Series: Toto Director: Producer: Hal Roach Titles: Photography: Editor: Stars: Armando Novello, Clarine Seymour, Bud Jamison Company: Pathé Exchange Released: 28 April 1918 Length: 2 reels Production No.: T-6 Filming dates: December 5, 1917 - February 11, 1918 Rating: 3/10

His Busy Day

From approximately 8 minutes of footage available for review: Toto is sitting between two people on a park bench who both try to strangle him at the same time but when he ducks out of the way they end up throttling each other instead. When Toto runs off, the two throttlers attempt to apprehend him but attack an innocent man instead. His daughter grabs a cop to intervene but he also takes a beating in the process. Toto finds a fat man eating lunch on a nearby bench and tries to take his food but when the man refuses to share Toto clubs him over the head with a stick - which has no impact whatsoever. A cop sees this and tries hitting the fat guy with his nightstick but again, no affect. Toto then accidentally hits the cop who lands on the bench, scaring away the fat guy. Toto helps himself to the lunch he left behind. Toto finds himself at a clothes shop where the tailor starts measuring him up for a fitting, but each time the tailor takes a measurement Toto steals an item of clothing. He then embraces the tailor and pretends he is being attacked so that the police will come and arrest the tailor, but the tailor offers the peace by giving Toto some coupons. Toto then heads into a Pathé film shop to hide from the police and evades the owner and staff by hiding under a revolving poster board. When a call comes in about a downtown fire in a soup foundry, the owner grabs Toto and they head off to film it. Moments later Toto returns to the film store and quits the job. The owners chase him through the store as he hides amongst some roles of film and dresses in his female attire. He then walks out unnoticed... and right into the arms of the policeman whom he knocked out in the park earlier. [This is where the footage ends.]

Favourite bit Toto and the cop trying to figure out how it is that they can smack Dee Lampton repeatedly over the head without him reacting?

Trivia • The fourth film in the series to be released. • The 8 minutes of footage available for review were streamed on Ben Model's podcast in 2020. • In the film office there is a poster on the wall advertising "The Hidden Hand" Episode 1: The Gauntlet Of Death starring Doris Kenyon. This was a 15-part serial released by Pathé in 1917. On the same wall there is this poster advertising Mrs. Vernon Castle in "Stranded In Arcady". She was Irene Castle (1893-1969) and married to British actor Vernon Castle. The film was also released by Pathé in 1917. Incidentally, Vernon Castle was killed in 1918 just four days after this Toto film had completed filming. My opinion • Glad the film exists but come on, nobody actually wants to watch this sort of thing..... do they?

	Armando Novello Toto
	Clarine Seymour The girl
	Bud Jamison Throttler
	Dee Lampton Man eating on park bench
	Margaret Joslin Throttler
	Charles Stevenson Editor/Tailor
	Harry Todd Policeman
	William Peterson Man in office
	Lige Conley [?]

UNIDENTIFIED CAST

INTERTITLES (click image to enlarge)

SHOT ON LOCATION (click any image to enlarge)

Acknowledgements: Ben Model (footage from podcast) Jesse Brisson (identification of William Peterson) This page was last updated on: 12 November 2021