Charley ChaseFilmography

Four Clowns

Actors: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charley Chase, Buster Keaton

Synopsis: Robert Youngson once again compiles scenes from the golden age of comedy's silent film era. Laurel and Hardy are shown battling a gum machine, and Hardy is a debaucherous Romeo whose amorous plans are thwarted by Rex, the Wonder Horse. Charley Chase is hampered by hiccups and a female professor Read More

The Further Perils of Laurel and Hardy

Actors: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charley Chase

Synopsis: The second of Robert Youngson's compilations of the silent comedies of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, The Further Perils of Laurel & Hardy suffers a bit from too much repetition and gee-whiz obvious narration. Still, the vignettes offered herein are first-rate, as fresh and funny as they were when Read More

Laurel and Hardy's Laughing 20's

Actors: Jay Jackson, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Vivien Oakland, Glenn Tryon

Synopsis: Five of Laurel and Hardy's best features from the silent film era are compiled in this collection by Robert Youngson. Included are From Soup To Nuts, Wrong Again, The Finishing Touch, and iberty. On hand are legendary comic foils like James Findlayson and Edgar Kennedy, both masters of the "slow Read More

30 Years of Fun

Synopsis: The fourth of Oscar-winning short-subject director Youngson's comedy compilations (the earlier ones were Golden Age of Comedy, When Comedy was King, and Days of Thrills and Laughter) is, amazingly, almost as full and fresh as those earlier efforts, containing highlights from such silent comedy Read More

Nurse to You!

Saved by the Belle

Crew: Director

Synopsis: This especially wacky Three Stooges short was directed by comedian Charley Chase. The boys are traveling salesmen in the South American country of Valeska. The lazy town is only slightly stirred awake by its frequent earthquakes, nevertheless, there is a revolution brewing. The revolutionary Read More

Violent is the Word for Curly

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Comedian Charley Chase not only directed this two-reel farce, one of the Three Stooges' most popular, but also contributed a novelty song, "Swingin' the Alphabet." The Stooges are gas station attendants mistaken for European professors and hired by the Mildew Women's College. When the real Read More

Mutts to You

Crew: Director

Synopsis: This Three Stooges short was one of four directed by comedian Charley Chase. The boys play dog-groomers who use a conveyor belt contrivance that would make Rube Goldberg proud -- it includes six mechanical hands to wash the pooch, and Curly rides a stationary bicycle to run the rinse. A couple has Read More

Tassels in the Air

Crew: Director

Synopsis: This Three Stooges short was one of a handful directed by comedian Charley Chase. While the trio's films with Chase were no less funny than the ones they made with Jules White or any of the other directors in the Columbia shorts department, though the violence was toned down in favor of other Read More

Flat Foot Stooges

Crew: Director

Synopsis: As in their earlier False Alarms (1936), the Three Stooges play firemen in this two-reel farce directed by comedian Charley Chase. The engine company in question is somewhat old fashioned and employs horse-powered engines. In an effort to upgrade the equipment, a salesman mistakenly fuels his Read More

Calling All Doctors

The Big Squirt

Synopsis: In his fifth two-reeler for Columbia, Charley Chase plays a soda jerk with an overwhelming passion for detective magazines. In spite of this, he doesn't recognize notorious bank robber Lucky Lapidus, who visits the drug store. Later on, though, Charley's mother-in-law spies the crook on the Read More

Neighborhood House

Synopsis: This was one of Charley Chase's last comedies for producer Hal Roach. Here, Charley is determined to attend his local movie theater's "Bank Night" (a common promotion in the '30s, which involved a contest with a cash prize). He leaves a stack of work to make it home on time and after dinner, he Read More

Life Hesitates at 40

Crew: Director

Kelly the Second

Actors: Patsy Kelly, Pert Kelton, Charley Chase, Edward S. Brophy

Synopsis: Produced by Hal Roach, Kelly the Second is one of the few feature films to capture the comic spirit of Roach's wonderful two-reelers. Patsy Kelly stars as Molly Kelly, who as the result of an unexpected street brawl becomes the trainer of truck-driver-turned-prizefighter Cecil Callahan (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams Read More

