LEON ERROL Series: "The Wrong Room" (1939)

 

THE WRONG ROOM (1939 RKO Pictures Short Subject)  Starring Leon Errol as Professor Errol, Veronica Lake (credited as Connie Keane) as Mrs. Stevens, Charlotte Treadway as Mrs. Errol, Eddie Dunn as Casper Stevens, John Laing as the Hotel Clerk.  Written by Stanley Rauh and Lou Brock.  Directed by Lou Brock.

Introduction and overview to our Leon Errol Salute Series is at this link.

This time it's Professor Leon Errol, thank you.  He's an authority on charm, and apparently the secret is to get yourself inebriated since Leon has already had a few too many when he arrives at the Oceanview Hotel.  The entrance of Mr. Errol follows that of newlyweds Mr. and Mrs. Stevens, there for a honeymoon destined to be interrupted by the groom's duties as junior partner in his law firm back in New York.

Stevens is predictably called away by his boss, and loopy Leon staggers into their adjacent room while the young bride is asleep.  In his decidedly un-professorly state, Errol ends up startling the waking bride, who faints away and leaves Leon with the sobering thought that he must have married her bigamously.  Meanwhile, Mrs. Errol is concerned about her inability to reach her husband, so naturally she's on her way to the hotel.

"You're Mrs. Errol?"

"Yes!"

(sotto) "He must have been drunk."

Typical furiously paced Errol farce has the sixty-ish star doing his own pratfalls, ambulating shakily and carrying an oft-unconscious Lake around like a rag doll (at one point, almost on her Shirley Temple hairdo into the linen room) like a comedian twenty years younger--or at least, thirty pounds burlier.  I'm consistently astonished how sprightly Errol is in these RKO shorts--by 1939 the man was well into his fifth decade of show business!  The venerable comic doesn't go so far as to perform the antics on the fire escape and ledge himself: you never see his face outside.  I can't fault him for deferring when he's twice the age Harold Lloyd was filming SAFETY LAST.

Credited here as Connie Keane, Veronica Lake is as wobbly-kneed as our star, falling off her unsteady feet at A) a stranger in her room; B) a perceived attempt by him to poison her; and C) the mere sight of him (Errol) in the hallway.  While Mrs. Stevens comes across as thanklessly flighty with little else to do, one can't help but think poorly of Mr. Stevens judgment.  I mean, dude: you just married Veronica Freaking Lake (granted, the peek-a-boo was still a couple of years away) and you're spending your wedding night seeing clients?  As the new hubby, forty-three year old Eddie Dunn looks a decade older than that while bride Lake was still two months away from her seventeenth birthday.    

Professor Errol spends the entire short in the same outfit from THE JITTERS (sans broken cigarette) and pretty much carries the first reel single-handedly: wobbling through the lobby, hallway and titular hotel room while trying to remember the night before.  Naturally he's given the wrong idea by wedding souvenirs, and ends up hiring the wrong attorney.  In the end, he has a choice to jump or face the music with Mrs. Errol.  Another wrong choice for the charming prof?  Director Brock fades out before we find out.

Brock helmed only seven two reelers, working mainly as a producer, but he also directed Errol in MOVING VANITIES and MAJOR DIFFICULTIES and co-wrote 1943's CUTIE ON DUTY.  He shows a talent to rival Leslie Goodwins' at directing the comic, capturing Leon's tipsy tics in all their glory and generally giving the star free reign.  Maybe too much at times, since the ongoing monologue gets a tad tedious after six minutes.  Still, the screenplay by Brock and co-writer Stanley Rauh (LOVE ON TAP) is mostly a great fit for Errol, who gives a class in Inebriation 101 that even Foster Brooks could have learned from.  

In her only outing as Leon's wife, Charlotte Treadway isn't the ideal Mrs. Errol.  For example, can you imagine Dunn delivering that insult above to Dorothy Granger or Vivian Tobin?  The groom would have had something broken over his head for sure!  As it turned out, this was Treadway's only two reeler.  She's adequate, but near the bottom of the list for Leon's screen wives.  Her husband's transgressions are limited to the bottle this time, though Mr. Errol practices his chivalry on an uncredited lovely in the hallway.  Hey, he is supposed to be the World's Foremost Charmer!

