Silent movies - The Mystery of the Leaping Fish

I know I had Douglas Fairbanks last week, but this short happened to leap my way - wow, what a bridge to the title 🥳 I have for you "The Mystery of the Leaping Fish" from 1916.

If you take a good look at the theatrical poster, you may be surprised. There are several hints there what the movie is about. "The 1916 Cocaine Classic"?? I guess before diving into the plot, we have to talk about a few things here.
1. This is a Sherlock Holmes spoof. We all know Sherlock has that unhealthy habit which Dr Watson does not approve of. The name "Coke" Ennyday, however, seems more like a joke on the "American Sherlock Holmes", Craig Kennedy, of whose existence I heard for the first time (but promptly put the first novel by Arthur B. Reeve in my vintage crime folder then).
2. 1916 was way before the Hays Code was enforced and even before the Hollywood scandals which first led to the studios to start self-regulating through recommendations Hays introduced in 1924. Dope was also mentioned in other films.
3. Cocaine has a long history of use - Coca Cola, for example, has its name for a reason after all - and only in the 20th century the perception of the drug and its medical uses started to change. The Harrison Narcotics Tax Act which regulated and taxed the use of opiates is from 1914. Unfortunately cocaine in Hollywood also has its history ... and its victims.
4. The story is by Tod Browning, the 1931 "Dracula" director who was known for horror and underworld dramas. "Freaks" is still haunting me, so I doubted this short would be able to beat that.

Now that we cleared that up, we can get to the plot. I need you to not even try to apply any logic to it because there isn't any. No, honestly, don't try.

We meet "the world's greatest scientific detective", Coke Ennyday. Yeah, he doesn't quite look like it, but we know the reason for that.

We even know it more when we see this. No, I don't mean the disguises, but the box standing in front of it.
(And why does the servant remind me of Peter Boyle in "Young Frankenstein", only with a bellboy's uniform that is too small?)

Ennyday is needed by Town Constable Doolittle - because there is a man rolling in wealth with no visible means of support (Doolittle's words, not mine). Very suspicious.

Actually ... literally rolling in wealth which brings Scrooge McDuck to mind although this guy here doesn't swim in coins which looks a lot more comfy.

Guess what, he made all the money being involved in drug smuggling. No, no ... no, stop ... don't ask why they would send Ennyday of all people to check it out ... I told you, no logic!
Ennyday drives to the coast and finds out that the drugs are smuggled via inflatable "leaping fish" (it says they were invented for this film, again, don't ask me, but they do make me think of flying fish and I think they could still be popular today).

Pink-wing flying fish,
public domain via Wikimedia

Just 25 cents an hour to ride the leaping fish personally inflated by the "fish blower" girl (Bessie Love)!

To make it short, using some of his amazing disguises - the meaning of amazing being open for interpretation - Ennyday finds out that the suspicious guy works together with a young lady and some Asian (!!) guys who run the "Sum Hop Laundry" (ouch ... but I learned a new slang word for opium) as a front.

Chaos ensues (plus some sampling of the smuggled goods by Ennyday and the fish blower fighting back very nicely when she gets kidnapped and one of the gang tries to assault her), but in the end all the villains are ready to get picked up by the police and there's a happy ending for Ennyday and the fish blower (it wasn't unusual for characters not to have a name then).

But is that the end of the film?
No.
Because next we are in the office of a scenario editor who tells Doug to give up scenario writing and stick with acting, so Doug and Bessie leave.

The End!

You probably have questions now. I have questions. I doubt anyone has answers, so here's a quote from Fritzi Kramer's blog: "I have some advice: don't ask all these questions. Just sit back, relax and enjoy this bizarre cult classic for what it is."

I have a bit of a thing for the strange or slightly bizarre, for example I'm a Monty Python fan and I love (some) weird cartoons. And like Fritzi also predicted - "it's not a good movie and it's not a good comedy", but I was "unable to look away for even one minute". I went "whoa" and "what the ..." and made noises.
Then I remembered how I once watched a bad animal horror movie with someone and we seriously asked ourselves what the first production meeting for that movie had been like .. as in what did they have for, uhm, refreshments? I had the same feeling here. What was going on?

