The Dancing Lesson

The Dancing Lesson

September 13, 1915 Theatrical Keeping Up With The Joneses

Studio
Gaumont American Company
Distributor
Mutual Film Corporation

Characters

Aloysius McGinis, Clarice McGinis, Julie McGinis, Belladonna

Credits

Directing

Director
Harry S. Palmer

Writing

Writer
Arthur R ("Pop") Momand (Original Strip)

Production notes

Silent Film.

These films begin with "out of the inkwell" drawings of the sort seen in Winsor McCay films and later elaborated by Max Fleischer. Like other comic strips and animated films of the era, notably Bringing Up Father (published from 1912; filmed 1916-18), Keeping Up with the Joneses features a husband oppressed by a wife's obsession with high society and consumer fashion. The series ended abruptly in February 1916 after its animator, Harry S. Palmer, lost a patent infringement suit brought by John Randolph Bray over the use of transparent celluloid sheets.