Gem-Jams

Gem Jams (1943)

*** (out of 4)

Salesman Leon Errol (played by Leon Errol of course) has been late coming home from work four days in a row and his suspicious wife (Dorothy Christy) has had enough. When he calls home on the fifth night she decides to follow him to a hotel where he's meeting a beautiful woman (Dorothy Granger) for business. This RKO short is very predictable but there were many scenes that had me cracking up and the 18-minute running time really flew by to the point where I wish the movie had kept on going. The entire set-up is a simple one but Errol does a wonderful job with his role and really delivers many laughs. He's just right for the small husband who is constantly being pushed around and getting blamed for stuff that isn't his fault. Errol was born to play this type of role and he does a great job with it especially in the early scenes where he's trying to avoid the wife. Both Christy and Granger add some charm to the picture as does William Gould in the role of the hard boss. Director Hillyer would follow this up with the BATMAN serial and screenwriter Jean Yarbrough would go onto make countless "B" movies including a string of Abbott and Costello pictures. Fans of Errol or light comedy would do themselves a favor by checking this one out.

Hollywood's favorite alcoholic playboy is a henpecked jewelry salesman in this RKO short subject. Married to the ever suspicious Dorothy Granger whose suspicions are constantly fueled by her mother-in-law Isabel LaMal, one battle ax harridan of a woman I wouldn't wish on Osama Bin-Laden. She convinces Dorothy to keep tabs on Leon as he goes out for a business meeting. A little monkey business to be sure.

His cause isn't helped any when the buyer he's meeting turns out to be the beautiful Dorothy Christy. After the wife tails Leon to the hotel where they were conducting the buying it's one non-stop series of situations for Leon that he has to extricate himself from. Of no help is house detective Al Hill who sees something suspicious with Leon. He has that way about him.

Gem Jams is one fast and furious short subject with the comic talents of Leon Errol in full display.

A mostly predictable but still amusing short comedy, "Gem Jams" stars Leon Errol in one of his henpecked husband roles, caught between his wife and his boss. Leon has been staying out late and using business as an excuse, so his suspicious wife decides to spy on him. As it happens, that night his boss wants him to go to a nice hotel and meet a client, who turns out to be an attractive woman. When everyone shows up at the hotel looking for him, Leon has his hands full trying to stay out of trouble. Errol carries a fairly predictable story with his body movements and expressions, and most of it works pretty well.