Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford

Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford is a 1916 Australian silent comedy film directed by Fred Niblo. The film was the first made by the film unit of theatrical firm J. C. Williamson, although it was one of the last to be released. It was Niblo's debut film as a director and is considered a lost film. Plot Two swindlers, Blackie Daw (Henry Carson Clarke) and J. Rufus Wallingford (Fred Niblo), arrive in Battlesburg, Iowa, and con the local townsfolk that they are wealthy businessmen. They use the town's money to establish plans for a factory to produce covered carpet tacks and set off a major real estate boom. They are about to leave town with their money when they receive a genuine order for a large supply of tacks. They decide to marry local girls and settle down in Battlesburg. Cast Fred Niblo as J. Rufus Wallingford Henry Carson Clarke as Blackie Daw Enid Bennett as Fanny Eddie Lamb Pirie Bush Sydney Stirling Charles Clary Kathryn Williams Original play Williamsons often imported American plays and American actors to star in them. Fred Niblo came out to Australia in 1912 with his wife Josephine Cohan, sister of George M. Cohan, and stayed for three years, appearing in a number of plays. One of these was Get-Rich-Quick-Wallingford, by Cohan, which proved enormously popular with Australian audiences. In the American production, Hale Hamilton played Wallingford, and Edward Ellis played Daws. The play opened at the Gaiety in September 1910 was a huge hit and had 424 performances in New York, 198 shows in London, and a translation in Paris.