Chimmie Hicks at the races - movie film screenshot

On a bare stage backed by a dark curtain, a man dressed in a three-piece suit and overcoat holds a racing program and excitedly watches a race supposedly taking place offstage. With enthusiastic jumping and other delighted pantomime, he makes it clear his horse has won the race. A second man in a suit and hat enters from stage right and pays Chimmie his winnings, a portion of which the gambler returns to the man for another bet. With the start of the second race, he again watches with rising excitement, but suddenly his face falls and he angrily throws his hat on the ground, having evidently lost this time. The other man returns and collects all of Chimmie's money plus his pocketwatch. The repentant gambler then kneels, shakes his arms to the heavens, rips up his program, and scatters the pieces on the ground, apparently swearing off betting. He rises, pulls on his hat, and dejectedly begins to walk offstage.
Charles E. Grapewin as "Chimmie Hicks of New York," at the races, showing the change of emotions from "winning" to "losing"--Biograph picture catalogue.
H16734 U.S. Copyright Office
Copyright: American Mutoscope & Biograph Co.; 18Apr1902; H16734.
Original main title lacking.
Charles E. Grapewin (Chimmie Hicks).
Camera, F.S. Armitage.
Duration: 0:47 at 16 fps.
Approximate release date of November, 1900 from the AFI catalog.
Filmed October 26, 1900, in the Biograph studio, New York City.
Biograph production no. 1693.
Paper print shelf number (LC 0175) was changed when the paper prints were re-housed.
Additional holdings for this title may be available. Contact reference librarian.
Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as digital files.
Sources used: Copyright catalog, motion pictures, 1894-1912; Niver, K. Early motion pictures, p. 55; AFI catalog: film beginnings, 1893-1910, p. 4; Biograph bulletins 1896-1908, p. 61, p. 101; New York clipper, December 22, 1900, p. 946; Biograph picture catalogue, 1902, p. 62, viewed online via the New Jersey Digital Highway.
Early motion pictures : the Paper Print Collection in the Library of Congress / by Kemp R. Niver. Library of Congress. 1985.