''Hey, Pop!'' is a 1932 American

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. It was Arbuckle's comeback film, following an eleven-year absence from the screen caused by a 1921 scandal that implicated Arbuckle.

Plot

Fatty is a chef in a New York restaurant, using short cuts and clever tricks in the kitchen to speed his short orders along. Meanwhile, in the dining area, a despondent woman leaves her young son Bill -- and does not return. The gruff owner of the restaurant notices Bill being unattended all afternoon, and calls a local orphanage to take him away. Bill, fearing for his safety, pleads with Fatty for help. Fatty spirits Bill away and forfeits his job. Bill is now rooming with Fatty, who tries in vain to find a new job and pay for groceries. He hits upon an ingenious plan to have food sent up to his room, with Bill as his confederate. In a last-ditch attempt to raise money quickly, Fatty disguises as a woman and enters Bill in a baby show, in hopes of collecting a cash prize.

Cast

* Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle as Fatty the Chef * Billy Hayes as Bill * Connie Almy as Landlady * Jack Shutta as Restaurant owner * Dan Wolheim as Orphanage official * Herschel Mayall as Contest judge

Production

Roscoe Arbuckle had not starred in a film since 1921, and had been working behind the scenes -- under a pseudonym -- as a comedy writer and director. By 1932 he was making personal appearances in

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

. Sam Sax of

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

noted how the audiences welcomed him back, and signed Arbuckle in June 1932 for a two-reel (about 20 minutes) talking comedy, ''Hey, Pop!'' Filming began on Thursday, August 25, 1932 at Warner's

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National Pictures, First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone is the last major analog sound-on-disc sys ...

studio in Brooklyn, New York. Like many Vitaphone comedies, street scenes were filmed on actual locations near the studio; the Norman Square Restaurant in Brooklyn's Greenpoint district is seen in an establishing shot. Arbuckle's new bride

Addie McPhail Addie McPhail (July 15, 1905 – April 14, 2003) was an American film actress. Early years McPhail was born Addie Dukes in White Plains, Kentucky, on July 15, 1905. Her parents were Van and Cordelia Dukes, and she attended schools in Madiso ...

was scheduled to co-star in ''Hey, Pop!'' but did not appear in the film, which has no romantic interest.

Reception

The original agreement was for a single picture, so Sax could gauge public reaction before committing to a series. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and Sax took up Arbuckle's option for five more shorts. Sax issued a press release under his own name, heralding the comedian's triumphant return: "Fatty Arbuckle is right back to where he was 12 or 13 years ago. By cutting down his dialogue and using more pantomime, we find him registering laugh after laugh." "Unquestionably the short is box office," reported ''Variety''. "Arbuckle's reappearance on the screen is enough to bring business and warrants the name out in lights, plus other attention from the theatre. About 75% of the short is pantomime, Fatty saying little throughout its 18 minutes. He wears the too-short balloon trousers and other accoutrements of another day and appears entirely familiar in every way." Theater owners took the hint and publicized ''Hey, Pop!'' vigorously. Missouri: "Billed this heavily as Fatty's first talkie and I believe the comedy drew almost as many as the feature." Idaho: "Fatty comes back strong. Many and loud were the laughs during the run of this comedy. Arbuckle will make good, and should be producing regular." Michigan: "Having shown all the Arbuckle comedies in the long, long ago, I wondered what the new ones would be like. Fatty hardly look a day older. His speaking voice is very good. These comedies are much above the average of the slapstick comedies of today."J. E. Stocker, Myrtle Theatre, Detroit, Michigan; published in ''Motion Picture Herald'', July 8, 1933, p. 49.

References

External links