Charley Chase (October 20, 1893-June 20, 1940) was an American comedian, screenwriter and film director, best known for his work in Hal Roach short film comedies. He was the older brother of comedian/director James Parrott. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (585 × 780 pixel, file size: 100 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Studio Cine This image is of a poster, and the copyright for it is most likely owned by either the publisher or the creator of the... October 20 is the 293rd day of the year (294th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1893 (MDCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Nickname: Motto: The Greatest City in America,[4] Get in on it. ... is the 171st day of the year (172nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Greetings from Hollywood Hollywood is a district of the city of Los Angeles, California, U.S.A., that extends from Vermont Avenue on the east to just beyond Laurel Canyon Boulevard above Sunset and Crescent Heights Boulevards on the west; the north to south boundary east of La Brea Avenue... October 20 is the 293rd day of the year (294th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1893 (MDCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 171st day of the year (172nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... A comedian, or comic, is an entertainer who amuses an audience by making them laugh. ... Screenwriters, scenarists or script writers, are authors who write the screenplays from which movies and television programs are made. ... The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ... Harold Eugene Roach, Sr. ... Short subject is an American film industry term that historically has referred to any film in the format of two reels, or approximately 20 minutes running time, or less. ... Paul Parrott (August 2, 1898 - May 10, 1939), was an American comic actor and film director. ...

Life and career

Born Charles Joseph Parrott in Baltimore, Maryland, Chase started his career in films by working at the Christie Comedies in 1912. He then moved to Keystone Studios, where he began appearing in bit parts in the Mack Sennett films, including those of Charlie Chaplin. By 1915 he was playing juvenile leads in the Keystones, and directing some of the films as "Charles Parrott." His Keystone credentials were good enough to get him steady work as a comedy director with other companies; he directed many of Chaplin imitator Billy West's comedies, which featured a young Oliver Hardy as villain. Nickname: Motto: The Greatest City in America,[4] Get in on it. ... Christie Film Company was a pioneer motion picture company founded by Al Christie and Charles Christie, two brothers from London, Ontario, Canada. ... 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... The Keystone / Mack Sennett studios Keystone Studios was an early movie studio founded in Glendale, California in 1912 as the Keystone Pictures Studio by Mack Sennett with backing from Adam Kessel and Charles O. Bauman, owners of the New York Motion Picture Company. ... Mack Sennett (1880 - 1960) Mack Sennett (January 17, 1880 – November 5, 1960) was an innovator of slapstick comedy in film. ... Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin, Jr. ... Oliver Hardy (born Norvell Hardy; January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American actor, most remembered for his role in one of the worlds most famous double acts, Laurel and Hardy, with his friend Stan Laurel. ...

In 1920, Chase began working as a film director for Hal Roach Studios; among his notable early works for Roach was supervising the first entries in the Our Gang series. He eventually moved back in front of the camera with his own series of shorts, adopting the screen name Charley Chase. Direction of the Chase series was soon taken over by Leo McCarey, who in collaboration with Chase formed the comic style of the series---an emphasis on characterization and farce instead of knockabout slapstick. Chase was a master of the comedy of embarrassment, and he played either hapless young businessmen or befuddled husbands in dozens of situation comedies. His screen persona was that of a pleasant young man with a dapper mustache and ordinary street clothes; this set him apart from the clownish makeups and crazy costumes used by his contemporaries. 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... Harold Eugene Roach ( January 14, 1892 – November 2, 1992) was an American film and television producer from 1910s to 1980s, born in Elmira, New York. ... A poster for the 1931 Our Gang comedy Love Business featuring depictions of (from left to right): Pete the Pup, Jackie Cooper, and Norman Chubby Chaney. ... Leo McCarey (October 3, 1898 - July 5, 1969) was a movie director, screenwriter and producer. ...

Chase remained the guiding hand behind the films, acting as director, writer, and, editor. However, he only began to receive director's credit, as Charles Parrott, on his own films in 1933. Some of Chase's starring shorts of the 1920s, particularly Mighty Like a Moose, Fluttering Hearts, and Limousine Love are among the finest in silent comedy. 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ...

