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The Salt on the Bird’s Tail
(1910) United States of America
B&W : One reel / 940 feet
Directed by Gaston Méliès
Cast: Francis Ford [the tramp]
G. Méliès production; distributed [?] on State Rights basis by G. Méliès? / Produced by Gaston Méliès. Cinematography by William Paley. / Released 22 September 1910. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Comedy-Drama.
Synopsis: [The Moving Picture World, 24 September 1910, page ?] The saying, ‘If you want to catch a bird put salt on its tail,’ is a pleasantry of such long standing it is familiar to every man, woman and child in existence. It furnishes a theme for this well-drawn and lively drama of home life, a tramp’s gratitude and the cordiality of the little child who loses through an accident the canary bird which was given her by her father. A tramp calls at the child’s home for a ‘hand out.’ The mother gives him something to eat, the child provides him with a loaf of bread and sends him on his way rejoicing. Shortly after the tramp has taken his departure the little girl tries to hang the cage with the bird in it on a nail on the porch. The cage falls to the ground and the bird escapes. Her mother is provoked and reprimands her for her carelessness. The child, sobbing on the steps of the porch happens to think of putting salt on the bird’s tail and immediately sets out with a box of salt and the bird cage in pursuit of her lost pet. Across fields, through woods we follow the child, through flower-decked pastures and stretches of new-mown hay and gorgeous “snaps” of byways and highways, that make the picture a thing of beauty and the story a panorama of interest. The mother misses the child and goes in search of her. The girl, grown tired and footsore, lies down at the foot of a tree and falls asleep. The tramp is making his way leisurely through the brush and sees the escaped canary bird in the grass, cautiously approaches it and captures it with his cap, then resumes his stroll petting the bird as he goes along. He comes to where the little girl is sleeping, guesses the meaning of the salt box and the cage, decides to repay her for her kindness to him when he needed food, places the bird in the cage and hides behind a neighboring tree to watch the denouement. He doesn’t have long to wait. The distracted mother coming along espies the child sleeping with her bird returned to its cage; she is astonished. The child awakens and can scarcely believe her senses. The lost are found and the smiling face of the grateful tramp adds to the happy ending.
Reviews: [The Moving Picture World, 8 October 1910, page ?] A pretty story built up around the old saying regarding putting salt on a bird’s tail to catch it. It is of a child, and is therefore, interesting. It leads the little one through many beautiful scenes until, exhausted, she sinks to sleep at the foot of a tree, without her bird. But a tramp she befriended catches the bird and restores it to the cage. Astonishment is too plainly written upon the face of the little one to be mistaken when she discovers her bird in the cage. Her distracted mother appears at this juncture and there is a happy family reunion, which includes the tramp, his face transformed by smiles.
Survival status: Print exists in the UCLA Film and Television Archive film archive.
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 24 May 2024.
References: Thompson-Star pp. 127-128, 229 : Website-AFI; Website-IMDb.
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