Lige Conley was a silent film comedian who has fallen into such obscurity that most of his credits are not listed on the Internet Movie Database. He bounced from studio to studio, until he disappeared behind the camera after 1930 as an uncredited gag writer for Fox. He died in 1937 at the age of 40.
This comedy, made for Jack White, Jules White's eldest brother who actually knew how to produce funny comedies, is pretty good. Lige, a bit of a Chaplin look-alike, plays a farm boy who goes to college. In between some sharply turned Ugly-Spinster jokes, Lige eventually gets involved in a shell race.
However, before that happens, comes the funny section: Lige heads to the Big City on his way to college -- some good shots of downtown Los Angeles, including the famous Owl Drug Store -- and gets into a series of gags in which he deals with city slickers, pushy cabbies and the sheer crowds of the town. This section lifts this comedy well above average, and if the end is a bit standard, the entire effort is well worth your time.
