Charley Chase Movies
Charley Chase's comic abilities went far beyond his on-camera antics: he was also a talented director, screenwriter, and even a songwriter. Born Charles Parrott on October 20, 1893, he was already a seasoned vaudeville performer by the time he was in his late teens. His travels brought him to Los Angeles, where he began appearing in comedies for Al Christie in 1913. A few months later, he went to Mack Sennett's Keystone Pictures. Because of his good looks, it was hard for him to stand out amongst such eccentric Sennett comedians as Chester Conklin and Mack Swain; nevertheless, he made a solid supporting comic for the studio's luminaries, Charles Chaplin, Mabel Normand, and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. He made even more of an impression as a director, and, for the latter half of the 1910s, he worked in that capacity for actors such as Ford Sterling, Hank Mann, Charles "Heinie" Conklin, Billy West, and Mr. and Mrs. Carter DeHaven. In addition to working for Sennett, he worked at Fox, L-KO, Paramount, and King Bee (where he directed Oliver Hardy).Chase came into his own when he began working for producer Hal Roach in 1921. Roach was looking both for a director and for someone who would supervise the other comedy units. Director/writer James Parrott, who was already working at the studio, suggested his older brother. Chase -- still known as Charles Parrott -- directed Snub Pollard's comedies and oversaw production on the Roach lot. In 1923, in a return to acting, he starred in a new series for Roach, billing himself as Charley Chase to keep his identity as a director (where he was still known as Charles Parrott) separate from his identity as an actor. In his first series of one-reelers, his character was called Jimmy Jump (later he just used his own name, as did most of Roach's actors), and he developed his screen persona: usually a white-collar guy bashfully in love with his sweetheart or a young married man getting himself into one scrape or another. Through the silent era, Chase was one of Roach's most popular stars, and, because he possessed a wonderful speaking (and singing) voice, he made an easy transition to sound. His most notable co-star during the early talkie era was comedienne Thelma Todd, before she went on to her own two-reelers; in addition, Chase was often supported by Roach favorites James Finlayson and Billy Gilbert. However, Chase is probably best remembered for his supporting role in Laurel and Hardy's 1933 feature, Sons of the Desert, in which, playing against his usually likable type, he portrayed an obnoxious conventioneer. Although there was talk of starring Chase in features, he never made the move up. By the mid-thirties, the era of classic comic two-reelers was on the wane, and Chase was released from the Roach Studios in 1936.
A few months after being let go from Roach, Chase went over to Columbia's comedy shorts division, where he appeared in such films as The Wrong Miss Wright (1937) and The Heckler (1940). He also directed a number of films for the studio, most notably for The Three Stooges, including one of their best shorts, Violent is the Word for Curly. Columbia's high-volume slapstick wasn't Chase's comic approach of choice, but he adapted nevertheless, and he even added the sublimely subtle touches that he specialized in throughout his career. Chase died of a heart attack in June 1940. His last Columbia short, His Bridal Fright, was released three weeks after his death. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1970
Robert Youngson once again compiles scenes from the golden age of comedy's silent film era. Laurel and Hardy are shown battling a gum machine, and Hardy is a debaucherous Romeo whose amorous plans are thwarted by Rex, the Wonder Horse. Charley Chase is hampered by hiccups and a female professor, and he fleeces a drunken Oliver Hardy with a mannequin in a nightclub. The third part finds bachelor Buster Keaton desperately trying to get married by 7:00 PM in order to collect a $7-million-dollar inheritance. Keaton is pursued by money-hungry prospects in one of the best chase scenes ever filmed. Narration is provided by Jay Jackson. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, (more)
- 1967
The second of Robert Youngson's compilations of the silent comedies of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, The Further Perils of Laurel & Hardy suffers a bit from too much repetition and gee-whiz obvious narration. Still, the vignettes offered herein are first-rate, as fresh and funny as they were when first released seven decades ago. Among the L&H shorts represented in this collection are Do Detectives Think and Sugar Daddies, two 1927 releases made before Stan and Ollie were an official team. We are also treated to generous portions of such rib-tickling 2-reelers as Should Married Men Go Home? (1928), Early to Bed (1928), That's My Wife (1929) and Angora Love (1929). The film is rounded out with choice selections from the work of such Hal Roach contractees as Charley Chase, Jean Harlow and Snub Pollard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, (more)
- 1965