Chase moved with ease into sound films in 1929 and continued to be quite prolific, often putting his fine singing voice on display and including his self-penned songs in his comedy shorts. Chase's The Pip from Pittsburg (1931), co-starring Thelma Todd, is one of the most celebrated Hal Roach comedies of the 1930s. Throughout the decade, the Charley Chase shorts continued to stand alongside Laurel and Hardy and Our Gang as the core output of the Roach studio. Chase appeared on-screen with Laurel and Hardy in their 1933 feature film Sons of the Desert. Chase had no place in producer Roach's ambitious plans to make prestigious feature films, and he was dismissed from the Roach studio in 1936. Year 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... // Frankenstein, starring Boris Karloff Ingagi, starring Sir Hubert Winstead Mata Hari, starring Greta Garbo and Lionel Barrymore City Lights starring Charles Chaplin Best Picture: Cimarron - MGM Best Actor: Lionel Barrymore - A Free Soul Best Actor: Wallace Beery - The Champ Best Actor: Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. ... Thelma Todd cigarette card Thelma Todd (July 29, 1905 – December 16, 1935) was a popular American actress of the late 1920s and early 1930s film. ... Laurel and Hardy, in a promotional still from their 1937 feature film Way Out West. ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... Sons of the Desert is a 1933 film starring Laurel & Hardy, and directed by William A. Seiter. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

In 1937, Chase began working at Columbia Pictures, where he spent the rest of his career starring in his own series of two-reel comedies, as well as producing and directing other Columbia comedies, including those of The Three Stooges (1938's Mutts to You and Flat Foot Stooges) and Andy Clyde. Chase's own shorts at Columbia favored broader sight gags and more slapstick than his earlier, more subtle work, although he does sing in two of the Columbias, The Grand Hooter and The Big Squirt (both 1937). Many of Chase's Columbia short subjects were strong enough to be remade in the 1940s with other comedians. 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Columbia Pictures logo from 1993 to the present Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. ... The Three Stooges was an American comedy act in the 20th century. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Chase suffered from alcoholism for most of his professional career, and his tumultuous lifestyle began to take a serious toll on his health. His hair had turned prematurely gray, and he dyed it jet-black for his Columbia comedies. Though still producing quality comedies, Chase's physical decline in the late 1930s is evident in his work. Alcoholism is the consumption of, or preoccupation with, alcoholic beverages to the extent that this behavior interferes with the drinkers normal personal, family, social, or work life, and may lead to physical or mental harm. ...

His younger brother, Jimmy Parrott, had personal problems resulting from a drug treatment; his diet medications were actually pep pills, and he developed a dependency. He died in 1939.

Older brother Charley was devastated. He had refused to give his brother money to support his drug habit, and friends knew he felt responsible for Jimmy's death. He coped with the loss by throwing himself into his work (one of his last comedies, The Heckler, is one of his funniest) and by drinking more heavily than ever, despite doctors' warnings. The stress ultimately caught up with him; only months after his brother's death, Charley Chase died of a heart attack in Hollywood, California in 1940 and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Chase was 46. Acute myocardial infarction (AMI or MI), more commonly known as a heart attack, is a disease state that occurs when the blood supply to a part of the heart is interrupted. ... Greetings from Hollywood Hollywood is a district of the city of Los Angeles, California, U.S.A., that extends from Vermont Avenue on the east to just beyond Laurel Canyon Boulevard above Sunset and Crescent Heights Boulevards on the west; the north to south boundary east of La Brea Avenue... Gates of Forest Lawn Forest Lawn Memorial Park is a cemetery in Glendale, Los Angeles County, California. ... Nickname: The Jewel City Location of Glendale within Los Angeles County and the State of California. ...

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Charley Chase has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6630 Hollywood Boulevard. A band plays on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. ...

Renewed Interest

Since the 1990s, there has been a revival of interest in the films of Charley Chase, due in large part to the increased availability of his work and the undated, contemporary feel of his best comedies. An extensive website researching his life and work, The World of Charley Chase, was created in 1996, and a biography, Smile When the Raindrops Fall, was published in 1997. His films, particularly his canonical silent work, are now being screened in reperatory theaters more often than ever. Chase's sound comedies for Hal Roach were briefly televised in the late 1990s on the short-lived American cable network The Odyssey Channel. Retrospectives of his silent comedies organized by The Silent Clowns Film Series were held in 1999 and 2006 in New York City. A marathon of his silent films took place in 2005 on the American cable television network Turner Classic Movies. Kino International released two Charley Chase DVD collections in 2004-2005, and a long-anticipated two-disc set is expected from Milestone Films in 2007. In late 2006, Turner Classic Movies began to present the Charley Chase sound-era comedies on American cable TV; Turner owns the broadcast rights for four decades, so viewers can count on seeing more of Charley Chase in the future. New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is a cable television channel featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and Warner Bros. ...

Books

• Smile When the Raindrops Fall by Brian Anthony and Andy Edmonds, [1]. (Chase's biography, with input from family members, friends, and colleagues)
• The Columbia Comedy Shorts by Ted Okuda with Edward Watz, [2]. (Includes filmography of Chase's Columbia shorts, and interviews with the people who worked and acted in them)

Ted Okuda (b. ...

See also

• List of United States comedy films

This is a list of United States comedy films. ...

External links

• Solan, Yair. The World of Charley Chase (1996-present).
• Charley Chase at the Internet Movie Database