Modern audiences will likely find THE WRONG ROOM most noteworthy for the always photogenic Lake's first credited role (not her screen debut--SORORITY HOUSE arrived four months earlier).  She's given little to do here but pout and lose consciousness, but she was headed for major stardom by the time was she out of her teens.  Treadway, Dunn and Laing pretty much stay the hell out of Leon's way, but THE WRONG ROOM works perfectly fine with the star doing the heavy lifting.  Hell, wasn't that the case for most of his shorts?  Not all that imaginative, but furious, funny and tailor made for old Rubberlegs.   (*** out of four)

THE WRONG ROOM is available for viewing on YouTube:

LEON ERROL SERIES: "One Too Many" (1934)

ONE TOO MANY (1934 Columbia Pictures Short Subject)  Starring Leon Errol as Leon, Vivian Oakland as Mrs. Errol, Tom Herbert as Tom, Bud Jamison as The Cop, Jack Norton as The Judge.  Also starring William Irving, Kitty McHugh, Harry Semels, Johnny Kascier.  Written by Harry McCoy.  Directed by Robert F. McGowan

Introduction to the LEON ERROL SALUTE SERIES is at this link.

"What do you mean, "Darling"?  What time are you going to stagger in tonight?

Fifteen minutes til the office closes, and Leon Errol has promised the Mrs. that he's coming straight home.  She's skeptical--and with good reason.  Once co-worker Tom arrives to propose a celebratory "shot" to end the day, the two men end up emptying the whole bottle--and several more at Club Royale afterward, closing the bar down at 2 A.M.

The eight hour delay in his arrival results in some domestic violence, with besotted Leon on the receiving end.  Fortunately, Errol has a chance to make amends the following day with Vivian having guests over for dinner: the judge and his spouse.  But Tom has another big contract to celebrate, and even the slightest twist of Leon's arm has him back at the Royale--long past dinnertime.

ONE TOO MANY has a misleading title--Errol has far more shots than that on both evenings depicted.  Leon suffers all of the human damage from his duo of bouts with with Vivian despite not really philandering this time outside of a couple of flirts.  But while ONE TOO MANY displays the Production Code seal of approval before its credits, this Columbia effort would not have been out of place before it.  For starters, Club Royale is raided despite the end of Prohibition a year earlier--so something shady is going on there even if Leon isn't partaking beyond the imbibing. 

Speaking of, while he's at least 53 (likely older) here, Leon Errol is remarkably nimble with his well worn rubber legged antics.  Leon is intoxicated for fully half of ONE TOO MANY's length and it's time well spent.  Simply picking up a dropped hat?  Making a call from a pay phone?  Mailing a letter?  They're all too complicated for our befuddled carouser, and Errol's own home is a minefield even before the Mrs. wakes up.  One Vivian does, the first bout is as lopsided as it gets.

Close enough to his physical prime for some roughhousing, Leon takes punch after punch from the spouse, resulting in multiple knockdowns.  Once Errol finally lands one, it's on her reflection in the mirror.  At least the expensive vase he shatters isn't broken over his bald head for once.  Good thing for Leon--Vivian Oakland's wife is perpetually pissed from first frame to last and has a violent streak rarely seen in future Mrs. Errols.  It's hard to imagine Dorothy Granger leaping over the railing and attacking her husband with the judge's gavel(!) no matter how much Leon might deserve it.  (Can't fully blame him for boozing after you see that!)  We dissolve to the following day once the outburst starts, so the question of whether Vivian clears the courtroom with it goes unanswered.

Curiously, Tom Herbert is uncredited despite his substantial role as the instigator of Leon's liquored up follies.  Vivian Oakland was a frequent Mrs. Kennedy in Edgar's AVERAGE MAN series, but kept popping up in Leon's shorts occasionally with her swan song PUNCHY PANCHO being the same year as Errol's (1951).  Perennial Three Stooges foil Bud Jamison is the cop Leon impersonates, and in a cute bit of casting against type the Judge is played by Jack Norton, one of the few actors more frequently soused onscreen than Mr. Errol. 

Robert F. McGowan does a nice job in his first short after a long run of OUR GANG comedies, giving his star the needed space to deliver his time tested routine yet keeping the train on schedule. Too bad this was their only collaboration: McGowan returned to kiddie land with Baby LeRoy in BABES IN HOLLYWOOD for his next two-reeler.  Writer Harry McCoy provides multiple set pieces and returned to pen Errol's Columbia swan song HONEYMOON BRIDGE (1935) before his premature death at 48 two years later.  