Five of Laurel and Hardy's best features from the silent film era are compiled in this collection by Robert Youngson. Included are From Soup To Nuts, Wrong Again, The Finishing Touch, and iberty. On hand are legendary comic foils like James Findlayson and Edgar Kennedy, both masters of the "slow burn" when showing their disapproval. Watch for Margaret Dumont, famous for her characterization as the flustered dowager in many Marx Brothers films, in the pie-fight scene. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jay Jackson, Stan Laurel, (more)
The fourth of Oscar-winning short-subject director Youngson's comedy compilations (the earlier ones were Golden Age of Comedy, When Comedy was King, and Days of Thrills and Laughter) is, amazingly, almost as full and fresh as those earlier efforts, containing highlights from such silent comedy classics as Chaplin's Floorwalker, Easy Street, Pawnshop and, best of all, Rink; Buster Keaton's Balloonatic and Daydreams; Harry Langdon's Smile Please, and the prototypical Laurel and Hardy team-up, Lucky Dog. Youngson's choice of material is unquestionably fine, and equally satisfying is the quality of the film clips, courtesy of archivist Paul Guffanti. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1939
This especially wacky Three Stooges short was directed by comedian Charley Chase. The boys are traveling salesmen in the South American country of Valeska. The lazy town is only slightly stirred awake by its frequent earthquakes, nevertheless, there is a revolution brewing. The revolutionary leader also happens to run the hotel where the Stooges are staying, and he decides to close the place down. The only problem is that the guys can't pay their bill and they wind up at the police station -- unfortunately, debtors in Valeska are shot. But Curly has been flirting with Rita, another member of the revolutionaries, and she helps the Stooges escape. They are supposed to take a map of the president's mansion to the revolutionaries' headquarters, but they accidentally grab a calendar instead. When they arrive they are horrified to be faced with the hotel owner -- especially when it's revealed that all they have is the calendar. Rita comes through with the map, but the hotel owner wants to shoot them anyway. A timely earthquake enables the boys to escape in a truck. The only problem is that the truck is loaded with explosives. Not surprisingly, it detonates and the Stooges go flying. A swaybacked horse breaks their fall and they gallop off. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1938
As in their earlier False Alarms (1936), the Three Stooges play firemen in this two-reel farce directed by comedian Charley Chase. The engine company in question is somewhat old fashioned and employs horse-powered engines. In an effort to upgrade the equipment, a salesman mistakenly fuels his engine with gun powder. Realizing too late that the fire is in their own fire station, the Stooges manage to arrive just in time to save the captain's daughter (Lola Jensen) from the flames. Chase directed five Stooges comedies, including the delightful Violent is the Word for Curly (1938). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1938
This Three Stooges short was one of four directed by comedian Charley Chase. The boys play dog-groomers who use a conveyor belt contrivance that would make Rube Goldberg proud -- it includes six mechanical hands to wash the pooch, and Curly rides a stationary bicycle to run the rinse. A couple has a fight over whether the husband can bring his dog on their trip to Palm Springs and she goes home. Because the front door is locked, she leaves her baby on the doorstep while letting herself in through the back way. The Stooges, on their way home, see the baby and assume it has been abandoned. They decide to take it to the police station but can't resist bringing the tot home for a visit first, even though their landlord (Vernon Dent) doesn't allow children. The parents assume the baby has been kidnapped, and the Stooges find themselves in hot water. They disguise Curly as the baby's mother, hoping to get to the police station with some semblance of calm. Of course this ploy doesn't work -- they've stuffed sponges into Curly's stockings to make his skinny legs more shapely and when sprinklers are turned on, his lumpen legs give his disguise away. Now dressed up as Chinese laundrymen with Curly and the baby hiding in a cart, they run from a cop (Bud Jamison, sporting an Irish accent). They're caught, but the husband recognizes the Stooges as the dog groomers and all is forgiven. Because the baby's so filthy they offer to wash it on the conveyor belt, but Curly makes it go haywire and the mechanical hands spank the baby. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1938
Comedian Charley Chase not only directed this two-reel farce, one of the Three Stooges' most popular, but also contributed a novelty song, "Swingin' the Alphabet." The Stooges are gas station attendants mistaken for European professors and hired by the Mildew Women's College. When the real professors turn up, the Stooges manage to convince a rich benefactress that athletics are more important than scholarly learning -- until, that is, a football filled with nitroglycerin rather makes the question moot. A pun on the tearjerker Valiant Is the Word for Carrie (1936), this two-reel comedy remains a favorite by the legion of Stooges fans. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1938