Lea Stans writes that "for the rest of his life Doug would pretend "The Mystery of the Leaping Fish" didn't exist". Yeah, I get that.
I don't regret watching it. I'm just not done analyzing why yet.


Sources and further reading:

1. Fritzi Kramer: The Mystery of the Leaping Fish - A silent film review. On: Movies Silently, October 25, 2015
2. Lea Stans: Thoughts On: "The Mystery of the Leaping Fish" (1916). On: Silent-ology, November 14, 2020
3. Douglas Small: Cocaine: a cultural history, from medical wonder to illicit drug. On: Aeon. Essays. October 4, 2024

My April books

This is an overview of the books I have finished in a month (not necessarily started in the same month) and those I have read to Gundel (marked with 😸).
I will be adding a short explanation why I chose a book or how I found it and possibly if it's a re-read candidate, but I'm usually not going to add real reviews or ratings (Gundel also refuses to give ratings). Should you want a little more information on a book you're interested in, though, just let me know.
It's posted one day early as the Thursday is reserved for my silent movie posts.


"Catweazle" by Richard Carpenter, first published in 1970 😸

Catweazle is a sorcerer living in 11th century England. Chased by Norman soldiers, he escapes by jumping into a lake - and coming up in the 1970s!
Luckily he meets the boy Edward, called Carrot, who does his best to keep Catweazle hidden and safe. Together they have some hilarious adventures while Catweazle tries to find a way back into his own time.

This was a re-read for a blog post.

"The Alington Inheritance" by Patricia Wentworth, first published in 1958
(Miss Silver 31)

Raised by her mother's old governess, Jenny never even knew that her late parents had been married and she therefore is heiress to the Alington riches. Her distant cousin Mac and his mother are not ready to give up the money so easily, so when she overhears Mac's plan to marry her to keep control over it, Jenny runs away.
It doesn't end there, though ...

More ear ringing for Liz on whose blog I came across Wentworth whose Miss Silver series fit right in with my vintage crime reading.

"The Art of Annemieke Mein: Wildlife Artist in Textiles" by Annemieke Mein, first published in 1992

Annemieke Mein is an Australian textile artists born in Holland. The book shows some of her works created in different techniques and from a variety of materials. She has added explanations about the inspiration and the artworks themselves.

I first learned about Mein thanks to a Style Imitating Art challenge post on Marsha's blog with the artwork "Whirlpool Frog" chosen by Salazar.
Mein's art is fascinating and of course the book can only give you a small idea. I wish I could see some of it in person.

"O diese Rasselbande" by Rosemarie Ditter, first published in 1953

A story of school and friendship.

Re-read for a future blog post.

"Stan: the Life of Stan Laurel" by Fred Lawrence Guiles, first published in 1980

The biography of Stan Laurel, about his beginnings in vaudeville, his film career without and then with Oliver Hardy, and his private life.

One of the movie biographies on my list (there's also another one on Laurel and Hardy on it).

"Meet the Newmans" by Jennifer Niven, first published in 2026

Del, Dinah, and their sons Guy and Shep have been America's favorite family for 12 years - on screen in black and white.
It's 1964 now and times are changing.
Then Del has an accident and Dinah has to take over.
Will it change the family, the real one and the one on TV?

A new entry on OverDrive.
For me it was a quick and easy read and I could relate to some of the issues, but it had a lot of those which got wrapped up a bit too neatly and quickly for me in the end which was a pity.

"Poirot and Me" by David Suchet and Geoffrey Wansell, first published in 2013

David Suchet played Agatha Christie's Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in 70 episodes over 25 years - shorter ones, but also longer films. In this book he talks about how he approached the role and what Poirot means to him.

I'm not a fan of Christie's books, I'm not a fan of all adaptations, I'm not even a fan of all the 70 episodes, but a huge fan of David Suchet's Poirot, so this was really interesting.

"Steeple Folly" by M. E. Atkinson, first published in 1950
(Locketts 14)

The three Lockett kids are in quarantine because one of them had German measles (although it says diphteria once at the very beginning?). As Bill needs to cram for an important entry exam, they are sent to a village where a highly regarded tutor lives.