On the Wrong Trek

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Charley Chase suffers through the vacation from hell in this hilarious two-reeler. He drives to California with his wife (Rosina Lawrence) and his mother-in-law (Bonita Weber), who is determined to run everything. Unfortunately, Rosina always sides with her mother, ever voicing the annoying Read More

The Count Takes the Count

Crew: Director

Vamp Till Ready

Crew: Director

The Cracked Iceman

Crew: Director

The Chases of Pimple Street

Crew: Director

Synopsis: This Charley Chase short opens with a song, "You've Gotta Give Credit to Love." But love won't solve one dilemma Charley and his wife (Betty Mack) are having -- her selfish sister, Celeste, has moved in and taken over the house. Celeste commandeers the bathroom, and Charley is forced to get ready Read More

Four Parts

Crew: Director

Actors: Charley Chase, Betty Mack, Matthew "Stymie" Beard

Synopsis: A truly clever short feature in which Charley Chase (who also co-directed) plays four siblings, each one in a different profession and with his own personality quirks -- a fact that drives the girlfriend of one of them (played by Betty Mack) to distraction trying to keep the whole family straight Read More

Fate's Fathead

Crew: Director

Fallen Arches

Bargain of the Century

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Directed by Hal Roach Studio comic Charlie Chase, this two-reeler is by many considered the best of the 16 Thelma Todd-ZaSu Pitts comedies. Having caused police officer James Burtis to lose his job, the girls invite him to stay in their apartment. They hope to reinstate their friends in the police Read More

Arabian Tights

Luncheon at Twelve

Crew: Director

Midsummer Mush

Crew: Director

Sons of the Desert

Actors: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charley Chase, Mae Busch, Lucien Littlefield

Synopsis: Lodge members Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy take a solemn oath to attend the 80th-annual Sons of the Desert Convention (read: annual binge) in Chicago. That is, Ollie takes the oath, but Stanley balks. When asked why, Stanley answers that he's afraid his wife won't let him go. Ollie is appalled Read More

Sherman Said It

Crew: Director

The Nickel Nurser

Mr. Bride

Young Ironsides

Now We'll Tell One

First in War

Synopsis: In this entry in the Charley Chase series, Charley decides to write a national anthem for the little country of Nicarania (sung to the tune of "Fight On, Pennsylvania," he calls it "Fight On, Nicarania"). Unfortunately, Charley's song lands him in hot water when he gets accidentally mixed up in a Read More

Girl Grief

One of the Smiths

The Panic Is On

Little Daddy

Actors: Farina Hoskins, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Jackie Cooper, Norman "Chubby" Chaney, Mary Ann Jackson

Synopsis: Originally released on March 28, 1931, the "Our Gang" comedy "Little Daddy" is no longer available in the "Little Rascals" TV package, due to the perceived offensiveness of its "ethnic" humor. The focus is on talented black youngsters Allen "Farina" Hoskins and Mathew "Stymie" Beard, here cast as Read More

Stepping Out

Synopsis: Two wives catch their husbands with other women and decide to take a vacation of their own in this drama. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Skip the Maloo!

What a Bozo!

The Pip from Pittsburgh

Synopsis: This is deservedly one of Charley Chase's most popular two-reelers. Charley's pal (Carlton Griffin) tries to set him up on a blind date with Thelma Todd, but Charley isn't having it -- last time he got fixed up with the hideous Kay Deslys. He finally agrees, figuring that if he doesn't shave Read More

Rough Seas

Actors: Charley Chase

Synopsis: In this three-reel sequel to 1930's High C's comedian Charley Chase is shown once again as a soldier, released from the brig and returning from World War I with his singing buddies -- and his monkey. Before they even have a chance to think about boarding the ship, their truck drives right off the Read More

