Mr. Toots' Tooth

Arthur Houseman is credited as the writer of this split-reel comedy from Edison about a man with a toothache, but it's not him in the lead; it's Frank A. Lyons. I believe Mr. Houseman plays one of the younger clerks at Lyons' office.

In this comedy, Mr. Lyons has a toothache. Every time he goes to the dentist, suddenly it stops hurting, so he leaves, but then it hurts again. People recommend various folk remedies and quack nostrums. None work.

It's not comic in the modern sense of funny, although watching a fat man suffer is always a sure-fire and moral way to get an audience laughing. Someone does propose tying a string around the tooth and a door handle, which is something I've only seen in cartoons, but they don't carry through with it.

Edison's "comedies" were weak in this period, even by non-slapstick standards. This one does not raise their average.