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Take Me Out to the Ball Game
(1910) United States of America
B&W : One reel / 990 feet
Directed by Gilbert M. Anderson
Cast: Augustus Carney [Henry Blink, a baseball fan], Neva Don Carlos [Fanny Blink, his wife], J. Warren Kerrigan [a baseball fan], John B. O’Brien [a baseball fan], Arthur White [a baseball fan], [?] Chick Morrison?, [?] Elmer Thompson?, [?] Fred Ilenstine?, [?] Gilbert M. Anderson?, Jack the dog
Essanay Film Manufacturing Company production; distributed by Essanay Film Manufacturing Company. / Produced by Gilbert M. Anderson. Scenario by Gilbert M. Anderson. / Released 24 August 1910. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Comedy.
Synopsis: [The Moving Picture World, 20 August 1910, page ?] Our friend Blink is a baseball bug and a devotee of the sport. One day he finds he will have time in the afternoon to visit the ball park, and from that moment until noon he is in an excited fever, refusing to talk anything but baseball to the businessmen who call on him. When the clock strikes twelve, Blink seizes his hat, slams down his desk, and tells his stenographer that he is gone for the day. Blink hurries home and gets his wife busy with the dinner. She is curious to know why he is in such a hurry, so finally, between bites, he tells her he is going to the ball game. Fanny expresses her desire to go also, and insists on her husband waiting for her to dress. Minutes crawl by like hours to Blink as his wife arrays herself for the game, and when she finally appears, leading Jack, the bull pup, he seizes her by the arm and drags her out of the house. They board a streetcar, but the conductor objects to the dog. Fanny pushes the conductor into a corner, and Jack makes short work of the seat hogs. They reach the ball park at last, and Blink goes to get the tickets. When he comes back with the necessary paper, he is in such a hurry and so happily excited as to grab the arm of another woman, a large, fat, colored ‘mammy,’ and does not discover his mistake until they are inside. Now he has to buy another ticket, and after he has located Fanny and the dog, they hurry into the gate and to the bleachers. The game is an exciting one, but not for Fanny. She sees nothing in it at all, and finally dozes off to sleep with her head resting on a fat man’s shoulder. Jack, the pup, becomes excited or angered at a rather shady decision by the umpire, frees himself from his chain, and chases the luckless referee all over the diamond. The home team wins, of course, which makes Blink so happy that he goes off, forgetting Fanny. He follows the band of players on their triumphal procession downtown, and is eventually on his way home before he remembers his missing spouse. In the meantime, Fanny has slept peacefully through the game, and is deserted by her fat man. She is finally the only one left on the bleachers, but is soon awakened by a ball park guard. She meets Blink halfway home, and there is the usual family row, which ends peacefully, however, at the close of the film.
Reviews: [The Moving Picture World, 3 September 1910, page ?] A lively travesty on the passion for baseball which actuates so many devotees of the sport now. Not always, however, will a man become so excited that he forgets to take his wife home, leaving her on the bleachers to find her way home as best she can. Probably the innovation of having bull pups chase umpires all over the grounds will not become popular, particularly with the luckless umpires, but in this instance, it adds another feature of fun to a film already overflowing with it. Then comes the finale, which starts with a family row but ends in peace and happiness at home. Blinks is undoubtedly benefited by his outing, though it must be confessed that his nervous condition borders on collapse at a number of stages in the progress of the story.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Sports: Baseball
Listing updated: 29 June 2023.
References: Edelman-Baseball p. 195 : Website-AFI; Website-IMDb.
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