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Alderman Krautz’s Picnic
Also known as [The Alderman’s Picnic]
(1910) United States of America
B&W : Split-reel / 370 feet
Directed by (unknown)
Cast: (unknown)
The Selig Polyscope Company, Incorporated, production; distributed by The Selig Polyscope Company, Incorporated. / Released 6 January 1910; in a split-reel with The Highlander’s Defiance (1910). / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Comedy.
Synopsis: [From Selig promotional materials] Alderman Krautz was a philanthropist as well as a café owner. He loves children, but has none of his own. Once a year he gives all the kids in his ward a picnic. The great day arrives. Two big four-horse converted express wagons are filled with howling youngsters. At the picnic grounds the fun starts. A game of I-spy is in progress. The alderman is it; he catches a pretty miss of sixteen, his wife catches him but he escapes. The kids banter him for a swing. The occupant, when at a high point, is poised for a convenient lagoon, and Krautz gets an involuntary bath. After dinner the alderman and kids, led by Crogan, plays London bridge is falling down. It does, and the alderman is buried under a shower of kids. Blind Man Bluff comes next. Crogan discovers a hornets nest, and the alderman, too (with Crogan’s assistance) and the busy insects put the picnic out of business. Home again, Krautz is swathed in bandages. No more picnics for a year, says the doctor. The alderman falls asleep and has a happy vision of Crogan and the kids. “Stung.” It’s a busy comedy, told in the Selig way, a joy bringer sure, new, novel and pleasing. Just clean, pure fun every foot of the way.
Reviews: [The Moving Picture World, 22 January 1910, page 91] If you want clean, pure fun, with the boy’s love for getting some unfortunate into scrapes made prominent, here it is. The philanthropic alderman has his picnic. The boys enjoy it, and who shall say the alderman did not, even though he took a bath, got tangled in the wreckage of ‘London Bridge’ and was finally set upon and despitefully used by a colony of lively hornets? But the genial alderman was game, and the spirit of the Selig players accurately portrays his experiences with the bunch of kids at his enjoyable picnic.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 23 January 2025.
References: MovPicWorld-19100108 pp. 6, 20 : Website-AFI; Website-IMDb.
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