The Nickel Nurser

For some unknown reason, Charlie Chase has never enjoyed the lasting fame he deserved. One of the most talented and funny men at the Hal Roach Studio, he could sing, dance, write, compose, deliver lines and had comedic timing that would rival any of the greats. Charlie shines in The Nickel Nurser, playing an efficiency expert hired to teach an industrialist's three lovely daughters the value of money and the virtue of economy. Another brilliant comedienne, the luscious Thelma Todd - playing the most beautiful of the three - exchanges places with the Swedish maid, Greta (Belle Hare). Greta, an obvious - and hysterical - takeoff on Greta Garbo - is married to the insanely jealous butler (Billy Gilbert). This deception is the girl's idea to throw off Charlie's efforts to discipline their spendthrift habits. Instead it sets the stage for a series of mistaken identities, pitfalls, pratfalls, double takes and sight gags. By the end of the picture Billy Gilbert has been driven into a psychotic rage and is chasing everyone around with a rifle. Often wildly risqué, The Nickel Nurser is one of those comedies that you just don't want to have come to an end and is one of the finest of both its star and its studio. Never miss an opportunity to see a Charlie Chase (or Thelma Todd) comedy and certainly seek this one out. You won't be disappointed. This reviewer just watched it and is still snickering - a full hour later.

I've seen quite a few Charley Chase films over the last few years and I am firmly convinced that his silent films were almost masterpieces but his sound films were significantly less funny. This isn't to say they are bad--just not "prime" Chase.

Charley, by the way, was actually Charles Parrot--brother of the famed Hal Roach director (who actually directed many of his brother's films). Charley himself also did duty as director and writer in many Roach vehicles, though he is billed as "Charles Parrot".

In this film, Charley is an efficiency expert sent by a rich guy to keep an eye on his daughters and make sure they don't spend him into the poor house while he's out of town. In a not particularly funny twist, they pretend that one of the sisters (Thelma Todd) is the maid and the maid is the sister. This never really materialized into any good laughs and seemed more of a distraction than anything else. Also, there were a few other flat moments, such as when Charley first met them he was very tongue-tied--not one of the brighter comedic moments in cinema history. However, there were also a few good laughs--particularly when you get to see Charley's underwear! Not a bad film, but certainly NOT one to rival the comedy shorts of Laurel and Hardy.

Was there ever a better comedy pairing than Charley Chase and Thelma Todd? She was such an expert farceur, with an enchanting smile that told the audience she delighted in Charley's gags. Here, with Charley called in to teach Thelma and her sisters -- Estelle Etterre and Hazel Howell -- the value of a dollar, she changes places with Swedish maid Geraldine Dvorak for no clear reason other than to produce gags and generally confound Charley.

Miss Todd -- who had a personal contract with Hal Roach -- was kept busy with loan-outs to other film-makers and with her "Girlfriends" series with Zasu Pitts. Her return to Chase's unit was a funny one-shot effort. William Doane was nominally the director of the film, but Charley bossed his own operations almost invariably coming in before schedule and under budget, which must have kept the pinchpenny general manager, Henry Ginzberg happy. In the meantime, Doane, who had been Roach's general manager, would leave for Universal, taking directors George Stevens, James Horne and a couple of others with him. Perhaps this short was intended as a slap at the penurious fellow.

Nickle Nurser, The (1932)

*** (out of 4)

Efficiency expert Charley Chase is hired by a father who wants him to teach his three daughters the value of a buck and make them understand that they can't just keep spending money. Chase arrives at the house but the third daughter (Thelma Todd) pretends to be a servant while the real servant takes her new position a tad bit too serious, which causes her crazy butler/husband (Billy Gilbert) to go off the deep end. This is yet another winning short from Chase who wants again proves that he deserves more credit in today's age when it seems all that people remember are Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd. In this film he gets to do show many sides of his comic talent but I think what I enjoyed most were his reactions. There's a strong supporting cast here so it's not necessary for him to do everything so this allows him to simply react to the madness that the others are doing. I loved his facial gestures and one of the highlights is when the girl's order some expensive underwear and Chase decides to show them what cheap underwear is. Another terrific sequence is when the Belle Hare character decides to play it rich and ends up acting like Greta Garbo (the characters name is also Greta). The film has one nice laugh after another and once again Chase and Todd do great work together.

This is another typically hilarious short comedy that has the benefit of Charley Chase, this time as both star and co-director. He plays an "efficiency expert" hired to introduce some economy into the lives of a rich man's three daughters. With a Chase comedy's typical deftness, he's quickly placed into the most hilariously embarrassing situations that this could bring about when, after coming prepared to entertain children, he meets three beautiful women, and one of them, the enchanting Thelma Todd, who always enlivens the proceedings decides to impersonate the maid.

The fact that Charley is supposed to be playing a serious businessman just adds to the humor when he has to deal with being caught in every kind of compromising position with the girls, humiliate himself in a knight's costume, &c. This short is also extremely suggestive -- in some very funny ways -- for a 1930s film, even considering it comes before the introduction of the Hayes Code. The comedy set pieces include Charley's embarrassment when the girls start undressing to show why they need to order expensive new underwear, and suggestions that he may end up sleeping with the supposed maid! There's a funny turn by Hal Roach regular Billy Gilbert as a grumbling butler with impressive sideburns, and Charley himself is great here too, as always. I'm in what seems to be the minority (and in respectful disagreement with a previous IMDb commentator) who likes his sound shorts better (which is not to say I don't love the silents too) -- he had a screen character that broadened and developed when allowed to speak, rather than becoming more limited (like perhaps Buster Keaton's). He can put across so much fussy politeness, embarrassment, and attempted charm in his delivery that it just makes the shorts that much funnier. Here he gets a great monologue with his initial monologue on economy to the girls getting muddled into a bunch of senseless mixed metaphors in his bashfulness in front of their beauty.

This is a great example of Charley Chase's comedy, definitely recommended if you get the chance to see it.