A Merchant of Menace

Nat Carr seems awfully anxious to sell his department store to Edgar. The next morning, the reason becomes clear: the only thing worse than the store's clientele is the store's staff, which consists of Edgar and his family.

There was a goodly backlog of gags to be set in department stores, from early efforts like THE GAY SHOE CLERK from 1903 though Chaplin's THE FLOORWALKER in 1916 and before and since. With a variety of settings and a limitless assortment of props masquerading as merchandise, it was all grist for the comic's mill, from dishes to be smashed by jugglers to celluloid collars to be set ablaze.

It will all lead eventually, the viewer can be certain, to Kennedy's slow burn igniting and him running, screaming after his tormentors. This was very early days for Kennedy's COMMON MAN series for RKO, which would run until his death in 1948, but it's a funny one.