Pathe; 1925; dir: Leo McCarey; cast: Charley Chase, Katherine Grant, George Siegemann, James Parrott, Jimmy Finlayson. Vintage original 11 x 14 in. (27.9 x 35.6 cm.) U.S. title lobby card, sepia-tinted, near mint condition. Produced by Hal Roach, this silent film comedy stars Charley Chase in multiple incarnations! The image features a medium shot of Chase wearing a disguise as he listens intently to what is occuring nearby. Unbeknownst to him, several men dressed as his "look-alikes" are watching him from behind a folding screen. A huge key on a chain is suspended above the scene. The caption in the upper right corner reads, Four caretakers where one grew before. This vintage original lobby card is in near mint condition with virtually no flaws. It was taken home by a man that worked for the Hal Roach Studio when this film was produced and has been in his possession since 1925.

Born Charles Joseph Parrott in Baltimore, Maryland, Chase began performing in vaudeville as a teenager and started his career in films by working at the Christie Comedies in 1912. He then moved to the Keystone Studios, where he began appearing in bit parts in the Mack Sennett films, including those of Charlie Chaplin. By 1915, he was playing juvenile leads in the Keystones and directing some of the films as "Charles Parrott." His Keystone credentials were good enough to get him steady work as a comedy director with other companies; he directed many of Chaplin imitator Billy West's comedies, which featured a young Oliver Hardy as villain. In 1920, Chase began working as a film director for Hal Roach Studios. Among his notable early works for Roach was supervising the first entries in the Our Gang series. Chase became Director-General of the Hal Roach Studio in late 1921, supervising the production of all the Roach series with the exception of the Harold Lloyd comedies. He eventually moved back in front of the camera with his own series of shorts following Lloyd's departure from the studio in 1923, adopting the screen name Charley Chase.

Direction of the Chase series was soon taken over by Leo McCarey, who, in collaboration with Chase, formed the comic style of the series — an emphasis on characterization and farce instead of knockabout slapstick. Chase was a master of the comedy of embarrassment, and he played either hapless young businessmen or befuddled husbands in dozens of situation comedies. His screen persona was that of a pleasant young man with a dapper mustache and ordinary street clothes; this set him apart from the clownish makeups and crazy costumes used by his contemporaries.

Chase remained the guiding hand behind the films, acting as director, writer, and, editor. However, he only began to receive director's credit, as Charles Parrott, on his own films in 1933. Some of Chase's starring shorts of the 1920s, particularly Mighty Like a Moose, Crazy Like a Fox, Fluttering Hearts, and Limousine Love, are among the finest in silent comedy. Chase moved with ease into sound films in 1929 and became one of the most popular film comedians of the period. He continued to be very prolific in the talkie era, often putting his fine singing voice on display and including his humorous, self-penned songs in his comedy shorts. The two-reeler The Pip from Pittsburgh, released in 1931 and co-starring Thelma Todd, is one of the most celebrated Charley Chase comedies of the sound era. Throughout the decade, the Charley Chase shorts continued to stand alongside Laurel and Hardy and Our Gang as the core output of the Roach studio. Chase appeared on-screen with Laurel and Hardy in their 1933 feature film Sons of the Desert. But Chase had no place in producer Roach's ambitious plans to make prestigious feature films, and he was dismissed from the Roach studio in 1936.

E-mail a friend about this item.

Return to Catalog