The Gay Shoe Clerk

With a title that suggests a Channel 4 documentary film, this short is actually a quick sketch that is all very cheeky and funny I'm sure but hasn't really stood the test of time at all. It features a bit of a build up and some good facial expressions and finishes with the clerk of the title getting rebuked (with an umbrella) for taking liberties with his customer. It is very short and is done with just a static camera shot so I was wondering what the lasting value of it was other than being part of a bigger history. I didn't find it particularly clever or funny and, with other UK silent shorts I could be watching to see how they built the foundations, I didn't think there had been much point in seeking this one out.

I can't understand why this is such a popular film except for the fact that it does feature an early closeup that shows clearly what is still going on in the scene. This was a technique developed by G. A. Smith in his "The Sick Kitten" and indeed this short is according to some a remake of Smith's "As Seen Through a Telescope". It's a sex comedy that is pretty harmless today but was shocking for its time. Anyway, I've seen more creative one-gag movies from early cinema but the joke here really isn't that funny and comes up very basic. The lighting is really bad which makes it come across as serious until the 'joke' at the end. One of the best things about it is that the closeup is very effective and given the surviving print, it looks very good. The joke is really cheap though.

The Gay Shoe Clerk (1903) offers early romantic comedy as the clerk in question tries to get a little too friendly with his young female client, only to be clopped on the head by her severe mother. The timing was good, and there is a subtle eroticism in the way his hand slowly pushes up her skirt to reveal her stockings...

The copy I watched was from the "Treasures of American Cinema", Volume I (first disc), and like everything else on the set is impeccably transferred and well-scored, with excellent documentation. To the lover of early cinema, or anyone who wants to explore the byways of American film in general, it's an indispensable set.

Gay Shoe Clerk, The (1903)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

This Edison short is probably one of the better known films from this era. It shows a shoe clerk working when two ladies, apparently a mother and daughter, come into the store. The clerk is putting a shoe on the younger woman who raises her dress where he gets to see a bit of her leg, which makes him lean forward and kiss her only to have the other woman attack him. That's pretty much all we've got here but I guess you could call this one of the earliest sex comedies as it appears the film certainly wants to show off the sexiness of the woman raising her dress. It's also worth noting that the legend of D.W. Griffith inventing the close-up is pretty much thrown out the window here as the lifting of the dress is done so with a close-up. You certainly can't compare this to more current sex comedies but even though this is over 100-years-old it's still pretty funny.

For some reason or another, I happened to catch this little flick somewhere not too long ago.

It is basically a shoe salesman that is seduced by a women customer's good looks (who, by today's standards, really doesn't look that great at all) and proceeds to help her try on shoes. Part of the woman's dress slips and shows a third of her leg, which then the camera cuts to the man's face showing a really goofy suprised look on his face. Then the manager comes around and smacks him with an umbrella. Ouch!

Judging by the fact it was mildly amusing to watch this one minute video today, I'm sure it was absolutely hilarious about 100 years ago. Pretty decent camera work considering that no one back then was really a professional "cameraman." The whole thing seems pretty Chaplin-ish. Your typical short goofy comedy. Consider it a decent camera experiment, as that's all it really is. Nothing wrong with that, I guess.