SPOILERS: This cute one reeler has Charley playing his Jimmy Jump character looking to take boxing lessons. His father, an old friend of James Jeffries (playing himself), wants the boxing legend to turn his son into a man. The first gag shows Charley avoid getting punched by the other driver in a near-miss auto accident by putting on his glasses in the nick of time. Charley proceeds into town, meets a pretty girl and asks for directions to Jeffries' home. Once there, he spies a man behind a newspaper and inquires about the pugilist. An old bearded fellow pokes his head out behind the paper and Charley smirks, mistakenly thinking that this is the once-great fighter. Out of the shadows walks a muscular man with a large barrel chest - THIS is the real James J. Jeffries! Charley hands him a letter of introduction with a humorous picture of Charley's very skinny dad standing next to the Adonis-like champ in his prime. Jeffries agrees to take on the challenge and gives Charley the rope. The jumping rope, that is. Charley feels silly (and looks the same in his baggy boxer duds) but starts jumping rope - like a girl no less. The champ shows Charley how to take a punch and when he stops flying through the air and rolling on the ground in agony, he begins to learn. A year goes by and the training is over. Charley is now a rugged he-man shown wearing overalls, hard at work in his garden. He hears his wife calling (the pretty girl from the beginning of the short) and he gives the champ a confident smile before walking towards home to meet, as we see now, the nagging shrew. Charley sheepishly puts on his glasses hoping the wife won't hit him too hard with the frying pan in her hand.
4 Reviews
Charley Chase decides to teach former Heavy Weight Boxing Champion (1889 to 1905) James J. Jeffries how to deliver a punch (line).
larry41onEbay17 September 2003
Warning: Spoilers
Good, but not a knockout
hte-trasme12 November 2009
I'm a big fan of Charley Chase, but I think that while this film, from his early "Jimmy Jump" series is enjoyable, it is nowhere near his best. The previous film "Young Oldfield," had featured famous racer Berney Oldfield as a guest star to get the proceedings going along. Here the guest star is famous boxer James J. Jeffries, and he's more at the center of events. This isn't necessarily a good thing, since the necessity of using Jeffries seems to have hurt the development of the comic storyline.
Chase is a young weakling (perhaps prefiguring the "nance" twist he would later develop for his character) who seeks to get Jeffries to train him, and that is the extent of the plot. Chase injects some very good comedy here, including a running gag involving a pair of glasses that same him from every fight he almost gets into and an amusing sequence with a mirror, but mainly the basis is that Charley can't train to be quite the boxer that the former champion is. Fun as this is for the only ten minutes the short runs, there does seem to be a missed opportunity for some of the situation-based humor the Chase was expert at, and which he'd already proved did work well enough in the one-reel format.
Chase is a young weakling (perhaps prefiguring the "nance" twist he would later develop for his character) who seeks to get Jeffries to train him, and that is the extent of the plot. Chase injects some very good comedy here, including a running gag involving a pair of glasses that same him from every fight he almost gets into and an amusing sequence with a mirror, but mainly the basis is that Charley can't train to be quite the boxer that the former champion is. Fun as this is for the only ten minutes the short runs, there does seem to be a missed opportunity for some of the situation-based humor the Chase was expert at, and which he'd already proved did work well enough in the one-reel format.
Becoming Charley Chase
Michael_Elliott14 March 2010
Jeffries Jr. (1924)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Jimmy Jump (Charley Chase) is scared of his own shadow so he goes to former boxing champ James J. Jeffries to get into shape. That's pretty much the entire story to this 9-minute short, which is somewhat of a disappointment since there's not too much done with what could have been a good story. I don't think anyone would accuse Roach's Jimmy Jump series of containing excellent writing but at least the previous films had some sort of story going for them. The best joke here is one they keep repeating as Jimmy puts on glasses whenever he thinks he's about to get into a fight. Outside of this we see Jeffries throw a few punches at him, make him run and eventually make him tough. He makes Jimmy tough yet we never see it in any sort of payoff. The entire movie makes you think that Roach and company just took the easy way out of cutting back on a story just because they had someone, along with Chase, to sell the picture. It's a decent time killer but don't expect any laughs.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Jimmy Jump (Charley Chase) is scared of his own shadow so he goes to former boxing champ James J. Jeffries to get into shape. That's pretty much the entire story to this 9-minute short, which is somewhat of a disappointment since there's not too much done with what could have been a good story. I don't think anyone would accuse Roach's Jimmy Jump series of containing excellent writing but at least the previous films had some sort of story going for them. The best joke here is one they keep repeating as Jimmy puts on glasses whenever he thinks he's about to get into a fight. Outside of this we see Jeffries throw a few punches at him, make him run and eventually make him tough. He makes Jimmy tough yet we never see it in any sort of payoff. The entire movie makes you think that Roach and company just took the easy way out of cutting back on a story just because they had someone, along with Chase, to sell the picture. It's a decent time killer but don't expect any laughs.
Not funny and it looked like some portion was missing.
planktonrules28 August 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Wow, not only is this Charley Chase short directed by the great Leo McCarey, but it co-stars the famous boxer James Jefferies, Jr.--an interesting combination. Now Jefferies had long since retired--his last fight being almost 20 years earlier--so you won't see him in his heyday.
Jimmy Jump (Chase) is a wimp. However, he was able to get the ex-champ Jefferies to give him some boxing lessons in order to make a man out of him. Not surprisingly, Jump is a mess and it looks like Jefferies job is definitely cut out for him. Oddly, however, the film just skips ahead to when Jump is supposedly no longer a wimp--and I sat there wondering what happened to the rest of the film as well as the jokes. Where were they?
Jimmy Jump (Chase) is a wimp. However, he was able to get the ex-champ Jefferies to give him some boxing lessons in order to make a man out of him. Not surprisingly, Jump is a mess and it looks like Jefferies job is definitely cut out for him. Oddly, however, the film just skips ahead to when Jump is supposedly no longer a wimp--and I sat there wondering what happened to the rest of the film as well as the jokes. Where were they?
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