{"product_id":"charley-chase-from-keystone-to-hal-roach-1915-1926-silent","title":"Charley Chase: From Keystone To Hal Roach 1915-1926 (Silent)","description":"\u003ci\u003e\"Charley Chase is my inspiration as a filmmaker and historian because he didn't have to wear makeup or outrageous costumes to be funny!  He was just a ordinary guy who found himself in \"tricky\" situations (usually involving women) and then got out of them by using his own ingenuity. And he always spiced up those situations in his films by sprinkling them with meticulously constructed gags that built to an uproarious climax.\"\u003c\/i\u003e -- John K. Carpenter, \"The Movie Man\". \u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Charley Chase (1893-1940) is widely considered by film fans to be one of the geniuses of silent comedy. Born Charles Parrott in Baltimore, Maryland, a brief career in vaudeville led to bit parts at Keystone Films. Unhappy playing second fiddle to luminaries such as Chaplin and Arbuckle, Parrott famously approached Hal Roach, telling him, \u003ci\u003e\"I can play anything!\"\u003c\/i\u003e Rechristened Charley Chase, he was soon starring in his own series of two-reel comedies for Roach. In these films, Charley usually played a sophisticated young man (sometimes a harried husband, or an overworked businessman) plunged into an unfortunate succession of embarrassing incidents. Most of the Chase shorts were directed by Leo McCarey, later to be famous for the Marx Brothers' \u003ci\u003eDuck Soup\u003c\/i\u003e and an Academy Award winner for \u003ci\u003eGoing My Way\u003c\/i\u003e (1944). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eHASH HOUSE MASHERS (1915):\u003c\/b\u003e A non-mustachioed Charley stars in one of his few solo comedies at Keystone. He gets in trouble when he stops paying the rent and starts romancing the landlord's daughter.  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eLOVE IN ARMOR (1915):\u003c\/b\u003e In another early Keystone short, Charley becomes a knight in shining armor when girlfriend Mae Busch is snatched by oily Baron Von Hasenpfeffer (Fritz Schade). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eA TEN-MINUTE EGG (1924):\u003c\/b\u003e For his first films at Roach, Charley played the role of \"Jimmie Jump\", a put-upon everyman. Here Jimmie tries to convince people he's a tough guy by handing them a card that says he's \"Dreadnaught Danny Dugan, Bouncer at the Bucket of Blood Cafe.\" When his girlfriend and her mother are threatened, he'll have to become a bruiser for real. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eOUTDOOR PAJAMAS (1924):\u003c\/b\u003e Jimmie Jump overslept on the day of his wedding and has to run to church in his pajamas. That's just the set-up for some of Charley's most innovative gags as he runs into cops, horses and encyclopedia salesmen on the way. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eBIG RED RIDING HOOD (1925):\u003c\/b\u003e Now an academic (but still dirt poor), Jimmie Jump is asked to translate \"Little Red Riding Hood\" into Swedish by a representative of their government. When the book is stolen, a riotous chase ensues that surely ranks among the greatest in silent comedy. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eTELL 'EM NOTHING (1926):\u003c\/b\u003e Charley is a successful lawyer desired by all the most beautiful women -- To help them divorce their husbands! The shoe's on the other foot, however, when Charley's wife Gertrude Astor thinks he's cheating on her with Vivien Oakland. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e BONUS: \u003cb\u003eMABEL'S BLUNDER (1914):\u003c\/b\u003e A Mabel Normand comedy in which our heroine dresses as a man to spy on her two-timing boyfriend. Charley, in one of his earliest roles, plays a boy she gets into a fight with at a party. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e From the Collection of John K. Carpenter, \"The Movie Man.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Alpha Video","offers":[{"title":"DVD","offer_id":45802743070870,"sku":"089218801692","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0703\/9621\/5446\/files\/089218801692.jpg?v=1762202115","url":"https:\/\/moviezyng.com\/products\/charley-chase-from-keystone-to-hal-roach-1915-1926-silent","provider":"Movie Zyng","version":"1.0","type":"link"}