Isn't Life Terrible?

Called one of the most handsomest directors in Hollywood, Leo McCarey directed some of cinema's funniest films. Winner of three Oscars, McCarey has been credited (although producer Hal Roach would disagree) of linking Oliver Hardy with Stan Laurel as a team. What cannot be refuted is the director made a litany of silent movies' top-rated hilarious movies with veteran comedian Charley Chase.

A perfect example is McCarey's parody of a D. W. Griffith recent 1924 film, "Isn't Life Wonderful," with his two-reeler, July 1925's "Isn't Life Terrible." He was hired by Hal Roach in 1923 after the producer noticed his sense of humor while the two were playing on the handball court. McCarey was employed as a gag writer for the "Our Gang" series before directing Charlie Chase in his early 1924's 'Young Oldfield." The 26-year-old director soaked in the experienced advice of Chase, commenting "Whatever success I have had or may have, I owe to his help because he taught me all I know." The two had an especially close relationship by sharing the same hobby of writing popular songs together.

"Isn't Life Terrible" stars Oliver Hardy as the loafing brother of Chase's wife (Katherine Grant). Infected with the traveling bug, Chase decides to enter a contest for a free cruise by selling fountain pens. In one scene, Chase tries to persuade a housewife to buy a pen, which is stuck in his shirt pocket. Squeezing the pen to get it out, Chase splatters his face by the squirting ink. Fay Wray, the potential customer, isn't yelling hysterically in the scene like she will in 1933's 'King Kong.' Wray was one of many young actresses who won a newspaper contest to get her start in Hollywood, landing a small role in 1923 as a 16-year-older. Wray played several small parts, such as in "Isn't Life Terrible," until securing a female lead in Erich von Stroheim's "The Wedding March" in 1926.

Chase had been in films for 10 years by the time he appeared in "Isn't Life Terrible." Working at Keystone Studios, Chase appeared alongside Charlie Chaplin. He also as was a director for Roach in 1920. He supervised several Roach's film series, including "Our Gang." When Harold Lloyd left the Roach fold, Chase returned to the front of the camera to star in his very own successful series of comedies. He's still remembered today as a master of embarrassment, caught in situations where his calm demeanor can be raddled, such as seen in "Isn't Life Terrible" by bringing aboard the cruise boat the wrong child while his young daughter is left at the dock.