D.W. Griffith made a drag comedy in 1909 and it's WILD.
All the young men in the mining camp flirt with Lucy. Bud, the youngest of them, doesn't stand a chance. At a dance, Bud dresses as a woman and all the men flirt with him and abandon Lucy. When his disguise is revealed, the other men are too embarrassed to approach Lucy, and Bud dances the rest of the night with her.
Acting
Billy Quirk commits fully to chaotic drag performance.
Direction
Griffith already showing visual storytelling mastery.
Director
D.W. Griffith
Billy Quirk
Bud (as William A. Quirk)
Mary Pickford
Miss Lucy
James Kirkwood
Jim Blake
Edwin August
Florence Barker
Kate Bruce
Party Guest
Verner Clarges
Party Guest
Arthur V. Johnson
Party Guest
Florence La Badie
George Nichols
Miner
John R. Cumpson
Miner
Lottie Pickford
Party Guest
Gertrude Robinson
Party Guest
Mack Sennett
Miner
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was one of Mary Pickford's first films with Griffith—she'd become 'America's Sweetheart' and co-found United Artists.
Cross-dressing gags were common in early cinema, but rarely with this specific 'revenge via humiliation' structure.
US