This Three Stooges short was one of a handful directed by comedian Charley Chase. While the trio's films with Chase were no less funny than the ones they made with Jules White or any of the other directors in the Columbia shorts department, though the violence was toned down in favor of other types of visual humor. This comedy in particular shows Chase's more subtle touch. It opens up with a nouveau riche couple -- before coming into money, the husband (Bud Jamison) was a mailman. That doesn't dampen the wife's social aspirations; she believes that by getting famed interior designer Omay to do their home, they may just wind up in "Who's Who." Omay's offices, unfortunately for him, happen to be located in the office building where the Stooges are working as janitors; although, at the moment, Curly and Larry are playing checkers on the floor with paint cans. Because of a mix-up, the ambitious society wife believes Moe is Omay (which actually is "Moe" in Pig Latin), and the Stooges wind up in her mansion. They start off by painting over a Louis XVI table and disaster follows upon disaster. During a card game thrown by the matron, it is revealed that her friend was getting a commission from Omay, who believes that the Stooges have stolen the assignment from him by offering her a bigger piece of the pie. The wife's three friends leave in a huff, and when the Stooges try to douse them with paint, the cans fall on their own heads instead. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1937
In his fifth two-reeler for Columbia, Charley Chase plays a soda jerk with an overwhelming passion for detective magazines. In spite of this, he doesn't recognize notorious bank robber Lucky Lapidus, who visits the drug store. Later on, though, Charley's mother-in-law spies the crook on the streetcar and he is captured. But not for long -- Lapidus breaks from prison and swears revenge on the woman who identified him! So Charley teams up with a cop who's not much brighter than he is (Bud Jamison), and they try to track him down. Charley -- in a marvelous bit of cinematic humor -- disguises himself as a blind one-man band and sings a nonsense song, "I'm a Daring Drugstore Desperado" (a tune, incidentally, which Chase penned himself). Although Charley does identify Lucky this time, his only reward is to get collared by one of the men in blue for pretending to be blind. Columbia remade this picture as The Awful Sleuth in 1951. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1936
Charley Chase suffers through the vacation from hell in this hilarious two-reeler. He drives to California with his wife (Rosina Lawrence) and his mother-in-law (Bonita Weber), who is determined to run everything. Unfortunately, Rosina always sides with her mother, ever voicing the annoying refrain, "Mother knows best." On the way they are robbed and their car and clothes are taken. Then they try to borrow gas from an old man (Clarence H. Wilson) and accidentally push his car off a cliff. Finally they are arrested as hoboes and tossed in jail. Charley is relating the awful details back home to his co-workers when the new boss walks in -- it's the old man whose car he ruined! There's a notable cameo appearance by duo Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, who play hitchhikers (Charley refuses to pick them up, claiming they look like a pair of horse thieves). Chase pays homage to his pals by scratching his head in Stan Laurel's inimitable style, and later on, mother-in-law remarks, "Here's another fine mess you've gotten us into!" This was the last two-reeler Chase shot for producer Hal Roach. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1936
This was one of Charley Chase's last comedies for producer Hal Roach. Here, Charley is determined to attend his local movie theater's "Bank Night" (a common promotion in the '30s, which involved a contest with a cash prize). He leaves a stack of work to make it home on time and after dinner, he takes off with his wife (Rosina Lawrence) and daughter Mary (Darla Hood, from the Our Gang series). Little Mary is called on stage to pick the winning number and instead of reading it off the piece of paper, she calls out Charley's, which she has written on her hand. The theater manager straightens things out, but it turns out the number on the paper is Mary's. The audience protests loudly so Charley insists that they draw again. This time the number belongs to his wife. Everyone thinks the contest was rigged so the whole town vilifies Charley and his boss fires him. To rectify matters he insists on holding the drawing again the next night -- this time his ex-boss's number is picked and the crowd dissolves into a free-for-all. This two-reel picture was originally called Bank Night and shot as a feature, but distributors were wary of it -- none of their theaters, many of whom had their own "bank nights," were amused by the subject matter. So the film was cut and the references to "bank night" were toned down. Even then theaters shied away from it, which is too bad because it contains a number of great slapstick scenes -- Charley's after dinner trouble with a piece of lemon pie is near-classic. Chase (under his real name Charles Parrott) and Harold Law directed, along with Alan Hale, Sr. (yes, the character actor), who was uncredited. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1936
