He's a Honey

Harry Barris was a songwriter and singer from the early 1930s. However, in this and another short I recently watched with him, his singing was VERY weak....and his voice not especially good. He did write some lovely songs...but his singing makes me wonder why he was popular.

When the story begins, you see that Barris is a radio star and although most everyone seems to like him, Edgar (Edgar Kennedy) is a grouch and argues with his wife when she tries to listen to his show. But his annoyance will become REALLY intense when he hears Barris on the radio talking about eloping....with Edgar's daughter!!! Edgar inexplicably hates Barris so much, he tries to enlist a boxing champ to help beat the stuffing out of Barris. What's next? See the film.

The film has a couple strikes against it. Barris' singing has not aged well and the film has very few laughs...and no big ones. Easy to watch...easy to skip.

Harry Barris wants to get married to Eleanor Hunt, but there's an impediment in the way, so he tells her he'll sing "I Surrender, Dear" during his broadcast if they can be wed.

Most of the fun in this wan comedy is provided by Edgar Kennedy, who does a fast version of his patented "slow burn". Kennedy had been a member of Sennett's Keystone troupe in the 1910s, and at Roach in the late 1920s. He had left Roach the year before this short, part of the diaspora of talent including director George Stevens. He would soon settle in at RKO, where his "Common Man" series of shorts would continue until his death in 1948, amidst a lot of appearances in features.

Barris was a songwriter as well as a performer, a member of the Rhythm Boys like Bing Crosby, and writer of "Mississippi Mud". He would continue in the movies until 1950, often as an uncredited piano player. He died in 1962, age 57.