Her First Biscuits

Her First Biscuits is a 1909 American silent short comedy film written by Frank E. Woods, directed by D. W. Griffith, and starring John R. Cumpson and Florence Lawrence. At its release in June 1909, the comedy was distributed to theaters on a "split reel", which was a single projection reel that accommodated more than one motion picture. It shared its reel with another Biograph short directed by Griffith, the drama The Faded Lilies.^[1] Prints of both films are preserved in the film archive of the Library of Congress.^[2]

Her First Biscuits
Directed by	D. W. Griffith
Written by	Frank E. Woods
Starring	John R. Cumpson Florence Lawrence
Cinematography	Billy Bitzer
Release date	June 17, 1909 (1909-06-17)
Running time	7 minutes (514 feet on split reel at release)[a]
Country	United States
Language	Silent

Cast

• John R. Cumpson - Mr. Jones
• Florence Lawrence - Mrs. Jones
• Linda Arvidson
• Charles Avery - Biscuit Victim
• Dorothy Bernard
• Clara T. Bracy
• Charles Craig
• Flora Finch
• Guy Hedlund
• Anita Hendrie - Biscuit Victim
• Arthur V. Johnson - Biscuit Victim
• Marion Leonard - Biscuit Victim
• Jeanie MacPherson - Secretary
• Owen Moore: Biscuit Victim
• Anthony O'Sullivan: Workman
• Mary Pickford: Biscuit Victim

Notes

1. According to the reference How Movies Work by Bruce F. Kawin (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1987, pp. 46-47), a full 1000-foot reel of film in the silent era had, on average, a maximum running time of 15 minutes. Also, silent films were generally projected in the early 1900s at a "standard" speed of 16 frames per second, much slower than the 24 frames of later sound films. A 514-foot film in 1909 would have therefore had a runtime between 7 and 8 minutes.