Errol's tenure at Columbia lasted only four shorts during 1934-35 due to a dispute with the studio, which is a shame since the creativity runs high here.  Columbia and RKO would reduce the budgets for two reelers in the next decade, but in the mid-thirties handsome production values helped a well conceived short subject shine.  The wonderfully sudden denouement hints at Leon learning for once but is cynical enough to have been written before Hays took hold.  While THE JITTERS is a hard showcase to beat for Leon's longtime stage antics, ONE TOO MANY serves as almost as fine a vehicle for posterity.  It's the closest of his Columbia quartet to the RKO formula, but fresher, darker and practically pre-Code.  Definitely one that needs to be freed from the vaults.  (**** out of four)

UPDATE 2023:  It has been freed! ONE TOO MANY is now available for viewing at this link!

Leon Errol Series: SERVICE WITH A SMILE (1934)

SERVICE WITH A SMILE (1934 Vitaphone short subject) Starring Leon Errol as Walter Webb, Marie Wells as Mrs. Webb, Harry Seymour as Harold Bigsby, Maxine Doyle as Girl in Auto, Herbert Evans as the Golfer, Frank Darlen as Customer, Mildred Dixon as Chorus Girl, Ben Hall as Will.  Written by Eddie Moran.  Directed by Roy Mack.

Introduction to the Leon Errol Salute series is at this link.

Owner of a small service station (one petrol pump), Leon is awakened by a phone call in the middle of the night.  It's his employee, informing him that the station has been destroyed by a fire.  Fortunately, the Mrs. reminds him, Leon just upgraded his insurance. It gives ol' Rubberlegs a great if not terribly original idea--exaggerate the loss so that the insurance company will give him the station he always wished to have.

At adjuster Seymour's office that morning, Errol goes into detail about the now jumbo-sized station which employs dozens.  Errol's daydream becomes our viewing pleasure: the titular full service is provided by beautiful girls in revealing boiler suits.  Female mechanics.  Female attendants.  Waitresses?  Goes without saying.

Leon really goes the extra mile for his customers.  Free lunch is provided, with a 19 hole golf course (!) just back of the lube rack if your car will be awhile.  Need a date?  That's no problem either.  It's a FULL service garage, Mr. Bigsby.  Maybe to any customer, but we mostly see males being catered to.  Not just by Leon, even the cops will help you out if you're stuck for a date!  

The boiler suits aren't as revealing as the togas and beach attire in Mack's Technicolor companion, GOOD MORNING, EVE!  That said, the Pre-Code attitude is intact, most prominently in the best musical number in either short, Whatcha Gonna Do Now?  Maxine Doyle is downright giddy that her boyfriend's car is at a standstill, singing that the setting "is right for petting".   All the women revel in the disablement of their vehicles for similar reasons.  Even if their fellas don't...

Errol eschews his wobbly legged drunk act in both Vitaphones, and doesn't appear to be dallying with any of his nubile mechanics.  Talk about atypical Leon; the only implied friskiness is with his wife Wells (twin beds notwithstanding) as we diplomatically fade to the adjuster's office.  Unfortunately, Leon is given nothing but groaners line-wise.  He's more master of ceremonies than instigator here, and GOOD MORNING, EVE! is wilder and racier--as suggestive as SERVICE WITH A SMILE gets at times, EVE shows us more.  

That said, both shorts would be very worthwhile for the florid Technicolor alone, but both are also consistently amusing through both reels, and seeing Leon Errol in color was way too rare a treat.  While I prefer the later effort (this was actually the very first Three-Strip Technicolor Vitaphone), SERVICE WITH A SMILE is still a pretty good time.  (**1/2 out of four)

Leon Errol Series: WHAT A BLONDE (1945)

WHAT A BLONDE (1945 RKO Radio Pictures) Starring Leon Errol, Richard Lane, Veda Ann Borg, Michael St. Angel, Lydia Bilbrook, Clarence Kolb, Elaine Riley, Chef Milani and Ann Shoemaker.  Written by Charles E. Roberts and Oscar Brodney.  Directed by Leslie Goodwins.

Introduction to the LEON ERROL SALUTE SERIES is at this link.


A national emergency resulting in rationing of raw materials and "non-essential" employees and businesses being told to stand down.  Ripped from today's headlines?  No, a 1945 comedy showing that history does indeed rhyme---an amusing artifact from the tail end of our last "Fourth Turning".



