Silent
films on a Valentine’s Day afternoon, courtesy of Silent Cinema
Presentations, Inc. and the Hal Roach Studio. These were very funny.
There were three two-reelers and one three-reeler: His Wooden Wedding
(1925), From Hand to Mouth (1919), The Nickel Hopper (1926), and Don’t
Tell Everything (1927).
The
very interesting program notes by Steve Massa referenced the fact that
Roach’s studio lot was nicknamed “the Lot of Fun”, and it certainly
showed in His Wooden Wedding, which featured (as did the others) more
sight gags and less slapstick. On a chap’s wedding day (Charley Chase),
his best man (not!) slips the groom an anonymous note stating that his
bride to be (Katherine Grant) has a wooden leg. He even places a wooden
cane next to the bride’s leg as the couple is kneeling in church. The
groom feels the wood and does a major freak-out, rushing out of the
church. After the best man underhandedly retrieves the very expensive
engagement ring, havoc is wreaked as the ring stays just out of his
reach. The bride learns the truth and goes off after her groom. There
were lots of funny bits, including boomerang-style flying hats, the
bride chasing after an ocean liner in her father’s yacht, and the best
man getting his comeuppance from the bride’s decidedly not wooden leg.
People in the audience, me included, were literally laughing out loud.
From
Hand to Mouth starred Harold Lloyd as a man with no money, trying to
find a way to get some food. Along the way, he is joined by a young waif
and her pooch. He gets rescued by an heiress (Mildred Davis), and
finally is able to feed himself and the waif, and the dog, but not
before some funny shtick including loading up on lots of food only to
find out that the money he used was counterfeit, and having to give all the food back. He then gets a chance to rescue the heiress from a bunch of
no-goodniks out to swipe her inheritance. He saves the day and gets the
girl.
The
Nickel Hopper starred Mabel Normand as a dance-hall girl who gets
twirled around the floor, at five cents a pop, in various funny
vignettes. One of the more extended bits has Boris Karloff getting a bit
too touchy-feely, so Mabel dispatches him with the help of a blind man
and a policeman—I’m not making this up, you know! Partially written by
Stan Laurel, there’s also a very funny recurring bit with Oliver Hardy
as a jazz drummer. The plot involves Mabel still living with her parents
and having to give all of her wages to her loafing-at-home father, who
even goes so far as to steer possible suitors away from his little money
maker. But she finally meets a decent fellow and manages to find a
little bit of happiness ever after. There was lots of funny stuff, here.
Don’t
Tell Everything gets some of its humor from a man sort of disowning his
son because the rich widow he wants to marry is appalled at the boy’s
behavior at a party. Nevertheless, they marry and the boy tries to sneak
into the home (in drag) disguised as a hired maid. The plot comes full
circle at the end, when the widow’s son (whom she has neglected to
mention to her new hubby) turns out to be quite well known to his new
stepfather.
As
always, Ben Model provided crackerjack live piano accompaniment to all
four films. These were some very funny shorts that had the appreciative
audience members laughing with delight.
ConcertMeister
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