Dollar Dizzy

All Teed Up

High C's

Actors: Charley Chase

Synopsis: This Charley Chase talkie was expanded to three reels to include five songs (Chase had a nice singing voice). It's a WWI comedy, and Charley has been stationed in France. He's not as interested in fighting, however, as he is in singing with his pals, the Ranch Boys. His irascible commanding Read More

The Real Mccoy

Synopsis: In this entry in the Charley Chase series, Charley falls in love with a beautiful country girl (Thelma Todd). In his zeal to pursue her, he poses as a hillbilly, and even writes a song for her. Unfortunately, the song is about a girl who ends up drowning, which doesn't exactly make a good Read More

Looser Than Loose

Fast Work

Fifty Million Husbands

The Big Squawk

Crazy Feet

Modern Love

Actors: Charley Chase, Jean Hersholt, Kathryn Crawford, Anita Garvin

Synopsis: Two-reel comedy producer Hal Roach was too busy switching over to sound in 1929 to bother with making feature films, which is one of the reasons that popular Roach star Charley Chase made his first and only starring feature, Modern Love, at Universal. The spindly Mr. Chase plays John Jones, the Read More

The Glorious Fourth

Actors: Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Jackie Condon, Jay R. Smith, Jannie Hoskins

Synopsis: It's the Fourth of July and the mother of Our Gang member Joe Cobb is doing a brisk business at her fireworks stand. Briefly left in charge of the stand, Joe does his best not to blow up himself or his friends, but a poorly-aimed skyrocket owned by Allen "Farina" Hoskins triggers a somewhat Read More

Call of the Cuckoo

Actors: Max Davidson, Lillian Elliott, Spec O'Donnell, Charley Chase, Stan Laurel

Synopsis: Jewish comic Max Davidson stars in this Hal Roach farce that would most likely have been completely forgotten had not Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, and Charley Chase turned up in cameo appearances. Davidson, wife Lillian Elliott, and son Spec O'Donnell are attempting to sell their house, which is Read More

Crazy Like a Fox

Synopsis: Oliver Hardy -- who would soon join up with Stan Laurel to make a winning comic team -- has a walk-on in this Charley Chase two-reeler. A father (William V. Mong) wants his daughter (Martha Sleeper) to marry the son (Chase) of an old friend. Since she has never met the young man, Martha decides to Read More

Mighty Like a Moose

Actors: Charley Chase, Vivien Oakland

Synopsis: In one of his best silent films, Charley Chase plays homely Mr. Moose, whose buck teeth make him a laughingstock. But Mrs. Moose (Vivien Oakland) isn't any better off -- her nose really does rival a moose's. Each of them decide to have plastic surgery and surprise their unsuspecting mate. The Read More

Be Your Age

Actors: Charley Chase

Synopsis: This entertaining Charley Chase comedy features an old star (pretty Gladys Hulette, whose career was on its downslide) and an up-and-coming luminary (Oliver Hardy, who hadn't yet teamed up with Stan Laurel). Charley discovers that his family is in desperate need of 10,000 dollars. Meanwhile, his Read More

Dog Shy

Actors: Charley Chase

Synopsis: Stuart Holmes spent much of the 1920s playing villains. He even played them in comedy two-reelers for Hal Roach. Here, he gives funnyman Charley Chase a hard time. Chase has been afraid of dogs ever since he was a little boy, and this causes him no amount of trouble. He is chased into a phone Read More

Mama Behave

Actors: Charley Chase

Thundering Fleas

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Johnny Downs

Synopsis: Easily one of the fastest and funniest of the silent Our Gang comedies, Thundering Fleas is set in motion with a sidewalk performance of Professor Clements' Trained Flea and Insect Circus. When the Professor's star attraction, Garfield the flea (depicted via animation) escapes, Clements offers to Read More

Bromo and Juliet

Actors: Charley Chase, Corliss Palmer

Synopsis: Charley Chase will do just about anything to marry his sweetheart Madge (Corliss Palmer) in this amusing two-reeler. So she promises herself to him -- providing that he play Romeo to her Juliet in the Shakespeare/variety benefit show she's holding. He agrees, though reluctantly, and once he's in Read More

