Wise Guys Prefer Brunettes

Wise Guys Prefer Brunettes is an American silent comedy film directed by F. Richard Jones and Stan Laurel, starring James Finlayson, Ted Healy, Charlotte Mineau, and Helene Chadwick. It was released by Pathé Exchange on October 3, 1926.[1][2]

Wise Guys Prefer Brunettes
Film poster
Directed byF. Richard Jones
Stan Laurel
Written byH.M. Walker (titles)
Produced byHal Roach
StarringJames Finlayson
Ted Healy
Burr McIntosh
Charlotte Mineau
Helene Chadwick
Tyler Brooke
Sammy Brooks
William Courtright
CinematographyHarry W. Gerstad, Len Powers
Edited byRichard C. Currier
Distributed byPathé Exchange
Release date
  • October 3, 1926 (1926-10-03)
Running time
20 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)

Plot

Helene Chadwick plays a like-named student at Pinkham University who runs a shop selling sexy gowns. The dean (James Finlayson) believes that Helene's shop is behind the recent breakdown of campus discipline and wants her expelled. Meanwhile, Ted Healy—portraying Napoleon Fizz, PU’s "11-year freshman"—has been developing a rejuvenating plaster. He and Helene conspire to test it on the dean. It works, transforming Finlayson into the campus Romeo. Helene and Napoleon promptly usher him into a compromising situation at a women's sorority house, and he is found emerging from the plaster's effects just as the university's president (Burr McIntosh) shows up.

Cast

Production

The film's title, clearly a play on the 1925 comic novel, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, by Anita Loos, was the brainchild of H. M. Walker, as were all of the film's title cards.[3] Perhaps returning the favor, Loos dubbed her novel's sequel, published in December 1927, But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes.[4]

Vaudevillian Ted Healy made his screen debut here, as well as his only pre-talkie appearance.[5][6] As for Stan Laurel, this may have been his final credited directorial assignment; shortly after the film's release, he was starting to be paired onscreen with Oliver Hardy,[7] en route to the team's official debut on October 8, 1927, in The Second Hundred Years.[8]

Reception

Despite some positive reviews in the trades,[9][10][11] the film failed to generate much interest and Healy's fledgling film career was put on hold for another four years.[6][12] Likewise, the film did little to alter the downward trajectory of its curiously uncredited leading lady, Helene Chadwick.[13]

References
  1. "Pathe's October 3rd Releases". Motion Picture News. October 2, 1926. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
  2. "Pathe Program for Week of October 3". Moving Picture World. October 2, 1926. p. 290. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
  3. "Pathe Program is Diversified; Six Units Working on Hal Roach Comedy Lot". Motion Picture News. July 10, 1926. p. 145. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
  4. "Eagle's Fall Book List". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. October 26, 1927. p. 51. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
  5. Cassara, Bill (2015). Nobody's Stooge: Ted Healy. Duncan, OK : BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-768-3.
  6. Cullen, Frank; Hackman, Florence; McNeilly, Donald (2007). Vaudeville Old and New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America, Volume 1. New York: Routledge. p. 496. ISBN 9780415938532.
  7. Cassara, Ch. 14.
  8. Everson, William K. (1973). The Films of Laurel and Hardy. Secaucus, N.J.: Citadel Press. p. 50. ISBN 0-8065-0146-4.
  9. Sewell, C.S. (October 9, 1926). "Reviews of Little Pictures with a Big Punch". Moving Picture World. p. 357. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
  10. "Four Ideal Comedies". The Daily Film Renter. November 4, 1927. p. 2. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
  11. Miss Exray (aka Mrs. Ray Schader). "Rubberin' Round; Laughs in 'Wise Guys'". Variety. November 3, 1926. p. 41. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
  12. "The First and Best Talkie Reviews". Photoplay. October 30, 1930. p. 55. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
  13. "Helene Chadwick, Silent Film Star, Dies of Injury, 41". The Tampa Tribune. September 6, 1940. p. 2. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
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