''The Traveling Salesman'' is a 1921 American
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
starring
Fatty Arbuckle
Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle (; March 24, 1887 – June 29, 1933) was an American silent film actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He started at the Selig Polyscope Company and eventually moved to Keystone Studios, where he worked w ...
. It is based on a 1908 play, ''The Traveling Salesman'', by
James Grant Forbes. A
1916 film adaptation of the play starred Frank McIntyre, who had also starred in the play.
A print of ''The Traveling Salesman'' with German intertitles survives at the
George Eastman House
The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...
.
Plot
As described in a film publication,
Bob Blake (Arbuckle), a travelling salesman, is the victim of a practical joke and gets off the train before his intended destination of Grand River. Bob is drenched in the pouring rain and, when he cannot find lodging, breaks into a private house that the sheriff is going to sell for a tax delinquency. The house belongs to Beth Elliott (Clarke), a telegraph operator at Grand River Station. Bob looks her up so he can pay for his lodging and falls in love with her. Franklin Royce (Holland), also in love with Beth, is jealous of Bob and accepts a proposition from Martin Drury (Taylor) to trick Beth out of the proceeds of the tax sale. In the end, Bob saves the house and wins the girl.
Cast
*
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle
Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle (; March 24, 1887 – June 29, 1933) was an American silent film actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He started at the Selig Polyscope Company and eventually moved to Keystone Studios, where he worked w ...
as Bob Blake
*
Betty Ross Clarke
Betty Ross Clarke (born May Clarke,National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; ''Naturalization Records of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, Central Division (Los Angeles), 1887-1940''; Mi ...
as Beth Elliott
* Frank Holland as Franklin Royce
*
Wilton Taylor
Wilton Taylor (1869 – January 24, 1925) was an American stage and silent screen actor. He usually played gruff men of authority like wardens, judges or the police commissioner in Tod Browning's '' Outside the Law'' (1920). Of some other su ...
as Martin Drury
*
Lucille Ward
Lucille Ward (February 25, 1880 – August 8, 1952) was an American film actress. She appeared in more than 140 films between 1915 and 1944. She was born and died in Dayton, Ohio.
Ward's career began in 1907 when she acted in a production ...
as Mrs. Babbitt
* Jim Blackwell as Julius
* Richard Wayne as Ted Watts
*
George C. Pearce as John Kimball (as George Pearce)
*
Robert Dudley as Pierce Gill
Production
The railroad scenes were filmed on the
Sierra Railroad
The Sierra Railroad Corporation is a privately owned common carrier. Its Sierra Northern Railway freight division handles all freight operations for all branches owned by the Sierra Railroad. The company's Mendocino Railway group operates th ...
in
Tuolumne County, California
Tuolumne County (), officially the County of Tuolumne, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 55,620. The county seat and only incorporated city is Sonora.
Tuolumne County comprises th ...
.
See also
*
Fatty Arbuckle filmography
__NOTOC__
These are the films of the American silent film actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter Roscoe Arbuckle. Films marked with a diamond (♦) were directed by and featured Arbuckle. He used the name William Goodrich on the films he di ...
References
External links
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*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Travelling Salesman, The
1921 comedy films
1921 films
American black-and-white films
Silent American comedy films
American films based on plays
American silent feature films
Films based on works by Canadian writers
Films directed by Joseph Henabery
1920s American films
Films about salespeople