Described in the Biograph Bulletin as a "contemporary show-business farce," D. W. Griffith's A Wreath in Time is all that and more besides. Evidently inspired by "It's Up to You, William", a vaudeville sketch by John C. Rice, the film begins as a husband prepares to go out on the town with his pals. As an alibi, hubby sends a telegram to his wife, claiming that he has left town on the Red Eagle Express. Imagine her dismay when she receives word that the Red Eagle has crashed and all the passengers have been killed. Meanwhile, her very-much-alive spouse whoops it up at a burlesque show (that's the "show business" angle) and afterwards joins his pals at an all-night restaurant. Stumbling home the next morning, the husband can't understand why his wife is missing. Then he reads the headlines about the horrible railroad accident, and the penny drops. When his wife returns from making funeral arrangements for her "departed" husband, he pantomimes an incredible account of how he was able to escape from the jaws of death. It is at this point that the morning paper shows up, announcing that the earlier report of the Red Eagle crash was completely untrue. The basic premise of A Wreath in Time would show up in dozens of subsequent movie comedies, most memorably the 1933 Laurel and Hardy feature Sons of the Desert. Information is sketchy regarding the cast of the Griffith film, though it is known that Mack Sennett played a minor role.
by Hal Erickson
synopsis
