Hold My Baby

When baby-care-book author Glenn Tryon has an abandoned baby dumped on him during a train trip, he discovers he should have read a book on the subject as well as having written one.

With the departure of Harold Lloyd from his studio, Hal Roach was anxious to find a talent that could replace him: an actor who could play a comic but who looked like a normal human being. So he settled on Mr. Tryon, who had garnered some attention in Stan Laurel shorts, and Mr. Tryon was, indeed, quite good at longer lengths in features like THE WHITE SHEEP.

At shorter lengths, like this one, it's not clear what he brings to the proceedings except for a pleasant demeanor, but the Roach Fun Factory could build an amusing short comedy out of anything or nothing by this point, and this is a good short subject.

Later, Mr. Tryon jumped ship to Universal, where he starred in shorts and features, including one of the last great serious silents in the US, Paul Fejos' LONESOME. His career, for some reason, did not survive sound, but he spent several productive decades behind the camera.