He Did It Himself

Released January 22, 1917, He Did It Himself is a one-reel Black Diamond Comedy filmed and produced by the United States Motion Picture Corporation (USMPC) in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The film was distributed by Paramount Pictures.

An advertisement for the film that appeared on page 946 of the February 17, 1917 issue of The Moving Picture World provides this summary: “High Spigh, an ambitious but unsuccessful detective, looks over his morning paper and finds an account of how Herr Trigger, the eminent scientist, has discovered a powerful explosive and that several foreign nations are bidding for the secret–then the riot starts.”

As of the writing of this article (November 25, 2017) no prints of this film are known to survive. If you have any information about the film, please contact us.

 The Library of Congress documents that the USMPC applied for and received copyright #L9825 for He Did It Himself on December 27, 1916. The copyright entry describes the film this way: “He did it himself in 1 pt written and worked out by James O Walsh Rex Taylor and Joseph A Richmond Clippings from reel 32383 title description and 163 prints reed Dec 27 1916 L 9825 United States motion picture Corp Wilkes Barre Pa.” The microfilmed image of this copyright filing was not available when Noreen O’Connor conducted research at the Library of Congress in 2012.

A synopsis of the film is available in the January 20, 1917, issue of The Moving Picture World on page 420. The text below was transcribed by Noreen O’Connor in 2017:

“HE DID IT HIMSELF” (Black Diamond. Jan. 22.) High Spigh, an ambitious but unsuccessful detective, arrives at his office and proceeds to look over his morning paper. In it he finds an account of how Herr Trigger, a scientist, has discovered a powerful explosive and that several foreign nations are bidding for the secret.

While he ponders over this a girl enters the office. She tells him that she is Gretchen, the daughter of Herr Trigger, and that she wants him to find her father, who has disappeared. She tells him of the discovery of the explosive, how her father’s assistant tried to steal the formula, how Senor Frijoles and a Spanish girl called at the house to buy the secret on the previous day and how, the next morning, she found the laboratory wrecked and her father gone.

High Spigh takes the case and Gretchen takes him to her home where he finds a clue In the shape of a huge footprint. He follows the trail down the street till he runs into the owner of the foot, a big Mexican. On seeing the detective’s badge the Mex runs. He seizes a bunch of toy balloons from a street vendor and floats off into the air with them.

High punctures the balloons with shots from his revolver. The Mex falls through a skylight into a room with his explosives. When the big Mex announces that the police are on their trail, the gang seize Herr Trigger and all dive through the trap in the wall, sliding through a subterranean passage to the river.

Meanwhile, High leaps to the top of the building, drops through the skylight and finds himself in the den. There he carelessly drops one of the bombs and is blown up into the sky. He lands In the river from which he is rescued by Gretchen whom he sends to Frijoles’ office to find the missing formula if possible.

Frijoles sends the gang to their cave with Herr Trigger while he and the Spanish girl go to his office. He stops to buy a cigar and she enters the office which is on the thirty-fifth floor of an office building and finds Gretchen opening the safe. She and Gretchen have a fight with Bowie knives which ends as a mouse runs across the floor and both girls jump on a desk and hug each other for safety. Frijoles enters and he and the Spanish girl lock Gretchen in the safe and push it out the window. High Spigh enters just in time to see this. He turns and runs down the thirty-five flights of stairs and reaches the grounds in time to catch the safe as it lands.

Releasing Gretchen, he sends her home and trails Frijoles, who orders a barrel of powder sent to the den. High hides In the barrel and arrives at the den. Frijoles and the Spanish girl capture Gretchen and take her to the den where they tie her and her father, set a fuse to the barrel of powder and leave them to their fate. Gretchen gets free, pushes the barrel down the mountain where It chases the gang up a tree. High comes out of the barrel and covers the gang with his gun. They try to resist and he shoots. A dissolve shows him at his desk, having dreamed of all this. His feet are on the desk in front of him, his gun in his hand. As he pulls the trigger he shoots his own toe, wakes up, and dances around the room holding his foot.