Runtime:22 min. Studio: Hal Roach Studio. Director: James Parrott. Producer: Hal Roach. Main Cast: Charley Chase, Noah Young, Eugenia Gilbert, Kay Deslys, Mickey Bennett. Cinematographer: Len Powers. Editor: Richard C. Currier.
It is December everybody. You know what that means? It is now Christmas time. To celebrate, I feel it is a good time to write about a classic Christmas themed short staring the one and only Charley Chase.
It is the day before Christmas and Charley is low on money and can't provide Christmas presents for his wife and daughter. His landlord (Noah Young) is demanding the rent, but Charley ends up buying presents with the rent money. However when the landlord finds that Charley bought an expensive watch, he keeps it in turn for the rent. The problem is that Charley's wife already saw the watch and excepts to see it on Christmas morning. That night both Charley and the landlord decide to play Santa for their kids. Since only one of them has whiskers a slapstick fight ensues. During this mess the two's bags of presents get mixed up, which is bad because the landlord gets cheap terrible presents.
The same year as this short the Hal Roach studio also released a Christmas themed Our Gang short entitled Good Cheer. However the two films couldn't have been more different. While the Our Gang short is surprisingly sweet and sentimental, the Charley Chase film goes completely for laughs. Both shorts are excellent though and achieve their respective goals perfectly.
This short is laugh out loud funny. The jokes come fast and furious and are all funny. Much of this includes the great slapstick the Hal Roach studio was known for. I especially love Charley's disastrous ride home with his presents, where he accidentally causes tons of road damage. Also great is Charley buying his wife the expensive watch. His landlord is also in the store and Charley doesn't want him to be aware of what Charley is doing. He acts not interested whenever the landlord is around but keeps coming back when he thinks the landlord left. The ending is very satisfying and funny. There is no better way this film could end.
This film was directed by Charley Chase's brother James Parrot. Parrot was in fact Charley Chase's real last name and when Charley directed various short subjects for Hal Roach he went under the name Charles Parrott (later when he directed some Three Stooges shorts for Columbia, he would be credited as Charley Chase). James was more than just Charley's brother though he was an excellent director in his own right. Probably his greatest claim to fame is that he directed The Music Box (1932), the famous film in which Laurel and Hardy carry a huge piano up a flight of stairs. He would also direct such classic Laurel and Hardy shorts as Two Tars (1928), Perfect Day (1929), Blotto (1930), Brats (1930), Be Big (1931), Helpmates (1932) and County Hospital (1932). James would also later direct his brother Charley Chase in one of his finest talkie shorts, The Pip From Pittsburg (1931). James Parrott also worked as an actor for Hal Roach studios mostly playing supporting roles (starting in 1918 with the Harold Lloyd film, Hit Him Again). Almost all his acting roles where in the silent era, though he would make cameos in two films he directed (the Laurel and Hardy feature, Pardon Me (1931) and the Our Gang short Washee Ironee (1934)).
Below is an original advertisement for this film featured in The Film Daily.
To see an article in the Exhibitors Herald advertising this and other "New Pictures" click here.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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