SHAKESPEARE

Synopsis

Fiction short. A Shakespearean actor loses his part as the manager feels that he is too old. Helping a beggar in the street he is surprised to see how much money the beggar has made. Unable to get new work he disguises himself as beggar. At first his family is fooled but then they find him and bring him home where a letter arrives offering him his part back. The actor reads from the ‘all the world’s a stage’ speech (II vii) and from Macbeth’s lines ‘struts and frets his hour upon the stage’ (V v), quoted in the intertitles.

Country

United States

Medium

Film

Technical information

Black-and-white / Silent

Year of release

1912

Duration

10 mins; 891 feet

Credits

Director

D.W. Griffith

Cinematographer

Billy Bitzer

Screenplay

George Hennessy

Cast

Charles West (2)	The daughter’s sweetheart
Kate Bruce	His wife
Mary Pickford	His daughter
W. Chystie Miller	The Old actor

Additional Details

Production type

Fiction Films

Keywords

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Production Company

Name

Biograph Company

Archive

Name

BFI National Archive

Web

http://www.bfi.org.uk/archive-collections/searching-access-collections/research-viewing-services External site opens in new window

Phone

020 7255 1444

Fax

020 7436 0165

Address

21 Stephen Street
London
W1T 1LN

Name

Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting & Recorded Sound Division

Web

http://catalog.loc.gov/ External site opens in new window

Phone

(20) 707-8572

Fax

(20) 707-237’1

Address

Motion Picture & Television Reading Room
James Madison Building, LM 336
101 Independence Avenue, SE
Washington, D.C.
20540-4690
United States