What luck that this is where the Roberts children have written from to taunt the Locketts about their adventures!
Time for a new adventure.

After writing a blog post about the first book, a childhood favorite of mine, I got myself the books I was still missing from the series. This is the last one. 

"Why the Whales Came" by Michael Morpurgo, first published in 1985 😸

Like all the other children on the Scilly island Bryher, Gracie and her friend Daniel are not allowed on the side of the island where the mysterious and feared Birdman lives.
Of course, they go there anyway and become friends with the old Mr. Woodcock who lives a quiet life in his cottage carving birds from wood. He warns them to never visit the island Samson which is close by because there's a curse on it.
Then World War I begins and Gracie's father gets lost at sea ...

The book was a random find on the Internet Archive.

"The Penguin Pool Murder" by Stuart Palmer, first published in 1931
(Hildegarde Withers 1)

Hildegarde Withers has taken her school class to the New York Aquarium. Little does she know she will be drawn into a murder case there, but she can't resist offering Inspector Piper her help.

The movie adaptations were mentioned in a silent movie blog I'm following, so I looked for Palmer's books as I had never heard of Miss Withers before.

"Magpie Murders" by Anthony Horowitz, first published in 2016
(Susan Ryeland 1)

When editor Susan Ryeland reads the manuscript for the latest Atticus Pünd mystery by bestselling author Alan Conway, she's surprised to see that the last chapter is missing.
Then Conway is dead and Susan starts investigating.

I found the book easy enough to read although there's a complete book in a book, but I couldn't get rid of the feeling that the author was really proud of all the little Easter eggs, references (which I usually enjoy), and hints. All that did for me, however, was that I didn't like any of the characters, that I kept wondering if the "Midsomer Murders" episodes I was reminded of came before or after this book, and that I don't feel the slightest urge to read any of the sequels.

"Darling Girls" by Sally Hepworth, first published in 2024

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia are not biological sisters, but living as foster children together in the house of Miss Fairchild has made them feel like sisters.
When a body is found under the house years later, old childhood memories return. Whose bones are they and who put them there?

That was intense. I finished it as it was another recommendation along with my DNF and I didn't want to DNF this as well.
I had expected a thriller, but it's not really although there was a murder. Reading about the memories of children being abused in the foster system got really hard for me after a while.

"When in Rome" by Ngaio Marsh, first published in 1970
(Roderick Alleyn 26)

While in Rome to investigate a drug ring, Roderick Alleyn joins one of Sebastian Mailer's tours with a quite illustrious group of tourists to learn more about him.
During the tour Mailer disappears and later a postcard seller who had spat at him is found dead in the basilica they visited. Is Mailer not just a drug dealer and blackmailer, but also a murderer?

This is still part of my vintage crime project for which I keep getting books by Marsh and Allingham. The last two Marsh books are already on the way!

"Going Gangster" by M. E. Atkinson, first published in 1940
(Locketts 5)

This time it's only Jane and Bill who have an adventure as Oliver is already in school while Jane keeps the reconvalescing Bill company for a week.
They are dragged into this one by an old acquaintance, bound by a promise. She recuits their help in taking a girl from the school she hates back to her parents who are Romani (probably, with the book being from the 40s that's not the word that is used).

After writing a blog post about the first book, a childhood favorite of mine, I got myself the books I was still missing from the series.

"The Three Investigators in The Secret of the Crooked Cat" by William Arden (the books were published attributed to Alfred Hitchcock), first published in 1970 😸
(The Three Investigators 13)

Why should someone want to steal a carnival prize? Does the crooked cat hold a secret and is therefore more valuable?
Jupiter, Peter, and Bob soon learn that a carnival can be dangerous ground.

I read this series a long time ago and am going through it again bit by bit after writing a blog post about it. This book is the thirteenth in the series.

"Mistresses : True Stories of Seduction, Power and Ambition" by Leigh Eduardo, first published in 2005

Eduardo tells the stories of eight famous mistresses from the 17th to the 20th century, from Barbara Villiers to La Belle Otero.

I stumbled upon this book because one chapter is about Marion Davies. It woke the interest in me for reading up one or the other person in more detail (not necessarily the women the book is about), but parts had more of a tabloid character for me - meant to shock the readers? I also wondered why these eight were chosen, it seemed a curious mix.

