James Parrott
Director · 1897 – 1939 · Baltimore, Maryland, USA
From Wikipedia James Parrott (August 2, 1897 – May 10, 1939) was an American actor and film director; and the younger brother of film comedian Charley Chase. James Gibbons Parrott was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Charles and Blanche Thompson Parrott. In 1903, his father died from a heart attack, leaving the family in bad financial shape, which forced them to move in with a relative. Charley Jr. quit school, so he could go to work, in order to support his mother and brother. Eventually the call of the stage beckoned him, and Charley Jr. left home at age 16 to travel the vaudeville circuit as a singer and comedic performer. By the time James had reached his teens, he too, had quit school, and became involved with the street gangs of Baltimore. Later, Charley's connections in the film industry helped get his younger brother established in movies, and he would appear during the 1920s in a series of relatively successful comedies for producer Hal Roach. He was billed first as "Paul Parrott," then "Jimmie Parrott." Approximately 75 comedies were produced from 1921 to 1923, with titles continuing to be released through Pathé until 1926. Frequent co-stars included Marie Mosquini, Jobyna Ralston, Eddie Baker, and Sunshine Sammy. Parrott is probably best known as a comedy director. As "James Parrott," he specialized in the two-reel misadventures of Laurel and Hardy, including the Oscar-winning classic The Music Box, and Helpmates. During the 1930s Parrott had acquired serious drinking and drug problems (his diet medications were really addictive amphetamines) and although still able to direct quality shorts, he had developed a reputation as unreliable. By the mid-1930s his work was spotty: Stan Laurel used him sporadically to contribute gags to the Laurel and Hardy features, and he would direct an Our Gang short in 1934, plus several acceptable entries in Thelma Todd-Patsy Kelly series. By 1937, Parrott was accepting any jobs that came his way. He could no longer be counted on to direct or write, and relied on his brother to support him financially. There was a brief marriage to Ruby Ellen McCoy in 1937, but as his various addictions worsened, so did his state of mind. Parrott died at the age of 41 of heart failure. His brother Charley was devastated, and died 13 months later.
Movies24
Movie2.0ComedyBebe and girlfriend go shopping for new corsets. Harold sneaks into the corset shop and a customer asks him to take her measurements - a ticklish task, as the brash young man suddenly becomes playfully bashful.
Here Come the Girls
1918 · 1 votes
Movie5.0ComedyHarold invades the "Gilded Guzzle" café, where he appropriates a lady's roll of money, hides under a table and impersonates a cigar store Indian.
It's a Wild Life
1918 · 1 votes
- Movie7.5Comedy
A couple of pals tries to stay out of trouble, without much luck.
Get Busy
1924 · 2 votes
- MovieComedy
James Parrott having a lot of pets destroying the place.
No Pets
1923
- Movie6.5
Paul Parrott comedy produced by Hal Roach.
The Landlubber
1922 · 2 votes
Movie5.7ComedyStan plays a janitor at a hotel dropping letters and trying to retrieve them with a vacuum, getting wet, helping a lady shoot her cheating husband and being chased by the police.
Do You Love Your Wife?
1919 · 3 votes
- Movie8.0Comedy
James Parrott doing all kinds of handy work.
Don't Butt In
1926 · 1 votes
- Movie10.0WesternComedy
Paul is practicing the art of being a cowboy. He consults a book before firing his gun, climbing onto a saddle on top of a chair and then falling off and dressing his wounds. He then gets back on his 'saddle' and fires his gun again, this time in the direction of another man who has just entered the room. Paul leaves abruptly and rides into town on a horse, and straight through a crowded saloon. A town marshal sees this as act act of bravery and rewards Paul with a sheriff's badge immediately. A fearful rival makes his mark when he lights his cigarette by tossing it into the air and shooting at it to ignite it!
Blaze Away
1922 · 1 votes
- MovieDocumentary
Slapstick experts host this look at the life and films of Charley Chase with rare film clips and photos.
