Four Parts

Charley Chase plays FOUR PARTS. Will he at least land pretty Betty Mack while playing one of those roles?

Interestingly, this short breaks down neatly into three parts -- (i) a fairly boring intro where all four Charlie's are introduced being served a dose of milk of magnesia by Charlie's doting Mom (ii) a hilarious mid section, which begins with a cute meet between Charlie #1 and Ms. Mack over a dropped penny and escalates from there and (iii) a so-so finale, in which Miss Mack has to deal with all of the Charlies. It all feels rather improvised, which adds some to the charm of the midsection. But the short is padded out with two rather blah songs, which add nothing to the goings on. Chase sings quite well -- but unlike Hal Roach's other singing comic, Oliver Hardy -- he doesn't save it for just the occasions where the singing will move the plot along, rather than stop it in its tracks.

All in all, a clever idea, indifferently executed, which perhaps illustrates some of the reasons Chase's future was Columbia short subjects, rather than comedy features. Why Betty Mack's career did not go farther (she's cute, with a winning personality) is a mystery.