Torchy's Busy Day

Ray Cooke made quite a few 'Torchy' comedy shorts in the early 1930s. Several are quite good...a few, like "Torchy's Busy Day", are rather weak.

This short seems very padded to me. A lot of it consists of Torchy having a daydream where he dreams of running about in Hawaii. It's not funny...nor does it fit with the rest of the film. As for the rest, the boss is trying to put over a big business deal and a fire alarm actually helps in the process.

The writing just was disappointing here. The story seems pretty disjoint and the story itself not up to the usual standards.

Edmund Breese, Ray Cooke's boss, is trying to buy a sausage factory. However, the cash hasn't come through, so he sends an insulting telegram to the owner. This ends in the two of them playing a round of office gold to see whether the payment gets made in cash or stock.

All of that makes sense, if you're not too fussy. This being the seventh episode of the talking short comedy series, when we're not being treated to Cooke insulting office manager Franklin Pangborn, or summoning a fire brigade instead of a Western Union messenger. Some of the gags are very amusing.