Dunno about you but this looks as essential as a business gets if you ask me.

Lingerie tycoon Errol makes the argument that his product is indeed crucial for national morale--soldiers in The Big One need those pin-ups!  Unfortunately he doesn't succeed with it when he petitions the ration board for additional gasoline coupons.  Once Leon learns that carpooling will net him extra vouchers, he risks the misrepresentation penalty (10 years or $10 grand) by hiring people to ride with him, even offering to board them at the mansion while the Mrs. (Bilbrook) is away for two weeks.  Young promoter (and boyfriend to Leon's secretary Riley) St. Angel is quickly hired to start the ball rolling.

Shifty butler Lane secures the services of laid off dancer Borg to round out a trio of riders, but Errol unwittingly finds himself hosting Borg's entire entourage of racy showgirls.  Simultaneously, bluenose textile manufacturer Kolb (who Leon badly needs materials from) decides to drop in on Errol, forcing unrefined and reluctant Borg to play Leon's "much younger" spouse.  Naturally, Bilbrook returns much earlier than anticipated, giving him too many wives and nowhere near enough bedrooms when the pious Kolbs are forced to stay the night.

A longtime scribe of Errol pictures, Charles E. Roberts (RIVERBOAT RHYTHM) adapted WHAT A BLONDE from a story by lawyer turned screenwriter Oscar Brodney (HARVEY).  In what is likely Roberts' finest screenplay, WHAT A BLONDE is wonderfully complex with minimal contrivance.  Roberts weaves an increasingly tangled web for Leon, packing enough gags for half a dozen short subjects into its 70 minutes.

Outside of a brief reference to a fling ten years past (that Lane has been milking for that same decade of employ), Leon steers clear of philandering and inebriation for once.  Butler Lane is the implied womanizer (Borg is one of his girl friends) and provides apparent support for Errol's schemes that unfortunately adds a new problem for every one solved, whether he's providing extra riders, siphoning needed gas, or using his charm to provide temporary (but too scantily dressed for the sanctimonious guests) domestic help.  Lane made a living playing sharpies, and meshes perfectly with Errol--no wonder that Lane soon ended up with his own two-reel series at Columbia (with Gus Schilling).  It's a close race who gets more laughs during the first half of WHAT A BLONDE.

However, Leon pulls way ahead in the home stretch, with one perfectly timed denial after another as he alternatively kowtows to the devout but critical Kolb, attempts to placate his increasingly angry Mrs., creates a plumbing disaster and repeatedly finds himself in the wrong room.  The beginning of Leon's terrible, horrible, no good very bad day at home was no better: he inadvertently ruined Lane's arrangement to get around meat rationing and caused his entire domestic staff to resign at the worst possible time.

While other outside-the-box Errol films ranged from decent (POP ALWAYS PAYS) to way below average (HURRY, CHARLIE, HURRY!) and generally relied on Leon to do all of the heavy lifting, WHAT A BLONDE gives the comedian probably his finest material of the 1940's.  With nary a wobble in his walk, the veteran responds with flying colors and gets fantastic support from Lane, Borg, and the always stentorian Kolb.  Bilbrook also played Leon's wife in five MEXICAN SPITFIRE movies (as Lady Epping) and Deer! Deer!  

WHAT A BLONDE was the first credited feature for Elaine Riley (He Forgot to Remember).  Real life TV chef Joseph Milani usually went uncredited, but gets prominent billing as the butcher who turns out to be Leon's first (but not last) nemesis.  Jason Robards Sr., Dorothy Vaughan, Lloyd Corrigan and Emory Parnell are among those noticeable but missing from the credits.   

Directed by Leslie Goodwins (F TROOP, MAVERICK), WHAT A BLONDE gains steady steam right up to its satisfying climax.  It's a wonderful discovery for fans of classic screwball comedy and an absolute must for anyone who doubts that Leon Errol belongs among the greats of the first half of the 20th century.  Highly recommended, and now available on DVD from Warner Archive.

Leon Errol Series: BEWARE OF REDHEADS (1945)

BEWARE OF REDHEADS (1945 RKO Radio Pictures) Original Release Date: September 14, 1945.  Starring Leon Errol as Leon Errol, Dorothy Granger as Mrs. Errol, Myrna Dell as Gloria Richards, Marc Cramer as Mr. Richards, Arthur Loft as Dr. Thompson, Cyril Ring as Ed Brooks, Tanis Chandler as the Secretary, Tommy Noonan as the Assistant.  Written and Directed by Hal Yates.

