A Straight Crook

Series: Eddie Boland

Director: Hal Roach

Producer: Hal Roach

Titles:

Photography:

Editor:

Stars: Eddie Boland, Ethel Broadhurst

Company: Pathé Exchange

Released: 15 May 1921

Length: 1 reel

Production No.: C-19

Filming dates: February 16-21, 1921

Rating: -/10

A Straight Crook

Available on DVD:

Ethel Broadhurst and Eddie Boland in A Straight Crook (1921)

"The lucky fellow -- He found $10,000 worth of cocktails -- and drank them both". Eddie Boland sits under a water fountain whilst holding an umbrella over his head. A young lady walks by and he follows her onto a nearby street. He falls through a rotating door and into the lobby of a hotel, landing on a sofa where a woman gives him the evil eye. Eddie then staggers up the hotel stairs but falls back down to the bottom and hands a fellow guest an empty glass. Upstairs, and still staggering around, Eddie attempts to unlock a door using what appears to be a rubber key, only to find that behind the door is guest Vera White - who shoves him across the corridor and through the door into another room opposite. Eddie begins the slow process of undressing before falling asleep.
Next morning, the hotel manager hands Eddie a bill for rent and suggests Eddie works off what he owes by performing duties within the hotel. We next see him as a bellhop, calling the elevator for a guest, but when it doesn't come he uses a guest's cane to reach up and pull the pointer down to the bottom so that the elevator opens (clever gag). The publicity-seeking actress Miss Lazara del Frijole (Ethel Broadhurst) is some sort of V.I.P. guest at the hotel and calls down to the reception desk. The sarcastic receptionist sends Eddie up to her room where the actress instructs Eddie to guard some jewels for her. After he leaves, she then calls back down to the receptionist and tells her to send up some detectives and reporters. One reporter is already taking notes as two detectives arrive. They are immediately suspicious of the bellhop and keep a close eye on him. A mailman (Mark Jones) comes to collect the outward-going mail from the hotel postbox but hands a package from it to the bellhop for not having any stamps on it. Eddie throws the package out of an upstairs window but it is picked up by the manager and brought back inside. Eddie tries to slip the package into the handbag of a lady guest who is reading her newspaper but fails, all under the watchful eye of the two detectives who are closing in on his bizarre behaviour. Eddie attempts to hand the package of jewels back to Miss del Frijole but she plays dumb. In one last attempt to relieve himself of possession of the package, Eddie slips it into the bag of an elderly guest in the lobby - only to find a trap inside. The two detectives grab him and open the package, only to find a note inside written by Frijole, which thanks him for helping her get publicity for the stunt, and offering him two free tickets to her next performance. He punches himself in the face and lands on his back as the picture fades out.

Favourite bit
A clever gag where Eddie Boland uses a cane to pull down the needle above the elevator so that it points at the floor where a guest is awaiting to enter it, then opens the doors. Brilliant!

Trivia
• Copyrighted May 14, 1921.
• The opening shot of Eddie Boland sitting next to the small pond was shot at the front of the Hal Roach Studios.
• There is an intertitle card which reads, "On his present salary, he should have his hotel bill paid by June 1st, 1950." Just in case you were wondering, that date fell on a Thursday.
• Ethel Broadhurst's character resides in room 43.

	Eddie Boland Bellhop
	Ethel Broadhurst Miss Lazara del Frijole
	Charles Stevenson Hotel detective
	Vera White Hotel guest
	Jean Hope Hotel receptionist
	Wallace Howe Hotel manager/ Hotel guest
	Mark Jones Mailman/ Elderly guest in chair
	Julie Leonard Hotel guest in bed
	Gaylord Lloyd Hotel detective
	Chris Lynton Hotel guest who boards elevator
	Bob O'Conor Reporter
	Lilymae Wilkinson Hotel guest reading newspaper
	Dagmar Dahlgren Receptionist next to stairs
	Molly Thompson Large woman in lounge
	Fanny Perry [?]
	Nina Speight [?]
	Harold Adkins [?]
	Betty Atwood [?]