious, until finally one day, Waldron ordered his son out of the office. Horace, with the impetuosity of youth, left home and settled down in a modest room to help the poor. Some days before, Horace obtained permission from his father to collect rents of one of his East Side tenements. He thought a great deal about Helen, the girl across the hall, who is endowed with the gift of an artist. She was poor, so he sent a friend to buy some of her pictures which Horace took off his hands. Horace offered, by letter, to buy the tenement from his father. The Old Man tore up the letter in a rage, and then made up his mind that he would go to see this tenement which was causing so much trouble. As he entered, anyone who saw him would have concluded that he lived there. He climbed the rickety stairs and looked all about him; nothing seemed very remarkable. On his way down, he didn't see the broken step, and he landed in the hall before the little Moores' door, with a badly sprained ankle, saving himself from breaking his neck only by hanging on to the banister. The three little Moores heard the fall, came out and found the old man. They supported him into their rooms, and after they made him as comfortable as possible, they held a consultation. Here was a stranger within their gates; he surely needed a little liniment for that ankle, and he looked as though a little food wouldn't hurt him. Alice emptied the coffee pot of its pennies and Jimmy went out to get the food. Waldron tried to hear what the conspiracy was all about, but couldn't quite get it. Jimmy returned with a small package of tea, an orange and a bottle of vile smelling liniment. Jimmy treated Waldron's ankle and Alice served the tea and the orange. Waldron admired their generosity, and was astonished to learn upon inquiry that they were not to have any supper that night as they had spent all their pennies. At that moment in walked two officials of the "Gerry Society." "To what do I owe this unwarranted intrusion?" said Waldron, "You should be prosecuted for disturbing my family, I am their uncle." That night, Waldron lay upon the rickety couch and pondered many things. He concluded that it might not be such a bad thing to stay a few days with the children, completely hidden from the cares of business and study a little sociology himself. Little Pudge asked the old man to stay with them a few days. He agrees when he is permitted to pay his board in advance. Telling the children what a good cook he is he tells Jimmy to get a quantity of eatables. The little folks put an apron on him and Jimmy goes across the hall and got Helen to see the fun. Helen entered into the fun; she tested Uncle John's cooking and pretended it made her sick, and Uncle John threatened her with a big spoon and got so excited that he let the toast burn and was made by Pudge to make some more, though he tried to beg off. Just at this time Horace Waldron sat in his rooms looking at the pictures which he had bought from Helen, by proxy. But, is he looked, always a vision came of her as he saw her first, sitting cross-legged, wrapped in her big coat, eating crackers and milk and reading a book. And the more Horace thought about it, the more he became convinced that a few painting lessons would help him in his work among the poor. He got his courage up and went to see Helen about it. The door was open and he went timidly in. Helen came back from the Moores to find him standing in admiration before her easel. After a good deal of hemming and hawing, the matter was arranged and Horace went to work at it, though he was always trying to draw pictures of Helen, who scolded him and tore up the pictures. But his entree was established, and he came regularly. John Waldron was too big a man to drop out of sight for a week unnoticed. And one evening he read in the paper an account of his disappearance. He laughed. A knock came on the door and Waldron ducked into the inner room. It was Jenks, the collector. Alice was a few cents shy and wanted Jenks to come back for it. "No," said Jenks, "the old skinflint who owns the building would fire me if he thought I would trust anyone for fifteen cents. I'll pay it myself." Waldron, of course, heard it and was inclined to be angry at first and then he laughed, for he knew Jenks was right. And again listening through the same door, he heard Horace tell Helen that his father had disappeared and that while he had parted with him in anger, he was very dear to him and that he would never be happy until he found him. For a certainty, John Waldron was getting humanized. And that evening, Pudge had too much jam and the resultant "tummy ache." Waldron was very worried about her and started out for the doctor. An incoming "drunk" lit a cigarette in the hall and threw the blazing match into a pile of rubbish. When Waldron and the doctor got back, smoke poured in volumes from the entrance. He and the doctor plunged into the house, the doctor to come staggering out in a moment, blinded by the smoke. Waldron kept on, rushed to the room and burst in the door. The children had fallen asleep when Pudge's ache stopped and were just awakening and groping in the smoke. Waldron wrapped clothes about their heads and sent Jimmy and Alice down the stairs. He picked up Pudge and started to follow, but the stairs fell, blocking the door. He then went out of the window to the fire escape and down to the floor below. The escape on the floor below was hopelessly blocked with the boxes and refuse that the East Sider usually keeps there. As he stood for a moment irresolute, Horace and Helen, who had come to the scene, saw him. "Oh, it is Uncle John," said Helen. "It is my father," said Horace, and he plunged into the building. He got them just in time and fought his way down the blazing stairs with his double burden. A week, later "Uncle John" sat in the big library before the fire. Behind him, at the window, stood Horace and Helen, very dose together, looking at two pictures which seemed to interest Helen greatly. In bounded Alice and Jimmy, well dressed and with schoolbooks in their hands, and Pudge trailing along behind. They swarmed all over Uncle John, until the observing Pudge directed their attention to Horace and Helen. Uncle John had to turn clear around in his chair. Horace was holding Helen very tight and whispering to her. Uncle John pretended that it was a great breach of etiquette to look, and he turned their heads about for them, but they broke away and ran to Helen, who took them into her arms. And then, somehow, the picture got blurred until all you could see was Uncle John as he sat looking into the fire and smiling. Written by Moving Picture World synopsis See less

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3 cast members

Name	Known for
Etienne Girardot Uncle John Waldron - the Landlord Uncle John Waldron - the Landlord See fewer	The Kennel Murder Case (1933)
William Garwood Horace - the Nephew Horace - the Nephew See fewer	Ruy Blas (1914)
Violet Mersereau Helen - the Artist Helen - the Artist See fewer	Together (1918)

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