Introduction to our Leon Errol Salute Series is at this link.

Leon Errol managed to make it to his office the morning after a particularly wild party at The Pelican Club, but isn't taking any visitors.  Too bad: titular fire bunny Gloria shows up, requesting the return of a compact she accidentally dropped in his pocket while they were dancing.  If you're guessing that Mrs. Errol is unaware of last night's activities, you're right--and you can probably deduce that she will find the compact and storm into the office while Ms. Richards is still there.  Leon is able to convince the Missus it was intended as a surprise gift for her, but his worries are far from over.  Gloria also has a spouse, and he's even more upset.  Mr. Richards files for divorce--naming Leon as a co-respondent.

He may have a cold pack on his head and the need to replace a few appointments with naps, but Leon sucks it up and makes it to the workplace under trying circumstances in this classic Hal Yates barn burner.  Ms. Richards shows she means business from the get-go, even ripping Chandler's skirt to get into Leon's office!  It must have been some party for both of them, if she was sufficiently distracted to leave a $200 makeup mirror with her venerable suitor.  Gloria certainly can't be all that innocent if she's dancing with Leon at his favorite watering hole--perhaps she's looking to upgrade financially?  If her age-appropriate husband can afford a compact worth $2,822 in today's dollars(!) she isn't doing too badly for herself already.  A bald, short man in his sixties able to pry Myrna Dell from her hubby--need any further proof that Leon Errol is a role model?

Our durable carouser is also commendably careful, able to charm his brother-in-law the physician into helping.  Hard to swallow?  Maybe, but then again Leon could have a little blackmail material ("he's my pal!").  Errol also deftly avoids having Gloria's name on one of his checks and makes assistant Brooks accompany her to the store to The hangover doesn't keep him from thinking on his feet when the Missus arrives, but the addled state of his brain finally shows itself when she leaves and takes the adrenaline rush with her.  A bit of advice: don't put your whiskey next to the ink bottle in your secret desk drawer.

Yates keeps the complications coming swiftly: numerous ill-timed arrivals on and off screen are par for the course, and a most unfortunate sprained ankle at the Errol household is the one thing our boozy buddy just can't see coming.  Still, Leon does a terrific job deflecting exposure under the circumstances, and just might avoid getting that vase broken over his head this time. 

Myrna Dell (Oh, Professor Behave!) was just beginning to receive consistent screen credit; this was the second of her seven Errol shorts.  Despite her titular role here, she was usually a beautiful blonde.  She gets laughs with her subtly assertive nature, which immediately changes once Mr. Richards shows his anger and threat of a divorce seems real.  It doesn't happen by the fadeout, but I still came away thinking the Richards have more marital problems than the Errols.  Dorothy is considerably more understanding than usual, maybe even gullible for the first reel.  Don't worry, that doesn't last.

Soon to join a pre-HOLLYWOOD SQUARES Peter Marshall in an underrated comedy team of the 1950's, Tommy Noonan makes his series debut as Dr. Thompson's unfortunate assistant.  This would be the first credited role for Tanis Chandler, and also the only short subject possibly best known for THE TRAP.  Marc Cramer would also play Dell's angry (to be fair, with good reason) husband in Double Honeymoon.

Drinking, carousing, burning the candle and both ends, and practicing the  "deny, deny, deny" technique decades before GUIDE FOR THE MARRIED MAN, Leon Errol never changed on screen no matter how many decades passed.  Thank God.  He and Hal Yates both realized audiences never wanted him to, and as a result we have dozens of laugh riots just like Beware of Redheads just waiting to be rediscovered.  (***1/2 out of four)

Leon Errol Series: TOO MANY WIVES (1951)

TOO MANY WIVES (1951 RKO Radio Pictures) Starring Leon Errol as Leon Errol, Dorothy Granger as Dorothy Errol, Joanne Jordan as Barbara Burke, Harry Harvey as Harry, Paul Maxey as Johnson and Sam McDaniel as The Cook.  Written and Directed by Hal Yates. 

Introduction to our ongoing Leon Errol Salute Series is at this link.

