The Belle of Bar-Z Ranch (1912)
10 Jun 1912 • Short, Comedy, Western
Jessie, the Belle of the Bar Z Ranch, and Jack Howard are lovers. On the day of the cowboys' "hoedown," Jack presents Jess with a beautiful engagement ring and Jessie promises to marry him after the roundup. They go to the dance and while there Jack dances with one of Jessie's girlfriends and during the dance the girl is taken ill. Jack leads her off to a side room and brings her a glass of water. In the meantime, Jessie is proudly displaying her engagement ring to her girlfriends. She turns to call Jack and. finding he is absent from the dance hall, goes off to look for him and finds him with his arms around the other girl. Their backs being turned toward Jess, she does not see that Jack is trying to revive the girl with a drink of water. Jess comes to the conclusion that Jack is false to her. The next day she sends back his ring with a note, telling him she will not marry him and that she wishes him to come and get his letters and presents, which he had given her during their courtship. Jack goes to Jessie's home and finds her very unreasonable. She will not answer his questions and taking his love tokens he sadly returns to the bunk-house. The cowboys scent Jack's trouble and manage to make things pretty lively for him. As time goes on and Jack and Jess do not make up, the other boys make up their minds to take their chances on winning Jessie for a wife. They put the proposition up to Jess and in order to quiet them, she tells them to meet her at the crossroads on a certain day and lift her from the saddle in a fair race. Jack hears of this and on the day of the race he watches the boys primping and polishing up. He makes up his mind to play a trick on them and be the only man at the crossroads to meet Jess. He finds their horses tied up outside of the bunkhouse and unties them and drives them off the ranch. He then goes to meet Jess. Jess is suspicious when the rest of the boys do not show up, so she postpones the race for a few hours. At the appointed time, the race takes place and Jack is the lucky man. The rest of the cowboys escort them to the Justice of the Peace and they are married. Jessie is pleased at the way things turn out, but she will not gratify Jack by showing it. When he comes for his husband's kiss, Jess is cold and distant. Jack begins to realize that maybe he has made a big mistake. He tells Jess that the Justice of the Peace is still there and if she wishes it, they can have the knot untied at once. As Jack turns to get the Justice of the Peace, Jess tells him she was only teasing him and that he is the only man in the world for her. In the meantime, the rest of the girls, learning of the race, take advantage of the leap-year chance and race with the boys, with the result that the Justice of the Peace is kept busy for a few hours longer.
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None, English
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United States
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