Her First Biscuits

• 1909

• Watchlist

This D. W. Griffith-directed comedy was allegedly filmed in a single day. Florence Lawrence, "The Biograph Girl," plays the new young wife of a middle-aged theatrical manager. Hoping to impress her husband, wifey prevails upon the maid to instruct her in the art of biscuit-making. The results are horrendous -- not to mention thoroughly inedible -- but the husband, not wishing to break his bride's heart, tortuously consumes the concrete-like biscuits. Convinced that she's become an overnight master chef, the wife whips up another batch of biscuits and begins distributing them to her husband's business associates and employees. By film's end, everyone in town is writhing in agony after partaking of the killer biscuits. Among the unfortunate victims of the heroine's culinary efforts is 15-year-old Mary Pickford, making her motion-picture debut.