Hard Boiled

Actors: Tom Mix, Helene Chadwick, William E. Lawrence, Charles "Heinie" Conklin, Emily Fitzroy

Synopsis: Tom Mix plays an Eastern dandy who finds himself banished to a Western ranch in this routine silent Western which boasted of an above-average supporting cast. The sophisticated Helene Chadwick, a discovery of producer Samuel Goldwyn, is the rancher whom Mix constantly provokes, while William E. Lawrence Read More

The Uneasy Three

Actors: Charley Chase, Katherine Grant, Bull Montana

Synopsis: This Hal Roach spoof of The Unholy Three starred Charley Chase. Chase, Katherine Grant, and Bull Montana all aspire to be society crooks. They decide that their first big job will be to steal the famed Kadjir brooch, which Mrs. Van Courtland has just presented to her daughter. The crook-wannabes Read More

Isn't Life Terrible

Actors: Charley Chase, Katherine Grant

Synopsis: One of Charley Chase's co-stars in this comic short is Oliver Hardy. The two comedians knew each other from other studios, and Chase brought him to Hal Roach. He also is responsible for Stan Laurel coming to Roach, too. While it is likely that Laurel and Hardy would have wound up at the studio Read More

His Wooden Wedding

Actors: Charley Chase, Katherine Grant

Synopsis: In this silent two-reel comedy, Charley Chase is getting ready to wed the lovely Katherine Grant. But when his jealous rival hands him a note suggesting that his bride-to-be has a wooden leg, he gets cold feet. Instead of getting married he gets drunk and decides to sail to the South Seas and Read More

The Caretaker's Daughter

Actors: Charley Chase, Katherine Grant

Synopsis: Charley Chase plays a young married man with a suspicious wife (Katherine Grant) in this Hal Roach silent. The couple's car finally bites the dust (and their garage along with it), so Charley take it to a secondhand sales lot. He gets a tough looking character (the imposing George Siegmann) to buy Read More

Innocent Husbands

Actors: Charley Chase, Katherine Grant

Synopsis: Charley Chase stars in this amusing Hal Roach-produced short. Although she has no reason to doubt Charley, his wife (Katherine Grant) is an extremely jealous woman and she's looking for an excuse. She decides to go to a fortune teller to find out the truth, and of course the fortune teller Read More

What Price Goofy?

Actors: Charley Chase, Katherine Grant

Bad Boy

Actors: Charley Chase

Jubilo Jr.

Actors: Will Rogers, Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins

Synopsis: The beloved humorist Will Rogers, whose own series of Hal Roach two-reelers was produced concurrently with the studio's Our Gang series, makes a guest appearance in the Gang comedy Jubilo Jr.. The film opens with Rogers, as wandering hobo Jubilo, befriending a group of fellow tramps and telling Read More

The Fraidy Cat

Actors: Charley Chase

April Fool

Actors: Charley Chase

The King of the Wild Horses

Synopsis: Producer Hal Roach was known for his comic shorts; however, his first foray into the world of features wasn't a comedy, but a Western. Naturally, it wasn't your typical Western -- the star was Rex, the Wonder Horse. Rex is Black, a wild stallion who is the leader of a herd near the Mexican border. Read More

Long Live the King

Actors: Jackie Coogan, Rosemary Theby, Ruth Renick, Vera Lewis

Synopsis: Metro pulled out all the stops on this picture, which was based on the novel by Mary Roberts Rinehart and starred eight-year-old Jackie Coogan. The studio spent upwards of a million dollars on mob scenes and spectacular sets for this mythical kingdom tale. Coogan's father, Jack Coogan Sr. Read More

Shine 'Em Up

Actors: Charley Chase

Hearts in Hock

Crew: Director, Screen Story

Actors: Oliver Hardy, Peggy Provost, Jack Henderson, Bartine Burkett, Billy Armstrong

