A Warner Brothers VITAPHONE Short Subject.
THE OLD GREY MAYOR is furious when a brash young fellow tries to marry his daughter.
This very early film appearance by Bob Hope shows his persona already in rapid development: the slightly nervous gestures, the weird disguises, and the rapid fire gags. Helping push the dialogue along are George Watts as the bombastic mayor, Ruth Blasco as his pretty daughter, and Lionel Stander as a tough alderman. Hope nearly has the show stolen from him by Sam Wren, appearing as the off-the-wall manager of the Marriage License Bureau.
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Often overlooked or neglected today, the one and two-reel short subjects were useful to the Studios as important training grounds for new or burgeoning talents, both in front & behind the camera. The dynamics for creating a successful short subject was completely different from that of a feature length film, something akin to writing a topnotch short story rather than a novel. Economical to produce in terms of both budget & schedule and capable of portraying a wide range of material, short subjects were the perfect complement to the Studios' feature films.