"Vanishing Culture: A Report on Our Fragile Cultural Record" by Luca Messarra et al., first published in 2026 😸

Have you ever wondered about the preservation of materials in libraries and archives and the possibility to access the information easily? We often take for granted that physical and digital media are archived in some way, but is that really the case?

The Internet Archive had announced their book (CC BY 4.0) on Instagram and as a librarian I thought this was a really interesting topic.
I'm not sure how interested Gundel was in it, but reading it to her snuggled up or next to me helped me concentrate on the chapters about media I knew not much or nothing about.


DNF:

"The Maid" by Nita Prose, first published in 2022
(Molly Gray 1)

Molly is a maid in a high class hotel.
One day she founds one of the regular guests dead on his bed.

I followed a recommendation and really wanted to finish it to talk about it to a new friend, but DNFed at about a third because I sadly didn't like the style or the way the protagonist was portrayed.

"Yesteryear" by Caro Claire Burke, first published in 2026

One morning, Natalie, a successful "tradwife" influencer, wakes up in a place that is her home but also isn't, with a husband and children who seem familiar yet not like hers, in an environment without technology and convenience.

I hadn't expected a second DNF this month. Maybe I'm missing something, but this just wasn't what I had anticipated and it didn't work for me for several reasons, so I gave up eventually although I had come pretty far.

From my children's book cabinet - Catweazle

Wait ... from my book cabinet?
Yes, my friends. Today I'll talk about the book "Catweazle" by Richard Carpenter which was based on the scripts from the first series of the British cult TV show with the same name. Okay, I can't avoid it being a mix of both.

I actually used a vintage button for this bead
embroidered brooch. I remember an online
friend saying she didn't know she liked the
man very much, but she liked the brooch.
Of course she didn't know Catweazle.

But wait, I have no idea if Catweazle was as popular as in the UK or Germany or even known everywhere, so let me introduce him to you first.

Catweazle is a sorcerer in 11th century England. One of his great goals is being able to fly. One day Norman soldiers chase him out of his cave and in order to escape he's forced to jump into a pond.

Catweazle running from the
Norman soldiers, but not
without his familiar, the
toad Touchwood

When he comes up again, the landscape looks very different. He hides in a barn and quickly learns that he has landed himself in the 20th century when the son of Hexwood Farm's owner - Edward, called Carrot because of his red hair - finds him.

Carrot with Sam, the farmhand

Understandably, everything is new and scary to Catweazle.
He thinks this time is full of sorcerers. On one hand, he'd love to learn their magic - like Carrot's "electrickery" of the "little sun in a bottle" (simply a lamp that's switched on) or the vicar's "telling bone" (a telephone) - but on the other hand he has problems getting used to so many new things and he doesn't always react very gracefully when they don't go his way (here's a video with "all the insults, name calling, derision & mockery" from "nettle face" to "spider spittle").
Luckily Carrot, who doesn't really believe the Norman story, by the way, can handle Catweazle quite well unless he runs off to get himself into a new pickle, but the sorcerer is also able to help Carrot with a few things, such as dealing with the overdrawn bank account for the farm or an annoying housekeeper and her son.

Catweazle sets up camp in an old water tower in the woods which belongs to the Army and calls it Castle Saburac after the spirit he claims led him there.
When he's not out confusing people or hiding from them, he spends his time there desperately searching for a spell to return to his own time. A lot of his spells go wrong, but he's quite good at hypnotizing people into forgetting him, for example.

I won't be getting into the individual episodes of the TV show although it's tempting - how Catweazle removes an old curse, how he gets his magic dagger Adamcos back or why he steals broomsticks (and almost gets Sam in trouble by doing so) and so on.
As the book is based on the scripts of the show, however, and really sticks very closely to them, I'll take a short look at the creation of the show.
In a short documentary, Richard Carpenter tells the story of his brother-in-law who had a turkey farm - that's one difference between book and show, in the show you don't see a turkey - they visited, and on the way back they got lost and came to a gate with "Catweazle" written on it. Further inspiration came from this Hieronymus Bosch painting, to be precise from the figure in the left corner.

Carpenter who had actually been an actor was so intrigued that he turned it into a character himself. His friend, the wonderful Geoffrey Bayldon, had turned down the role of "Doctor Who" before which he wasn't sure had been the right decision until he got offered the role of Catweazle which he wouldn't have been able to do as Doctor Who.
Bayldon brought his own ideas to the character, silly noises, mimics, movements, he really became Catweazle and made him magic.
The chemistry with the others was great, especially with Carrot who spent most of the time hiding the magician from his father, Mr. Bennet, and everyone else, with more or less success.

Robin Davies got his hair dyed red
for the role of Carrot

Spoiler alert - Catweazle does make it home eventually, with his familiar Touchwood whose name is of course inspired by the ancient habit of touching wood for good luck.

In a time before the Internet, yes, even before being able to record something from TV, the book must have been a great way to dive back into that magic, whimsical, crazy world of Catweazle conjured up by the stories and illustrations when you didn't get the chance to watch a rerun.
I still say "Elektricktrick" from time to time (our version of "electrickery", there were a few changes to names and words) and I'm not the only one.
There's a whole glossary on the official fan club's page. Carpenter researched the "occult & mythology" to add to the show's charm by using Latin words and ancient names.

There are two series of "Catweazle" and two books, the second one is called "Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac".
Carpenter also did novelizations of other shows he wrote for (one of them is my other favorite of his "Robin of Sherwood" which adds a magic layer to the Robin Hood legend). In the second series Catweazle comes back again, but alas, not to Hexwood Farm, and after the director had died, a third series was never realized.
The German translation to the books got published after the show made it to TV here and there was even a special edition in 2010 with a foreword explaining to children that this was their parents' world - no computers or cell phones and not even a TV set in every household. There's even a German movie from 2021. I didn't watch it and won't spoil my memory of Catweazle doing so, but it shows he's not forgotten.
I got the English books a long time ago and still enjoy reading them ... although watching Catweazle is of course even better!

The fan club used to be very active - for example they commissioned a beautiful Catweazle bust, had meetings with the actors at the farm where the show was filmed, and there was a forum (which like so many has sadly fallen asleep).
I wonder how many people passed the magic dagger on to their children and maybe even their grandchildren, but can kids of today still appreciate a story like that? What do you think?

Salmay, Dalmay, Adonay!


Sources and more info (I visited more pages, but these two links have a lot of info):

1. Official Catweazle Fan Club
2. Catweazle Extra - Brothers in Magic: a documentation. On YouTube

Weekend Traffic Jam - Week 153

Welcome to the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot!
My posts for the link up will go live on Thursdays at 9:30 p.m. EDT or, if you live in the future like I do, on Fridays at 3:30 a.m. CE(S)T.

After a visit with me, my sister took some pictures on the way home which I thought I'd share with you (with her permission).
There's what we call the "Old Cemetery" with the Oberhofenkirche (I showed pictures of that before) and a small park around it.
Then there's my old school and across from it the "Stadthalle" and its park (which I mentioned here before).
We were really lucky to have grown up in such a nice neighborhood! Maybe I'll be sending her the other way to the woods for more pictures next time 😉

Are you ready for the weekend?

As part of the reboot, we will be featuring a different blog every week.
How about stopping by and saying hello? Let them know we sent you.

This week our spotlight is on Jaipur Garden.

Arun from Jaipur Garden says: "Your mind is a Garden, Your thoughts are the seeds. You can grow flowers or you can grow weeds." (attributed to William Wordsworth)

Marsha from Marsha in the Middle started blogging in 2021 as an exercise in increasing her neuroplasticity. Oh, who are we kidding? Marsha started blogging because she loves clothes, and she loves to talk or, in this case, write!

Melynda from Scratch Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household - The name says it all, we homestead in East Texas, with three generations sharing this land. I cook and bake from scratch, between gardening and running after the chickens, and knitting!

Lisa from Boondock Ramblings shares about the fiction she writes and reads, her faith, homeschooling, photography and more.

Cat from Cat's Wire has what she calls a jumping spider brain. She has many interests and will blog about whatever catches her attention - crafts, books, old movies, collectibles or random things.