Synopsis: This two-reel comedy was the last Oliver Hardy would make for Henry Lehrman's L-KO studio. It was also the last time Hardy and Charley Chase (who, in 1919, was billed under his real name, Charles Parrott) would work together until 1925, when they would both appear in Isn't Life Terrible? for Hal Roach Read More

Hello Trouble

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Many years before either of them wound up at the Hal Roach studios, Oliver Hardy and Charley Chase both spent time working for Henry Lehrman's studio L-KO. They worked together a number of times, usually with Chase acting as director under his real name of Charles Parrot. This particular Read More

Love, Loot and Crash

Love in Armor

Mabel's Busy Day

Synopsis: Charlie Chaplin's 18th film for Keystone was likely co-written and co-directed by co-star Mabel Normand. It was shot entirely on location at an automobile racetrack during a racing event. Mabel plays a hot dog vendor who sneaks in to the track by bribing the cop who guards the gate. As soon as she Read More

His Musical Career

Actors: Fritz Schade

Synopsis: Charlie Chaplin's musical career is as a piano mover for a music store in this, his 31st comedy for Keystone. The film was a direct inspiration for Laurel and Hardy's 1932 short, The Music Box. His Little Fellow is not a tramp but a hard-working laborer. Charlie is first seen applying for his job Read More

The Knockout

Actors: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Minta Durfee, Edgar Kennedy, Charles Chaplin, Joe Bordeaux

Synopsis: Although better known as Charlie Chaplin's 17th appearance in a Keystone comedy, The Knockout is really a Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle film. The big event in Fatty's town is a prizefight in which champ Cyclone Flynn will meet all comers. Fatty is tricked into accepting the fight by two hobos who are Read More

Tillie's Punctured Romance

Actors: Marie Dressler, Charles Chaplin, Mabel Normand, Mack Sennett, Mack Swain

Synopsis: This Keystone comedy, Charlie Chaplin's 33rd, is the first feature-length comedy ever made and contributed to making Chaplin and his co-star Marie Dressler major stars. Chaplin plays a con artist (not the Tramp) who talks Tillie, an innocent country lass, into taking her father's savings and Read More

Gentlemen of Nerve

Synopsis: Charlie Chaplin's 30th Keystone comedy is again set at the auto races, as were his earlier films, Kid's Auto Race, Mabel at the Wheel and Mabel's Busy Day. However this time, as Chaplin scholar Harry Geduld suggests, it was likely shot at the Keystone studios with shots of the race intercut. Read More

The Rounders

Synopsis: In his 26th Keystone comedy Charlie Chaplin pairs off with fellow Keystone star Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. Chaplin and Arbuckle are both drunks and are both married to domineering wives. Chaplin, dressed in top hat and evening clothes, arrives drunk to his hotel and is confronted by wife Phyllis Allen Read More

Our Country Cousin

His New Profession

Actors: Charles Chaplin, Charley Chase, Gene Marsh, Cecile Arnold, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle

Synopsis: Charlie Chaplin's 25th Keystone comedy is a park farce on the same order as many of his earlier shorts. It opens with a famous shot of Charlie sitting on a park bench, reading Police Gazette, the National Enquirer of its time. A couple nearby are unhappy; the boy, Charles Parrot (later known as Charley Chase Read More

Mabel's New Job

Dough and Dynamite

Actors: Fritz Schade

Synopsis: Charlie Chaplin's 29th comedy for Keystone was one of his most popular, grossing $130,000 in its initial year of release. It was shot before, but released after Those Love Pangs, and was originally conceived as an early sequence of the latter, showing Charlie and Chester Conklin at work in a Read More

The Masquerader

Synopsis: Charlie Chaplin's 24th short for the Keystone company is a film about making films at Keystone. It is unusual in that we see Chaplin the actor, Charlie the Tramp, and Chaplin's second female impersonation in a film. The film opens outside the Keystone Studio where Chaplin, in street clothes, is Read More