Billie Ritchie, the comic who always claimed that Charlie Chaplin stole *his* act, stars in this early L-KO comedy with Henry Bergman, who later became a Chaplin regular.
It's not one of his better efforts as he and Bergman compete over a girl by trying to buy her a $500 bracelet -- purchase of which will be financed by collecting on a fire policy. The gags are rather thin in this one, although the early sequence in which the always nasty Ritchie attempts to strangle a flock of ostriches might amuse some people.
Ritchie might have some truth to his claims about who was imitating whom. Like Chaplin he came out of the Fred Karno troupe -- as did many another comedy star over the next quarter of a century. But there is no doubt that Chaplin was the one with real talent.
It's not one of his better efforts as he and Bergman compete over a girl by trying to buy her a $500 bracelet -- purchase of which will be financed by collecting on a fire policy. The gags are rather thin in this one, although the early sequence in which the always nasty Ritchie attempts to strangle a flock of ostriches might amuse some people.
Ritchie might have some truth to his claims about who was imitating whom. Like Chaplin he came out of the Fred Karno troupe -- as did many another comedy star over the next quarter of a century. But there is no doubt that Chaplin was the one with real talent.