Rena from Fine Whatever Blog writes about style, midlife, and the "fine whatever" moments that make life both meaningful and fun. Since 2015, she's been celebrating creativity, confidence, and finding joy in the everyday.


Here are some of my picks from last week's link up.

I have to admit I'm a bit jealous of Soma being able to visit the beautiful Redwoods.

Nicole shows her typical Dutch lunch and an alternative.

There's still time to follow Lisa's Spring of Bette, starting with a post about Bette Davis herself.

Esme's Chocolate Greek Yogurt Overnight Oats sound really good.


Let's link up!

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Silent movies - The Matrimaniac

Can you believe it has been more than half a year that I watched a Douglas Fairbanks movie? I know that I said Luke the dog has stolen my heart away from Doug, but that doesn't mean I'm forgetting him completely!
Doug had done a lot of other films before going into the swashbuckling business and today I've got one of those for you - The Matrimaniac from 1916!

Funny, the title is "The
Matrimoniac" here, but in
the film itself it clearly
says "Matrimaniac"!

First the plot (spoiler alert!).

Jimmie Conroy and Marna Lewis want to marry, but her father disapproves and wants her to marry Wally instead, so Jimmie and Marna decide to elope. Unfortunately, Wally witnesses their departure and tells Lewis who makes him go to the train to prevent the marriage until he can procure injunctions.
Wally makes it on the train and confronts the lovers.

As they intend to go through with the wedding, anyway, he wants to send a wire to Lewis, but Jimmie talks to the conductor and hatches a plan on his own. He gets out at the next station to look for a reverend to marry Marna and him. Unfortunately Reverend Tubbs is in the tub. Although he has only thrown on a dressing gown and slippers, Jimmie drags him along, but the train pulls out of the station when they arrive and Wally keeps them from boarding.

Running in a dressing gown and slippers is hard!

From here on, Jimmie does everything to help them follow the train and liberally distributes money and I.O.U.s for clothes for the Reverend, a hand car, and a mule, and finally they hitch a ride on the bumpers of another train.

Tubbs is one dedicated reverend although it's
possible the promise of a donation to 
the church helped a little ...

Meanwhile Wally and Marna have made it to the hotel where the lovers had planned to stay. Jimmie and Tubbs are arrested when they get off the train, but Jimmie escapes.
 

Just look at Wally, the smug little weasel.

He calls Marna, who is trapped in her room with Wally sitting in front of the door in the hallway, and tells her to come to the jail, so Tubbs can marry them.
So now Marna has to come up with a plan of her own. She changes clothes with the maid bringing her food and makes it to the jail where the Reverend tells her that Jimmie has been spotted and is chased.
Marna goes back to her hotel room - a wonderful scene in which she "discovers" Wally talking to the maid in the disguise and plays the betrayed woman - and Jimmie ends up on the telephone wires. He comes to a lineman who arranges a connection between Reverend Tubbs in the jail, Marna in her room, and Jimmie on the pole with him.

"Shut up, can't you see I'm getting married?"

Lewis, Wally, and the police are waiting below and start reading the injunction to Jimmie. Hearing about the marriage by phone sends Lewis running to the jail, but too late.
In the end we see Jimmie in his office paying out to the people he gave I.O.U.s. The last one is good old Tubbs who doesn't just get a bunch of money, but also a kiss from the grateful Jimmie!

With everyone gone, Jimmie opens a safe from which Marna emerges right into his arms.

I knew from a documentary that Douglas Fairbanks didn't start out as a swashbuckler but a stunt comedian in romantic comedies, and had also seen one or the other short scene there. So I didn't really know what to expect exactly, but knew it would be nothing like his big features.
This movie was a fun little introduction to those times. There wasn't much plot beside the chase, but Jimmie and the Reverend made a fine pair (I could have done without the mule scene, but that's mostly because people on smaller donkeys or mules always make me feel uncomfortable).
As Fritzi Kramer puts it, there weren't "any major showstopper stunts", but Doug got a bit of climbing and dangling and jumping in - on walls, over people, from wires and gutters.
I certainly enjoyed it.

Further reading:

Fritzi Kramer: The Matrimaniac (1916) - A Silent Film Review. On: Movies Silently, April 12, 2026