Leon graciously lets Ms. Burke into the apartment building when she locks herself out, just in time for an early arriving Mrs. Errol to assume that her husband has been 'stepping out' with the new neighbor.  For once, it really is a misunderstanding, but Mrs. Errol is having none of Leon's explanation.  Leon gets an ornate frame to the head and Dorothy gets her bags and leaves.

Hearing rumors of Leon's marital trouble, bluenose Johnson wants nothing to do with the "scandal" and decides to opt out of his contract with Leon's firm.  Harry persuades the money man to come see for himself at the Errols' over dinner--and Leon's objections, with no wife present to refute Johnson's allegation.  Where to find a female who can cook to take Dorothy's place and save the day?  Across the hallway, perhaps?  One problem--Burke's husband is as jealous as Leon's wife.

Careful, Leon!!!!

Leon's innocent--at least for awhile--in his RKO swan song, TOO MANY WIVES.  Written and directed by Hal Yates, who helmed the bulk of the Errol series after 1944's HE FORGOT TO REMEMBER, TOO MANY WIVES delights with a series of nose pulls worthy of The Three Stooges in its second reel.  Even Granger and Jordan get in on the knockabout antics, with the latter becoming less and less ladylike with each successive indignity.

Well into his seventies (unless he really was 15 when attending medical school in 1896!), Errol neither looks (he's just as bald and beak-nosed as he always was) nor sounds worse for the wear in his 98th and final RKO short.  There is one rare acknowledgement of the star's advanced years with Leon's comment that Johnson will "never buy" Jordan as his wife: "she's too young"!   While that's a tad sad, it's only one line, albeit an unnecessary one.  The legendary legs had grown far less rubbery by 1951, making Errol's wobbly signature walk rare if not impossible, but Leon could still execute equally hilarious variations on Lord Epping's penguinesque prance flawlessly.  Errol retained his impeccable timing to the very end--an amazing feat that few comedians matched in the decades that followed.

Harvey (L) and Errol

The ever-instigating Harvey began egging Errol on in 1939's TRUTH ACHES, giving him a lengthier tenure with the series than Granger or Yates!  Harry predictably starts the charade and deepens Leon's dilemma, but commendably stays to assist as the situation simmers.   TOO MANY WIVES would be Harvey's last two-reeler, but he was barely halfway through his 454 imdb.com listings.  Sam McDaniel was uncredited way too often, but he makes the list this time around; curiously, the jealous husband doesn't.  (If I can figure out who he is, or who played the woman in the hallway, I'll update the cast above--that's him pulling Leon's beak above, if anyone can help!)

Newcomer Joanne Jordan would become far better known as a commercial spokesperson for the next decade, despite a famous blooper that had her recommending Star Kist tuna on "crappers"(!) to her television audience.  TOO MANY WIVES was her only two-reeler, but she acquits herself well enough as she dives into this slapsticky entry.  Rotund Maxey played Leon's boss several times in the series' later years, but doesn't escape unscathed.  At least his belly remains unharmed.

With Yates soldiering on and lanky Gil Lamb taking over as the marquee name, RKO's short subject department survived for two more years, but Leon Errol's passing was truly the end of an era.  The aforementioned Three Stooges continued at Columbia, but both two-reel comedies and the RKO studio would be defunct by 1959.

Released two months after the legendary comedian's death in October 1951, TOO MANY WIVES thankfully sends Leon Errol out on a high note after nearly one hundred shorts: fast paced without being frantic, with just enough surprises to hold your attention and the star getting a well-deserved, appropriate last laugh at the fade-out.  Errol retained his comedic touch to the very end, and we can only wonder what might have followed in the Fifties: he and Granger were reportedly set to bring the formula to series television in 1952 if Leon had lived.  (*** out of four)

TOO MANY WIVES is available on YouTube, courtesy of The Silent Man, who is owed our thanks.  If you'd like to see it yourself, and perhaps fill in the blanks on the casting that the credits didn't solve, here ya go:

Leon Errol Series: HURRY, CHARLIE, HURRY! (1941)

"Why the Hell isn't this on DVD/Blu yet?" -- Number 103








HURRY, CHARLIE, HURRY! (1941 RKO Radio Pictures)  Starring Leon Errol, Mildred Coles, Kenneth Howell, Cecil Cunningham, Noble Johnson, George Watts, Douglas Walton, Renee Godfrey, George McKay.  Directed by Charles E. Roberts.  Screenplay by Paul Gerald Smith; Story by Luke Short.


