''A Tango Tragedy'' is a lost 1914 American silent comedy film produced by the Lubin Manufacturing Company and starring Billy Bowers, Frances Ne Moyer, and James Hodges. Also among the cast was Oliver Hardy, who had a small role as a man at the dance.

Plot

Pat Muldoon disapproves of dancing, and threatens to kill any man who asks his daughter Nora to dance. Undeterred, Dick Kelly invites Nora to a dance, and Pat comes for him with a shotgun. Dick tricks Pat into shooting at a dummy and pretends to be dead. Dressed as a ghost, he commands Pat to dance. The terrified Pat obeys, and discovers that he quite likes dancing with a charming widow. When he sees Dick without his ghost makeup, he wants to fight again, but then the music starts, and faced with the choice between a fight and a tango, Pat chooses the tango, while Dick dances off with Nora.''The Lubin Bulletin'' vol. 1, no. 13 (June 30, 1914), p. 2
Rob Stone, ''Laurel or Hardy: The Solo Films of Stan Laurel and Oliver "Babe" Hardy'' (Temecula, CA: Split Reel Books, 1996), pp. 9–10.

Cast

* Billy Bowers as Pat Muldoon * Frances Ne Moyer as Nora Muldoon * James Hodges as Dick Kelly *

Raymond McKee Eldon Raymond McKee (December 7, 1892 – October 3, 1984), also credited as Roy McKee, was an American stage and screen actor. His film debut was in the 1912 production ''The Lovers' Signal''. Over the next 23 years, he performed in no less ...

as Bill Ryan *

Julia Calhoun Julia Calhoun (born 1870) was an American actress during the silent film era. She appeared on stage and in comedy films including early ones with Oliver Hardy from at least 1914 on into the 1920s. Calhoun was born February 1870 in Philadelphia. ...

as The Widow * Oliver Hardy as a man at the dance (uncredited)

Production

''A Tango Tragedy'' was filmed in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

, at the Jacksonville unit of the Lubin Manufacturing Company, under the supervision of

Arthur Hotaling Arthur Douglas Hotaling (February 3, 1873 – July 13, 1938) was an American film director, producer and writer. He directed 113 films between 1910 and 1928, including the 1914 film '' Outwitting Dad'', which featured the onscreen debut of ...

. It was a short split-reel comedy, lasting approximately 5–6 minutes, and sharing a single reel of film with a second, unrelated film, in this case the cartoon ''Circus Time in Toyland'' by Stewart C. Whitman. The films were released by the General Film Company on May 30, 1914. ''A Tango Tragedy'' is among several Lubin split-reel comedies made in the spring of 1914 that include the earliest screen appearances of Oliver Hardy. In most of these films he was an uncredited

extra Extra or Xtra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * ''Extra'' (newspaper), a Brazilian newspaper * ''Extra!'', an American me ...

playing one of a group of cops or cowboys, or, as here, a man at the dance. Although the film itself does not survive, Hardy can be seen looking over James Hodges's shoulder in a promotional still printed in ''The Lubin Bulletin'', the studio's advertising newsletter.

Plot

Cast

Production

References

See also