A door keeper carries up to an artist's lodgings the receipt for his rent; he has a fearful toothache. The artist, badly off does not know how to get out of his dilemma, when one of his friends, happening to be there, helps him out by pretending to be a dentist. They make the man sit on a chair and the dentist operates with a pair of pincers, while the artist takes the receipt left on the table by the imprudent doorkeeper and puts in its place a blank paper. After having pulled out an enormous tooth, the so-called dentist blackens the face of the doorkeeper who retires after having warmly thanked his benefactor.
—Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé