Series: Harold Lloyd Director: Gil Pratt Producer: Hal Roach Titles: H.M. Walker Photography: Walter Lundin Editor: Stars: Harold Lloyd, Bebe Daniels, Snub Pollard Company: Pathé Exchange Released: 23 June 1918 Length: 1 reel Production No.: L-34 Filming dates: April 15-19, 1918 Rating: -/10

Are Crooks Dishonest?

Available on DVD:

Miss Goulash (Bebe Daniels) has just finished serving a customer at her Mystic Temple seance when her husband (William Blaisdell) suggests they go out for a while. A patroling police officer in the park walks by some bushes when Harold and Snub emerge and spy the professor sitting on a bench reading his newspaper. They hide behind a hedge and conjure up a scheme where Snub drops an expensive ring on the ground and then pretends to search for it. As the professor joins in the search, Harold picks it up and claims owenership of it. The professor offers to buy the ring from him and after some haggling, Harold accepts, completing the set-up. Snub spies some more potential customers to their scheme and goes over to a crowd of people sitting on nearby benches, claiming he has lost a ring. The first to take the bait is Gus Leonard, followed shortly by a younger gentleman, who both hand over money to Snub and Harold to keep the ring. Two more men fall for the trick. However, Miss Goulash, who is sitting on a bench, is unimpressed by Harold's blatant dishonesty so when Harold returns to celebrate his catch with Snub, she decides to get the upper hand on him by planting her purse underneath their bench. She then calls over cop Charles Stevenson when the two men are displaying all the money they have fleeced and claims she has been robbed. He surmises that they are responsible and makes them hand over all the money to the lady. Nice trick! Leaving their suitcase on the park bench, Harold and Snub quickly flee the area and straight into the woman's Mystic Temple, followed by a different cop.

Inside, Harold and Snub find relevant costumes to disguise themselves from the suspicious cop and after getting rid of him, the two men begin to fiddle around with the contraptions which control the props used to con the customers, thus exposing the owners as being crooks themselves. Miss Goulash returns home and catches the men acting up and plays along, but Harold recognises her as the woman in the park who just conned him and alerts Snub. Snub picks up a mallet and is about to smack her over the head but Harold stops him. Miss Goulash flicks a switch on her machine which drops a suspended skeleton from the ceiling which scares Snub into leaving abruptly. Oblivious to this Harold turns around to see it when it taps him on the shoulder and becomes worried. But when he turns back the skeleton is raised and Snub replaces it (it's all a bit convenient!) They two men figure out that the woman is behind the operation to scare them when Snub notices her getting her large amount of money out of her purse. Snub crawls around the back of her chair and relieves her of it but she sees him. Snub puts the money in his clothing, but Harold takes it from him and puts it in his pocket. Miss Goulash once again robs Harold of the money and takes it from his pocket when he is busy congratulating Snub. Just then Professor Goulash returns home and chases the two men around the house before they manage to overpower him (see "favourite bit"). Their victory is short-lived however, as the chase continues with the professor throwing both men out of the house and onto the street. Snub realises 'his' money has been stolen, but Harold winks at the camera knowlingly. He then goes to reveal that he actually has the money before realising they have both been robbed again. Snub smacks Harold in the face which leads Harold to chase him off down the street.

Favourite bit This is a clever and quite surprising little gag when Harold and Snub perform simultaneous handstands to kick William Blaisdell in the head! I wonder how many takes that took to get right?

Trivia • Production L-34 - Harold Lloyd series. • Copyrighted June 8, 1918. • Reissued July 11, 1926. • When Harold and Snub emerge from the bush in the park, it would appear that the bushes are pulled open by something other than themselves. • Two men walking in a public park, arm in arm, looks a bit funny, don't you think? Well, considering this was 1918. • The inscription on the suitcase Harold carries is "Phoney Jewelery Co." • Just look at those interior walls wobble when Harold and Snub bash into them!

	Harold Lloyd Harold
	Bebe Daniels Miss Goulash
	Snub Pollard Snub
	William Blaisdell Professor Goulash
	Gus Leonard Old man in park
	Charles Stevenson Policeman in park
	Dorothea Wolbert Old lady in park
	Lew Harvey Policeman
	James Parrott Man in park
	Lige Conley Man in park
	Sammy Brooks [?]
	Harry Burns [?]
	Walter MacNamara [?]
	B.J. Rockwell [?]
	Malcolm St. Clair [?]
	Belle Mitchell [?]
	Maynard Laswell [?]
	Max Hamburger [?]
	Oscar Larson [?]
	Hazel Powell [?]
	Estelle Harrison [?]
	Jane Blyler [?]
	Lulu Novello [?]
	Harry Freehand [?]
	Billy Fay [?]
	William Gillespie [?]
	Helen Gilmore [DISPUTED] (she is not the old woman in the park)

UNIDENTIFIED CAST

STILL (click any image to enlarge)

SHOT ON LOCATION (click any image to enlarge)

Acknowledgements: The Harold Lloyd Encyclopedia by Annette D'Agostino Lloyd (boook) Annette D'Agostino Lloyd (information relating to Helen Gilmore) Jim Jarvis (help) Jesse Brisson (identification of Lige Conley) This page was last updated on: 16 November 2021