Summary
In the frigid purgatory of Madison Square's Bed Line, Thomas McQuade—a coachman cast out by the Van Smuythes for intemperance—forges an unexpected kinship with a shabby yet dignified young man whose hospital discharge left him penniless, his wife and child exiled to maternal refuge after familial disapproval of their union. Fate manifests as a carelessly discarded automobile tire on Fifth Avenue, which McQuade retrieves only to be whisked away by the imposing Professor Cherubusco to a palatial residence. There, amid cold fowl and wine, the clairvoyant orchestrates an unseen revelation for two women in an adjacent chamber, invoking the Chaldean Chiroscope's prophecy: 'By the fifth wheel of the chariot he shall come.' When Cherubusco discerns McQuade's mere status as an ex-coachman rather than prophesied aristocracy, he expels him back to the frozen pavement. Reunited with his destitute companion at the Bed Line, McQuade's world convulses anew when his sweetheart Annie—maid to the Van Smuythes—bursts upon them, restoring his position before recoiling at the sight of his companion with the cry 'Mr. Walter!' Revelation unfurls: Annie, guided by Cherubusco's divination, has simultaneously recovered both her lover and the disowned heir Walter. In a final twist of cosmic irony, she vows her last dollars to the charlatan whose machinations forged their improbable salvation.
Synopsis
Having been discharged as the Van Smuythes' coachman for drunkenness, Thomas McQuade has joined the Bed Liners in Madison square. It is freezing cold. Standing beside him is a young man, shabby but neat. They exchange confidences and Thomas learns that the young man has just been discharged from a hospital without a penny, his wife and child having been obliged to return to her mother. He had married against the wishes of his unforgiving relatives. Just then an automobile dashes up Fifth avenue and, when opposite the Bed Line, drops an extra tire. Thomas catches it and returns it to the owner, expecting at least a dollar for the service, but, instead the imposing gentleman asks him mysteriously if he knows the Van Smuythes, and on learning that he does, Thomas is forthwith taken to a palatial house in the Seventies and fed on cold fowl, tea biscuits and wine. While thus pleasantly occupied two women are mysteriously ushered into a side room, where his host, Prof. Cherubusco, the great clairvoyant, tells them that the Chaldean Chiroscope has been successful, for had it not said "By the fifth wheel of the chariot he shall come?" But the professor, learning instead that Thomas is the Van Smuythe's ex-coachman, throws him into the street. So back to the Bed Line goes Thomas, where he resumes his conversation with his new friend. Suddenly a sturdy girl rushes up to him. It is Annie, his sweetheart and maid at the Van Smuythe's, whom he has not seen for a month. She says his old position is waiting for him, but suddenly catching sight of the other man she screams, "Mr. Walter!" And then it appears that she had accompanied her mistress to the great clairvoyant and he had hold her where she would find her sweetheart, and she had also found "Mr. Walter." After paying the car fares home she vows to give her remaining $11.85 to Professor Cherubusco, "the greatest man in the world."
Moving Picture World, February 2, 1918
Review Excerpt
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The Chilling Irony of Madison Square: Revisiting a Silent Era Gem
Emerging from the frostbitten twilight of 1918 cinema, The Fifth Wheel remains a crystallized drop of O. Henry's trademark irony, distilled through the nascent language of moving pictures. Director Chet Ryan, working from George H. Plympton's adaptation, orchestrates a ballet of social collisions where the frozen desperation of New York's underclass scrapes against the gilded absurdity of its elite. This isn't merely a period c..."
