Charley Chase

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Charley Chase

Born	October 20, 1893 Baltimore, Maryland
Died	June 20, 1940 Hollywood, California

Charley Chase (October 20, 1893-June 20, 1940) was an American comedian, screenwriter and film director, best known for his work in Hal Roach short film comedies. He was the older brother of comedian/director James Parrott.

1 Life and career
2 Renewed Interest
3 Books
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Life and career

Born Charles Joseph Parrott, Jr. in Baltimore, Maryland, Chase started his career in films by working at the Christie Comedies in 1912. He then moved to Keystone Studios where he began appearing in bit parts in the Mack Sennett films, including those of Charles Chaplin. By 1915 he was playing juvenile leads in the Keystones, and directing some of the films as "Charles Parrott." His Keystone credentials were good enough to get him steady work as a comedy director with other companies; he directed many of Chaplin imitator Billy West's comedies, which featured a young Oliver Hardy as villain.

In 1920, Chase began working as a film director for Hal Roach Studios; among his notable early works for Roach was supervising the first entries in the Our Gang series. He eventually moved back in front of the camera with his own series of shorts, adopting the screen name Charley Chase. Direction of the Chase series was soon taken over by Leo McCarey, who in collaboration with Chase formed the comic style of the series---an emphasis on situation comedy, characterization, and farce instead of knockabout slapstick.

Chase's own screen persona was that of a pleasant young man with a dapper mustache and ordinary street clothes; this set him apart from the clownish makeups and crazy costumes used by his contemporaries. Chase remained the guiding hand behind the films, acting as director, writer, and, editor. However, he only began to receive director's credit at Hal Roach Studios on his films, beginning in 1933, as Charles Parrott. Some of Chase's starring shorts of the 1920s, particularly Mighty Like a Moose, Fluttering Hearts, and Limousine Love are among the finest in the silent comedy genre.

Chase moved with ease into sound films in 1929 and continued to be quite prolific, often putting his fine singing voice on display and including his self-penned songs in his comedy shorts. Chase's The Pip From Pittsburgh (1931), co-starring Thelma Todd, is one of the most celebrated Hal Roach comedies of the 1930s. Throughout the decade, the Charley Chase shorts continued to stand alongside Laurel and Hardy and Our Gang as the core output of the Roach studio. Chase appeared on-screen with Laurel and Hardy in their 1933 feature film Sons of the Desert. Chase's failure to adapt to the feature-film format was primarily responsible for his dismissal from the Hal Roach Studio in 1936.

In 1937, Chase began working at Columbia Pictures, where he spent the rest of his career starring in his own series of two-reel comedies, as well as directing other Columbia comedians, including The Three Stooges and Andy Clyde. Chase's own shorts tend to include broader comedy instead of Chase's more subtle approach, although he does sing in one of the Columbias, The Big Squirt (1937). Many of Chase's Columbias were strong enough to be remade in the 1940s with other comedians.

Chase suffered from alcoholism for most of his professional career, and his tumultuous, fast-living lifestyle began to take a serious toll on his health. His hair had turned prematurely gray, and he dyed it jet-black for his Columbia comedies. Though still often producing quality comedies (one of his last, The Heckler, is one of his best), viewers couldn't help noticing Chase's physical decline in his work from the late 1930s.

Chase's hard living eventually caught up with him. He died of a heart attack in Hollywood, California in 1940 and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Chase was 46.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Charley Chase has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6630 Hollywood Boulevard.

[edit] Renewed Interest

Since the 1990s, there has been a revival of interest in the films of Charley Chase, due in large part to the increased availability of his work and the undated, contemporary feel of his best comedies. An extensive website researching his life and work, The World of Charley Chase, was created in 1996, and a biography, Smile When the Raindrops Fall, was published in 1997. His films, particularly his canonical silent work, are now being screened in reperatory theaters more often than ever. Chase's sound comedies for Hal Roach were briefly televised in the late 1990s on the short-lived American cable network The Odyssey Channel. Retrospectives of his silent comedies organized by The Silent Clowns Film Series were held in 1999 and 2006 in New York City. A marathon of his silent films took place in 2005 on the American cable television network Turner Classic Movies. Kino International released two Charley Chase DVD collections in 2004-2005, and a long-anticipated two-disc set is expected from Milestone Films in 2007. In late 2006, Turner Classic Movies began to present the Charley Chase sound-era comedies on American cable TV; Turner owns the broadcast rights for four decades, so viewers can count on seeing more of Charley Chase in the future.

[edit] Books

Smile When the Raindrops Fall by Brian Anthony and Andy Edmonds, [1]. (Chase's biography, with input from family members, friends, and colleagues)
The Columbia Comedy Shorts by Ted Okuda with Edward Watz, [2]. (Includes filmography of Chase's Columbia shorts, and interviews with the people who worked and acted in them)