Produced by Hal Roach, Kelly the Second is one of the few feature films to capture the comic spirit of Roach's wonderful two-reelers. Patsy Kelly stars as Molly Kelly, who as the result of an unexpected street brawl becomes the trainer of truck-driver-turned-prizefighter Cecil Callahan (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams). It seems that Cecil is a gentle soul who turns into a fighting fool whenever he hears the strains of "The Irish Washerwoman." Molly talks her boss, druggist Doc Klum (Charley Chase), into financing Cecil's ring career, which gets Doc in dutch with gangsters Ike (Ed Brophy) and Spike (Harold Huber). When Cecil's head is briefly turned by Ike's moll Gloria (Pert Kelton), Molly walks out on him but returns in time to cheer him to victory in the inevitable Big Fight. Despite some formidable comic competition, the film is stolen by the great Charley Chase, in one of his few feature-film appearances. Kelly the Second also features unbilled cameos by such Hal Roach favorites as Max Davidson and Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer (Billy Gilbert, alas, was cut from the final release print); best of all, the musical score includes several familiar "background" themes by the inimitable LeRoy Shield. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patsy Kelly, Pert Kelton, (more)
- 1934
This Charley Chase short opens with a song, "You've Gotta Give Credit to Love." But love won't solve one dilemma Charley and his wife (Betty Mack) are having -- her selfish sister, Celeste, has moved in and taken over the house. Celeste commandeers the bathroom, and Charley is forced to get ready for work in other parts of the house. He has several unfortunate encounters with an ironing board, an iron, and a washing machine, and the result is that he's late. His boss (Wilfred Lucas) is incensed, but when he needs a young lady to entertain an out-of-town client, Charley tries to make amends by offering the services of his sister-in-law. Celeste, however, refuses to go; just then, the boss shows up with his fiancee (Gertrude Astor), and the client (Arthur Houseman). Charley is forced to pretend that his wife is Celeste, and when Celeste shows up, he's stuck pretending he is married to her. The group goes to a stylish nightclub, but Houseman is drunk even before they arrive. The night goes downhill from there as disaster after disaster happens. Hattie McDaniel has a bit as Gertrude Astor's maid. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1934
A truly clever short feature in which Charley Chase (who also co-directed) plays four siblings, each one in a different profession and with his own personality quirks -- a fact that drives the girlfriend of one of them (played by Betty Mack) to distraction trying to keep the whole family straight in her mind. The multiplicities start building, arithmetically and then geometrically, in a great sight gag for the final fade-out. Look for the Our Gang/Little Rascals star Matthew "Stymie" Beard in a small role in one scene. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charley Chase, Betty Mack, (more)
- 1933
Lodge members Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy take a solemn oath to attend the 80th-annual Sons of the Desert Convention (read: annual binge) in Chicago. That is, Ollie takes the oath, but Stanley balks. When asked why, Stanley answers that he's afraid his wife won't let him go. Ollie is appalled: "Every man must be king in his own castle." But when Ollie meekly brings up the subject of the convention with his wife Lollie (Mae Busch), she soon dethrones the "king." Lollie wants to take a vacation in the mountains, and is dead-set against her husband going around "with a pack of hooligans." But Ollie is determined to attend the convention, and to that end cooks up a scheme with Stanley. Ollie will pretend to be deathly ill; Stan will fix it so the doctor will prescribe a trip to Honolulu. Knowing that his wife can't stand going on sea voyages, Ollie will request that Stan accompany him to Hawaii--then, both men will sneak off to Chicago. A few hitches notwithstanding (Stan hires a veterinarian instead of a doctor, explaining that he didn't think the man's religion would make any difference), the boys go to the convention, where they cut up royally with practical joker Charley Chase. Alas, the Honolulu-bound boat on which Stan and Ollie are supposed to be travelling is sunk in a typhoon. While the grief-stricken wives are at the steamship company attempting to find out if their husbands survived the sea disaster, Stan and Ollie arrive home, wearing leis and carrying pineapples as "evidence" of their Honolulu vacation. When the boys find out about the shipwreck, they desperately try to escape to a hotel, but the wives arrive home prematurely, forcing Stan and Ollie to camp out in the attic. It looks as though the boys might just get away with their new plan of coming home at the same time that the rescue boats arrive....until Lollie Hardy and Betty Laurel (Dorothy Christie), attending a picture show, are treated to the spectacle of their husbands cavorting merrily before the newsreel cameras covering the Sons of the Desert conclave in Chicago. The film's final ten minutes are priceless--especially that bit about "ship-hiking." Considered the best of Laurel and Hardy's feature films, One of the top ten moneymaking pictures of 1934, it was released in Europe as Fraternally Yours and Sons of the Legion, and is also available in a crudely edited 20-minute TV version, Fun on the Run. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, (more)
