Perhaps Chase's relative obscurity is due to the fact that his career straddled the silent and talkie eras, and thus defies easy categorization. Unlike many of his fellow stars of the silent era, Chase successfully made the transition to sound and appeared in a steady stream of two-reel talking comedies. According to Richard Lewis Ward's book A History of the Hal Roach Studios, in the years 1931-32, Chase's films ranked just below Laurel and Hardy's as the studio's top earners (averaging $71,486 per picture, versus Laurel and Hardy's $91,690) and just above the Our Gang films (which averaged $67,344).
Ward credits Chase himself -- and not Roach -- with the success of his films. "The Chase series...was largely the responsibility of its star, who had been Roach's first supervising director in the early 1920s. Chase's control over his series was formalized in 1933, when he began directing his films under his real name, Charles Parrott. In 1934 his contract was revised to redefine his role as actor-supervisor. Chase-Parrott would direct or co-direct all of his films from 1933 until the series ended in 1936."
As if to further prove that Roach was not the mastermind of his career, Chase departed from the studio in 1936 and signed with Columbia Pictures. There, in addition to starring in twenty more two-reelers, he frequently produced and directed films for other comedians, such as The Three Stooges.
One of the best early talkies by this bright, enterprising comedian is The Real McCoy (1930). The prologue that opens The Real McCoy ("Thar's bars up thar in them thar mountains -- An' fightin' down thar in them thar valleys.") leads one to believe the short film is going to be a Prohibition-era moonshine comedy, but aside from a couple of mentions of revenuers and stills, the two-reeler is a charming fish-out-of-water romance that just happens to be set amongst backwoods hill folk of an unnamed mountain range. It opens as a motorcycle cop (Edgar Kennedy) hotly pursues city-slicker Charley (Chase) into the mountains, triggering a number of pedestrian pratfalls before both car and cycle plunge into the drink.
Sitting in the water together, a sort of unspoken truce is called. Charley remarks upon a particularly attractive young woman they passed (Thelma Todd), and vows not to leave the mountain until he makes her acquaintance. When the cop explains that mountain women will have nothing to do with city men, Charley dons hillbilly drag (including fringed leather jacket, musket, and skunkskin cap) in a clumsy effort to fit in. To protect himself from the suspicious hillbillies, Charley walks with a limp, after hearing that mountain people would never hurt a "cripple."
Charley's first attempt at romance fails when his hat is replaced with a live skunk, and his second fails when he splits his pants (which his cop buddy repairs, using his badge as a pin). Eventually Charley coaxes Thelma to join him at the community dance, and he must take even more measures to fit in. To demonstrate his mastery of mountain melodies, Chase sings a lively ballad and plays harmonica, violin, banjo, mouth harp and flute (admittedly, not at the same time). When Charley and Thelma discover that they are both city people, and that there are no barriers to their romance, they celebrate in the communal square dance. Unfortunately, Charley sheds his jacket and reveals the police badge holding up his pants, which sets in motion his frenzied flight back down the mountain.
Released on February 1, 1930, The Real McCoy was the first of thirteen films in which Chase appeared with actress Thelma Todd, with whom he is believed to have carried on an extramarital affair. According to Andy Edmonds's book Hot Toddy, "Charley and his wife, BeBe, had an amiable but somewhat free-spirited marriage. BeBe spent long weeks away from Charley at the couple's San Jacinto ranch; Charley spent many lonely nights at home with a brandy bottle or writing alone at his studio office. Charley was extremely well-liked by both men and women at the studio, always a gentleman, always charming, and very much a ladies' man. Charley was known to venture in and out of affairs with his leading ladies and had an eye for blondes, especially solidly built blondes like Thelma."
Director: Warren Doane
Producer: Hal Roach
Cinematography: George Stevens
Cast: Charley Chase (Charley), Thelma Todd (Thelma), Edgar Kennedy (Cicero), Eddie Dunn (Mountain Man), Charlie Hall (Mountain Man).
BW-21m.
by Bret Wood
