False Roomers

Clark and McCullough offer a taste of the burlesque house when they go looking for a rooming house and settle on one run by a deaf Jimmy Finlayson, who mandates hall lights out at 10PM and no cooking. Of course, neither is obeyed.

This early short shows why these two are accounted part of the Crazy Comedies movement that appeared in films in the early 1930s; the best known are the Marx Brothers, with their anarchic disregard of everything. These two are likewise uncaring of authority, as is everyone, considering the absurd ending.

Eventually their series died down and they went back n the stage where Clak, at least, prospered for decades.

The Plot

The comedy team of Clark & McCullough, Clark (Bobby Clark)and Grustark (Paul McCullough)seek refuge in the boarding house owned by Finlayson (James Finlayson)after wrecking the car owned by Morgan (Kewpie Morgan).

Finlayson, never without rules, warns them there is no cooking allowed in the rooms and his new roomers proceed to pop corn over the gas heater. A young girl (Josephine Whittell)mistakes their room for the bathroom, which leads to some pre-code complications. The slapstick ending finds Clark and Grustark driving out of the boarding house in Morgan's car with a bed attached to the car.

Contrary to the IMDb listing, this is NOT their first film. The were making shorts in the 20s but most of them are lost after a fire. This movie represents their RKO days, after they left Fox. The better movies were the lost ones from Fox.

This short is the 3rd they made for RKO. It's not one of their best, but I still wish it was for sale somewhere. They were a unique and strange team.

IMDB says that this is the first short short Clark & McCullough made for RKO, though if you check, you'll see that "A Peep in the Deep" debuted before "False Roomers". Perhaps "False Roomers" was made first and came out second...I dunno.

The film begins with the boys getting in trouble after wrecking someone's car....so they hightail it to a nearby apartment building and there they harass the landlord (James Finlayson) and all their new neighbors. Most of this is only modestly funny...but the ending...well, it's simply amazing and makes the entire short film worth your time.

If you are interested, the film is currently posted on YouTube.