MovieComedySHOOT STRAIGHT - starring Paul Parrott, with Jobyna Ralston, Eddie Baker and George Rowe. A rarely-seen comedy short. Parrott is a hapless hunter in this predecessor to Tex Avery toons of the 1940s, and in a series of inventive gag sequences fails to capture squirrel, rabbit, chinchilla, bobcat, duck, and bear all in one reel.
Shoot Straight
1923
- Movie10.0Comedy
A cruel sea captain shanghais Jimmie to work on his ship, but Jimmie's girlfriend also stows away on board, disguised as a sailor.
A Deep Sea Panic
1924 · 1 votes
Movie7.0ComedyWhen Charlie borrows the policeman's uniform of his girl's father and captures a lunatic, his prospective father-in-law dons the uniform just in time to receive the reward of $1,000.
Sittin' Pretty
1924 · 2 votes
Movie4.0ComedyThe two-reel silent film comedy The Caretaker's Daughter was distributed by Pathe in 1925. Produced by the prolific Hal Roach, the film stars the great Charley Chase in a case of multiple incarnations!
The Caretaker's Daughter
1925 · 4 votes
Movie6.7ComedyIn this early short Harold Lloyd sneaks into a movie studio in order to locate an attractive young lady he's just met at a snack bar. He's retrieved a letter she dropped and wants to return it to her, but it's pretty clear that his interest extends beyond mere politeness. (She's the adorable young Bebe Daniels, so this is easy to understand.) The movie studio setting provides Harold with lots of opportunities to do what comedians do in comedies like this one: flirt with actresses, anger the studio brass, and dash through sets disrupting everything.
Hey There
1918 · 9 votes
- Movie6.5Comedy
Paul, a great college athlete, is sent to his uncle's farm to be developed, but turns against the continual round of chores. And at the table he is continually elbowed aside by the huskier farmhands, until he gives up in disgust. But a last attempt to understand the intricacies of the tractor results in his demolishing the house, and the farmer's daughter aids his escape.
Harvest Hands
1922 · 2 votes
Movie5.5ComedyIn this popular two reeler where Harold runs to the rescue of a woman on a fire engine, he is seen hanging on the moving vehicle by the released water hose that forces him closer to the ground.
Fireman Save My Child
1918 · 4 votes
MovieComedyThe troubles of a movie projectionist in a newly-purchased theater are chronicled in this two-reeler starring Paul Parrot and Mildred June.
Movie5.7ComedyA bumbling American soldier saves a girl from a bunch of Cossacks.
A Sammy in Siberia
1919 · 9 votes
- Movie8.0Comedy
Paul plays at being a detective until dad, who is a revenue officer, sends him out to prove his worth by rounding up some desperate moonshiners.
Bone Dry
1922 · 1 votes
Movie7.0ComedyNot one but two of Charlie Chaplin impersonators, Harry Mann and Monty Banks, a film directed by Charley Chase still under the name of Charles Parrott. They go driving around town experiencing various car theft problems.
Don't Park Here
1919 · 2 votes
- Movie7.0Comedy
After many difficulties getting into a baseball game with his girl, Paul is pressed into service as a pinch hitter.
Touch all the Bases
1922 · 1 votes
Movie5.2ComedyPaul's career as a shoeshine man is interrupted when he is mistaken for an escaped convict, but after the Station Master gives him a job at the train station he proves his worth.
Shine 'Em Up
1922 · 6 votes
MovieComedyHarold visits the Ozarks, where he has some funny experiences with a mountain girl and her eccentric family.
An Ozark Romance
1918
Movie5.2ComedyStan Laurel is picked up at the train depot and brought back by the husband to the family home where the wife is having a suffragette meeting. None too pleased they cause mayhem and then the neighbours are brought into it as Stan cleans up the backyard by throwing all the rubbish into their award winning garden.
Hustling for Health
1919 · 13 votes