When the daughter of the house goes looney, everyone must humor her. It's up to the mansion's incompetent cook to deal with her psychosis.
By 1918, Harold Lloyd's new "Glasses" character was up and running, so producer Hal Roach looked for someone to star in a new short comedy series. This time, he seemed to reason, instead of teaching an actor how to be a clown -- in his mind, that's what he did -- he would teach a clown to be an actor. He hired Armando Novello, the famous clown "Toto" of the New York Hippodrome, offered him a substantial contract, and set the cameras rolling.
While Novello is quite good in this short -- I particularly liked the gags involved with him mounting a horse -- he hated the process of filming, with its long waits, and no audience to gauge. So he broke his contract after sixteen shorts, and went back on the stage. Roach had to scramble; he was contractually obligated for more, and he needed a skinny stage comedian to take Toto's place. His choice was Chaplin's former understudy at Karno; Stan Laurel had been doing some funny bits in Larry Semon's comedies.
By 1918, Harold Lloyd's new "Glasses" character was up and running, so producer Hal Roach looked for someone to star in a new short comedy series. This time, he seemed to reason, instead of teaching an actor how to be a clown -- in his mind, that's what he did -- he would teach a clown to be an actor. He hired Armando Novello, the famous clown "Toto" of the New York Hippodrome, offered him a substantial contract, and set the cameras rolling.
While Novello is quite good in this short -- I particularly liked the gags involved with him mounting a horse -- he hated the process of filming, with its long waits, and no audience to gauge. So he broke his contract after sixteen shorts, and went back on the stage. Roach had to scramble; he was contractually obligated for more, and he needed a skinny stage comedian to take Toto's place. His choice was Chaplin's former understudy at Karno; Stan Laurel had been doing some funny bits in Larry Semon's comedies.
