Mystery of the Leaping Fish: Hysterical 1916 Parody of Sherlock Holmes – Video
[Photo-Image: 1916 Short film, The Mystery of the Leaping Fish]
An amazing video, the 1916 short film parody–video posted below–of Sherlock Holmes, The Mystery of The Leaping Fish starring Douglas Fairbanks and Bessie Love. A short film released to the public 96 years ago with ‘scientific detective’ Coke Ennyday–Fairbanks–with a handy vest of cocaine filled syringes and a large open box of cocaine on his desk.
“Watson” is dressed in ‘bondage wear’. When Ennyday arrives in his ‘checkered-covered’ car, ‘Watson’, wearing livery wear, blows a horn. The front door to Ennyday’s apartment is a bank vault, from the inside. Bessie Love plays the ‘fish blower’ working at the beach shack that rents ‘leaping fish’ floats. Inside the floats, smuggled opium–”hop”–which Ennyday freely samples.
Another cool aspect, the film reveals a golden southern California before the ‘masses’ arrived.
Ennyday has a ‘closed circuit TV’ and a “Sleep, Eats, Dope Drinks” Clock.
The authorities ask Ennyday to investigate a mystery man of means without any visible support.
Mysterious A.D. Sears, the gentleman rolling in dough without means. Sears asked his butler to “press me out a bundle of money”.
[Photo-Image: Coke Ennyday and 'Watson']
Hat tip to the individual who downloaded this gem on Youtube.
The Mystery of the Leaping Fish.avi
Appreciate the writeup, but the video you posted doesn’t have the original music. Most off the posted videos posted out there lose the original music about 1/2 way through the video. It’s a shame really as the music really makes the video come together…
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