The Non-Skid Kid

In this comedy short I found in disc 3 of the "American Slapstick" DVD collection, Eddie Boland is having his car fixed by some female mechanics who are in this profession, despite the experience of one of them limited to being run over twice, because they accidentally knocked out the original mechanic when they were looking over a fashion magazine while driving around. Now, I was a little amused by that sequence of the women not really looking when driving until I realized the writers might have been a little sexist in crafting that sequence. And the ladies suddenly becoming auto workers with no real gags involved doesn't help in refuting that theory. In fact, there's really not much funny here though there is a little amusing scene of "Our Gang" member Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison as a random little kid pretending to fix and drive Boland's car. So on that note, The Non-Skid Kid is worth a look with nothing else to recommend it.

Okay, the summary is meant to be sarcastic. Without laughs, a comedy certainly can't be worth while and that is certainly true of this listless little dreg.

Eddie Boland plays lead in this dull film about women mechanics (which, I think was THE joke of the film--how sad). During the first portion of the film, he's supported by Sunshine Sammy Morrison--a cute child actor who went on to the the first Black member of the Our Gang comedies (and later, in the Dead End Kids/Bowery Boys films). While the kid could certainly act and it was nice that his Blackness was not an issue (i.e., no racist jokes--he was treated just like any other kid--something very enlightened for 1922), it just wasn't all that funny. Then, when Eddie walked into a car repair shop "manned" by female workers, this also was pathetically uninteresting and I can't see how anyone could see this as particularly funny or inspired.

Overall, a terribly dull and unfunny film--and this is from a guy who LOVES silent comedies.