Introduction to the Leon Errol Salute Series is at this link.


Leon is a business tycoon, albeit one henpecked by his snobbish wife Cunningham.  At least on the surface, that is.  Leon is surreptitiously undermining the efforts of the Mrs. to marry daughter Coles to a boring blue blood by aiding bakery truck driver Howell in his effort to elope with her.  Alas, Leon muffs the effort after much slapstick with his ladder.

To avoid Cunningham's effort to play matchmaker for Coles and stuffy Walton, Leon leaves for a fishing trip to Oklahoma under the ruse of being summoned to the nation's capitol by Vice President McKay to discuss Indian affairs--something Leon unwittingly gets a crash course on during his stay in the Sooner state.  When Chief Poison Arrow's son takes a liking to the bald funnyman, Errol finds himself made a "blood brother".

The honored Errol invites the Chief and his tribesmen to drop in on him "anytime they're back East", thinking the possibility of that is remote.  However anytime occurs two weeks later.  Leon's apparently successful diplomacy inspires the Mrs. to score a social coup by inviting her husband's "close friend" the Vice President to her party with the well-to-do bluenoses--leaving Leon, who's never met the man, on a wild scramble to find an imposter V.P. to appear instead.

HURRY, CHARLIE, HURRY! is a departure from the booze n' broads formula prevalent in Errol's short subjects, but even without drunken philandering there's no shortage of spouse trouble for Leon.  The absence does create an instance in which the pliable funnyman is completely sympathetic, assisting his daughter's happiness with industrious, hard-working Howell while the prospect horrifies his haughty, high-society minded wife.  It's a complete 180 from the premise of the prior year's POP ALWAYS PAYS.

After stepping in uncredited for Leslie Goodwins on that 1940 Errol vehicle, prolific writer Charles E. Roberts is the sole director of Paul Girard Smith's script for HURRY, CHARLIE, HURRY!  It would be his only turn behind the camera on an Errol feature, but Roberts continued helming two-reelers for the star through 1949's THE CACTUS CUT-UP.  The screenplay by Smith (IT'S A JOKE, SON!) provides Errol with plenty of the well-timed comic denials he was known for and, inevitably, a disguise--Leon is one of three Vice Presidents taking part in the climax.

Another surprise--that's WATER!

The biggest pitfall for HURRY, CHARLIE, HURRY! is the unfortunate depiction of its Native American characters: mute outside of Chief Poison Arrow, strictly of the "Ugh!" variety and drawing racist reactions in the city.  After making the modern viewer groan repeatedly for half of the film, though, Smith provides one surprise: Leon tells off a NYC cop who is harassing the tribesmen and points out that their land was originally stolen from them by the white man.  It doesn't entirely redeem the preceding half hour, but it is refreshing dialogue for the film's era, however brief.

While Roberts and Errol worked together frequently, HURRY, CHARLIE, HURRY! has few others from the comedian's usual collaborators: this was Cunningham's only turn as a "Mrs. Errol", and the actress' huffish manner only adds to Leon's likability.  The film was also one of RKO's two attempts to make twenty-year old Coles a leading lady, and provided beautiful Renee Godfrey with her first credited role.  Douglas Walton is hilariously bland as Cunningham's intended for her daughter--exactly what his upper-crust role calls for.

Leaving the biggest impression outside of Leon himself is legendary African-American actor Noble Johnson (MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE), who like the film's star was capable of making even the most thankless role stick in your mind.  A ubiquitous character actor with well over 100 credits onscreen, Johnson was the co-founder (with brother George) and President of the Lincoln Motion Picture Company off it.

HURRY, CHARLIE, HURRY! hurtles to the expected wild conclusion, with plenty of fake beards, locked doors and exasperated prigs making for a hilarious final reel at the dinner party.   Proof that Errol didn't need inebriated ambulation, philandering or a toffee-nosed disguise to make you laugh, but the star gets far less help than usual from his off-camera collaborators.  HURRY, CHARLIE, HURRY! has its moments--just not nearly enough of them,  The good gags are outnumbered by the uninspired groaners and cringe-worthy elements. 

SO....WHY ISN'T THIS ON DVD/BLU?

Very few know about it.  TCM did air it last October, so it might return at some point.

WHY IT SHOULD BE ON DVD/BLU:

Ah, come on, you know why at this point.  Leon Errol Boxed Set, something that Warner Archive really needs to have a about five or six volumes of.