Series: Clyde Cook Director: Tom Buckingham, Len Powers Producer: Hal Roach Titles: Photography: Editor: Richard C. Currier Stars: Clyde Cook, Jack Gavin, Noah Young Company: Pathé Exchange Released: 06 June 1926 Length: 2 reels Production No.: C-1 Filming dates: March 27 - April 19, 1925; retakes May 25-29, 1925 and January 28-29, 1926 Rating: -/10

He Forgot To Remember

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John Smith (Clyde Cook) is whitewashing a barn door (whilst looking at a horse) when he gets a grilling from his foreman (Jack Gavin). Smith wanders off and sees a crying man, also named John Stonewall Smith (Noah Young) sobbing his heart out and proclaiming he has murder in his heart after a man in a derby hat stole his sweetheart, little Nell. After producing a photo of his stolen loved one, the crying man adds that the thief was a traveling artist who white-washed barns. It matches Smith's appearance perfectly! Smith siezes the opportunity to make a quick getaway when an army recruiter stops by looking for Stonewall. Smith would rather take his chances with the army than to spend any more time with the stranger he just met! Smith finds himself with an army sergeant on top of a moving train and is told to bunk down in a carraige with a horse, which he tries to befriend by feeding it hay. When there is no more, he chalks the word "HAY" on the wall (seems like a logical thing to do in the situation) but the horse is wise and after the train emerges from a dark tunnel, Smith is lying battered on the ground with horseshoe marks on his pants. At Cavalry Camp, Smith is an orderly. He is summoned by his commanding officer (Yorke Sherwood) into the office, where the two of them get into a fight over a broom (yes, a broom). The officer then mounts an exercise horse (which looks more like an emu) but is thrown off when the contraption malfunctions. Smith's attempts to control it result in him being thrown all over the place too.

Smith is out in the field, on drill with the other soldiers practicing sword skills but is placed on kitchen duty when he proves to be incompetent. Meanwhile, Stonewall Smith has rejoined the army in search of the man who stole his girl. The two men encounter one another in the kitchen and a chase begins but Smith (Cook) momentarily gets the upper hand on his opponent, slowing him down when he throws a barrel up onto a sloping roof, with it rolling back down and clobbering Stonewall on the head. Smith then bumps into a young lady in the woods who just happens to be the woman at the centre of all the fuss. Back at the camp, the soldiers are drilling, with Smith getting in the way and being buried under a heap of the men's kit. The girl, who is watching the parade/drill is helped up onto a horse, with the other soldiers as Smith is reunited with "Dynamite" - the horse he met on the train. As the soldiers race off on horseback, Smith is left behind on the ground. The soldiers turn, and charge towards him with their swords raised in an attack formation as Smith runs for his life. He buries himself into the ground as the horses rush over him. Afterwards he gets up, staggers around dazed. An officer's sneeze sends the girl's horse on a wild run with her on top of it. Smith races to the rescue before falling off Dynamite. He does manage to rescue the girl and she rewards him with a passionate kiss just as Stonesmith arrives on the scene, sword in hand. Smith hands over the girl and expects the score to be settled between the two men, but Stonesmith confesses that his Nell is 310lbs and there has been a misunderstanding. Smith falls through a hole, lands on a pig and rides off.

Favourite bit Certainly the most memorable scene of the film is when Smith and the officer both end up riding the "horse" in the office. I still say it looks more like an emu than a horse!

Trivia • Copyrighted May 26, 1926. • The horse's name is "Dynamite". My opinion • A pretty decent comedy to be fair though it does tend to slow down after about the first ten minutes. Some very good scenes (the opening shot is very misleading and rather amusing), plus seeing Noah Young's softer side is also quite revealing too.

	Clyde Cook John Smith, artist
	Jack Gavin Foreman
	Noah Young John Stonewall Smith
	Yorke Sherwood Cannon-ball O'Sorghum
	William Gillespie Officer
	Blanche Mehaffey The girl
	UNIDENTIFIED Officer
	UNIDENTIFIED Soldier

INTERTITLES (click image to enlarge)

SHOT ON LOCATION (click any image to enlarge)

Acknowledgements: Tommie Hicks and Dave Glass (help) Jesse Brisson (identification of William Gillespie) This page was last updated on: 24 April 2021