Boobley’s Baby, Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew, Vitagraph, 1915

Directed by Sidney Drew, Written by Paul West, with Lucille McVey (as Jane Morrow) as Ethel the Stenographer, Eddie Dunn (tall man in the office). Michael Aus (pronounced Oz) is a west coast film collector. He recently went to England to purchase several reels of nitrate film including Boobley’s Baby. I’m very fortunate to be the pianist for this rare Vitagraph comedy one-reeler. Not only is this a funny film, but we’re given a lovely view of an in-use trolley car. Sharp viewers will see the letters Hamburg Ave. visible in reverse at the top of the frame. This was in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, and they may also have filmed in Prospect Park. Vitagraph was at 1277 E. 14th Street, so this street car line was not very far away. The Hamburg line was in a predominantly German area, and when WW1 started the street name was changed to Wilson in honor of President Woodrow Wilson. Buses were substituted for street cars in that area in 1951. I made up all the tunes for this film except a