AFI CATALOG OF FEATURE FILMS

THE FIRST 100 YEARS 1893–1993

Movie Title

The Heiress at Coffee Dan's (1916)

Comedy-drama | 23 December 1916

Cast:

Bessie Love, Frank Bennett, Max Davidson [ More ]

Director:

Edward Dillon

Writer:

Bernard McConville

Production Company:

Fine Arts Film Co.
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SOURCE CITATIONS
SOURCE
DATE
PAGE
ETR
23 Dec 1916
p. 209
Motion Picture News
13 Nov 1915
p. 65
Motion Picture News
16 Dec 1916
p. 3870
Motography
6 Jan 1917
p. 41
Moving Picture World
6 Jan 1917
p. 142
NYDM
16 Dec 1916
p. 28
Wid's
21 Dec 1916
p. 1189
DETAILS
Release Date:
23 December 1916
Production Date:

Physical Properties:
Silent
Black and White
Length(in reels):
5
Country:
United States
Language:
English
SYNOPSIS

When they hear about a fortune being held for a missing beneficiary, Bert Gallagher and Clara Johnstone, a pair of crooks, convince Waffles, a waitress at Coffee Dan's who never knew her parents, that she is the rightful heiress. Waffles claims her fortune and then moves to a mansion with Clara as her guardian. When she tries to help her friends with her money, Clara stops her and then insists that Waffles' sweetheart, Carl Miller, stay away from the mansion. With Carl out of the picture, Clara badgers Waffles into marrying Bert, so he can get her fortune. Just before the ceremony, however, the real heiress appears, and Waffles finally realizes that she has been used. As a result, she turns Bert and Clara over to the police and then gets her job back at Coffee Dan's, along with a $1,500 reward and a marriage proposal from ...

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When they hear about a fortune being held for a missing beneficiary, Bert Gallagher and Clara Johnstone, a pair of crooks, convince Waffles, a waitress at Coffee Dan's who never knew her parents, that she is the rightful heiress. Waffles claims her fortune and then moves to a mansion with Clara as her guardian. When she tries to help her friends with her money, Clara stops her and then insists that Waffles' sweetheart, Carl Miller, stay away from the mansion. With Carl out of the picture, Clara badgers Waffles into marrying Bert, so he can get her fortune. Just before the ceremony, however, the real heiress appears, and Waffles finally realizes that she has been used. As a result, she turns Bert and Clara over to the police and then gets her job back at Coffee Dan's, along with a $1,500 reward and a marriage proposal from Carl.

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GENRE
Genre:
Comedy-drama


Subject
Subject (Major):
Fraud
Heiresses
Inheritance
Swindlers and swindling
Waitresses

Subject (Minor):
Mansions
Police
Rewards
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AFI Life Achievement Award
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KEEP EXPLORING
Fraud, Swindlers and swindling, Waitresses, Mansions, Inheritance, Rewards, Police, Heiresses
The American Film Institute is grateful to Sir Paul Getty KBE and the Sir Paul Getty KBE Estate for their dedication to the art of the moving image and their support for the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and without whose support AFI would not have been able to achieve this historical landmark in this epic scholarly endeavor.