Tillie Wakes Up (Silent)

Marie Dressler plays Tillie Tinklepaw, a neglected housewife. One day she decides to head to Coney Island for a day of fun away from her stuffy hubby. There she meets J. Mortimer Pipkins, a henpecked husband who has just run off with his and the wife's savings. The two become a modern-day Romeo and Juliet amid the sights and sounds of Coney Island...until their spouses show up!

In 1914, Tillie's Punctured Romance, the first feature-length comedy, had made stars of Charlie Chaplin, Marie Dressler, and Mabel Normand. Though Chaplin and Normand went on to successes of their own, Dressler made two follow-up sequels as the "Tillie" character, Tillie's Tomato Surprise (1915) and Tillie Wakes Up (1917). Of the two, only Tillie Wakes Up exists in complete form. Dressler was paired with Johnny Hines, a comedic actor 22 years her junior. Hines, who appeared in 87 features between 1914 and 1941, is probably best known for his appearance as "Torchy" in the two-reel comedy series of the same name. After a brief respite from the big screen at the tail end of the silent era, Dressler would make an astonishing comeback culminating in her Academy Award win for Best Actress in 1930 for Min and Bill (1930). She surely would have gone on to greater success had her life not been cut short by cancer in 1934.

BONUS: Sawdust and Salome (1914): The heir to a vast fortune angers his family when he falls in love with a circus performer (played by a young Norma Talmadge.) A few short years later, Talmadge would become one of Hollywood's biggest names, starring in pictures produced by her husband, Joseph M. Schenck. These include Panthea (1917), The Wonderful Thing (1921), Eternal Flame (1922) and The Song Of Love (1923).

• silent