User Reviews

Amusing short comedy has the same format as the Dead End Kid's 1939 drama "Angels Wash Their Faces" where the beleaguered Edgar Kennedy's reaction to baseball playing in his front yard has him in court for breaking a squad car's window. As it is kid's day in city hall, he finds the police commissioner, mayor and judge to be the kids who kept bopping him on the noggin with their baseball. The quick tempered Kennedy gets no support from his wife or father in law, which leads to more baseball head bopping for him, complete with the coconut thud sound. The kids, with the exception of the actor playing the judge, play their roles seriously, with the smirking judge trying to suppress laughter. There are a few genuine laughs, all at Kennedy's expense, although he obviously is justified in his frustration.

Sometimes children can be more mature than adults, and when adults act like children, can that mean our children can act like adults? What if we lived in a crazy, upside down world where for one day, a city's municipal offices are completely taken over by young boys? Such a concept in our reality is laughable at best, but as we all know, Edgar Kennedy's shorts are set in an alternate reality, so something as farfetched and ludicrous as that could indeed take place. It all began one morning during a big breakfast where Edgar couldn't eat, mainly because he ate a bunch of candy bars before bed. As he goes into the bedroom to get ready for another long day at the office, he sees a group of boys playing baseball outside. He catches a glimpse of the game and thinks it looks like fun, but his opinion soon changes when one of the brats accidentally hits a baseball right through the window, conking Edgar on the head. He's sore about it, naturally, but Vivian tries to keep his temper in check, citing that they're just kids. Well, yeah, Edgar shouldn't fly off the handle at little boys, but at the same time, a broken window is a broken window and somebody has got to foot the bill. Matters weren't helped when Papa takes the ball from Edgar and throws it back out the window. Regardless, Edgar goes outside and, despite his best efforts, doesn't lose his temper and through forced politeness, tries to return the boys' ball. They apologize for the accident and everything seems as though it's going to work out fine... until Papa opens his big mouth and makes a joke at Edgar's expense, causing him to chuck the ball in his direction, only he misses and strikes a cop in the head while he and his partner were in their car on a beat. As a result, they write Edgar a ticket and order him to appear in court tomorrow at 9 AM. Well, under normal circumstances, Edgar could've just appeared before the court, plead innocence even though he was clearly at fault for throwing the ball, pay a fine, then get the boys' parents to fork over the damages to his window and everything would be fine... if not for one tiny, minute detail: the next day was National Boys' Day, in which small boys take over all city offices for one day.... um, what?

I'm not making that up, we're told right at this point in the short that this city has some strange day in which they let little boys run the municipal offices. That means the mayor, the chief of police, the circuit judge, and city council will all be made up of young boys... yeah, if the Neverland Ranch were a city. Not sure why they do this, how this custom got started, or even how or WHY everybody in this place likes this idea. I mean, it would make sense if they shadowed the adults in those offices for a school project, but no, just for the hell of it, small boys will be running city offices. Can't see this going wrong at all. And why is it just boys? Why not girls? I guess because it's 1940 and females were still considered second-class citizens, even if they would do a better job at it. Anyway, determined to fight his ticket, Edgar and Papa go down to the police station to speak to the chief, only to discover he's an 8-year-old boy. Deciding to take this matter to a higher authority, they go to city hall to see the mayor, finding he and the city council are also little boys. With no other alternative, they go court where, as expected, the judge is a young boy: Mugsy McGuire residing. But this time, they have the adult judge sitting by, just for kicks. Your tax dollars at work, people! Edgar begrudgingly waives his right to a trial by jury, so the judge appoints a prepubescent lawyer to represent him. Before Edgar takes the stand, he sends Papa out to buy a bunch of candy for the kids. When the examination starts, Edgar tries to tell his side of the story, in which he says the mayor and chief of police were playing baseball in the street, yet under these circumstances, it's true, so why the hell is everybody laughing? These are the idiots who supposedly condoned this stupid switch day. Edgar just can't win, can he? I also like how Judge Mugsy doesn't try to maintain order in the court while the hyenas are cackling. Next, the two cops end up recreating the incident by repeatedly bopping Edgar on the head with the baseball, and again, NEITHER judge says anything, they just continue to let the defendant get battered for no reason. Next, Edgar starts blubbering like an infant as the prosecuting attorney, acting like he's pining for an Oscar, accuses him of being an evil, hard-bitten piece of criminal scum... until FINALLY the adult judge does what the taxpayers pay him for and stops all the nonsense and lets Edgar tell his side of the story. He does so, just as Vivian comes in and backs him up, citing his temper as the cause of this fracus, so once again, it looks like things will work out and Edgar will be let off the hook, except that's when Papa returns with the boxes of candy Edgar told him to buy in attempt to bribe the judge. As a result, Edgar gets the book thrown at him and is placed in the custody of his father in-law.

I guess trying to rationalize a comedy short from 1940 makes little sense, as it was a different time and peoples' expectations weren't so high. Well, even with that in mind, the whole concept of this short is profoundly stupid. It also segues into the part about boys taking over government offices very abruptly, it's not even mentioned or hinted at beforehand. It's like, boom: kids are in charge now. I dunno, maybe that whole city hates Edgar's guts and does whatever it takes to screw him over. I will say this, that the boys who take charge of their offices are the most mature people found in this film. While Edgar may have been at fault for the baseball hitting the cops, he was justified in his frustrations over small boys in high places. I mean, maybe this concept would be cute to people who have kids, but for everyone else, it just boggles the mind. Papa was his usual annoying self, being on par with Brother from the other family. The two cops, played by comedy regulars Fred Kelsey and James Morton, were also immature, and the adult judge was probably trying his hardest not to laugh. Even that condescending desk sergeant at the police station thought it was swell having an 8-year-old boss. This concept would have been an interesting experiment for The Little Rascals, have them be put in charge of a town for a day, or better yet, they find a ghost town and take it over, making Spanky the mayor. Edgar Kennedy was in a few of their shorts, playing Kennedy the Cop. But as an idea for one of Kennedy's Average Man shorts, it just felt weird. Again, I do commend the child actors as they really showed maturity in these parts, even if they were clearly instructed to ham it up. Do I recommend Mutiny in the County? Sure, it isn't terrible, just very unbelievable. A town run by little boys? Michael Jackson would've moved right in... and I waited the entire review to say that.