1926. Director: Nat Ross. Runtime: 90min.

World premiere of the new restoration of this warm, light-hearted look at the immigrant experience in 1920s New York.

Devoted single father Jacob Goodman is a Jewish immigrant ‘who landed in America without a pair of shoes to his back’. Jacob is a hard-worker and keen to better himself, but when his efforts at book-learning cost him his job at a garment sweatshop, he is forced to rely on his business acumen to provide for his young daughter (played by Baby Peggy – see Captain January).

 As Jacob gradually builds a successful business, and secures a chance of a happy, prosperous marriage for his now grown-up daughter, trouble looms when the nefarious nephew of Jacob’s rival threatens to derail everyone’s chance of a happy ending. This charming rom-com is an undiscovered gem – with the tender relationship between the older of the two pairs of would-be lovers stealing our hearts even more than their junior counterparts. As Jacob and Amelia navigate the rise and fall of their respective finances, meddlesome matchmakers, and misunderstandings, the film balances humour with genuine emotional warmth.

Dir. Nat Ross | USA | 1926 | N/C U | b&w English intertitles | 1h 15m

With: Alexander Carr, Mary Alden, Snitz Edwards, Baby Peggy (Diana Sera Carey)

Performing live: Meg Morley (piano)

Online programme notes: Jay Weissberg

Restored by the Library of Congress