The Head Guy (1930)

Harry is made the temporary stationmaster in a small town.

Director:

Fred Guiol

Stars:

Harry Langdon, Thelma Todd, Judith Barrett

Cast

Cast overview:
Harry Langdon	...	Harry, Temporary Stationmaster
Thelma Todd	...	The Star
Judith Barrett	...	Nancy (as Nancy Dover)
Eddie Dunn	...	Mr. Dunn, the Producer
Edgar Kennedy	...	Station Master Kennedy
Gus Leonard	...	Uncle

Storyline

During a rain storm that follows a snow storm, Nancy comes to the train station to tell stationmaster Kennedy that he's needed at home to see his new twin infants. She promises Kennedy that Harry, her beau, will manage things just fine. Kennedy is dubious but reels off instructions and leaves. Harry's clueless. When a trainload of cabaret performers disembarks for a layover, Harry joins a rehearsing chorus line; Nancy sees him with these immoral women, so she declares she'll never speak to him again. While he cries in his lunch, she puts her morals and her skirt aside to join the rehearsal. When the train pulls away, will she leave Harry in the lurch?

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Plot Keywords:

storm | rain | twins | station | rehearsal | 

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Genres:

Short | Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 January 1930 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hal Roach Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

22 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

User Reviews

Langdon's second chance.

After a decline in Harry Langdon's career at the end of the silent period, the advent of sound gave him an opportunity to prove himself in a new medium. The shorts he made for Hal Roach feature essentially the very same character that had been silent since the mid-Twenties, now given voice. Langdon would have to alter himself in order to survive on-screen, and he eventually did. (Witness his understated performance in MISBEHAVING HUSBANDS.) These Roach films capture a moment in time that is both awkward and exciting, and in this particular short, even more dream-like. Here, the slow pacing of the new sound environment works for the character, and is as surreal as the likelihood that he would be appointed head guy in the absence of any real authority figure. I recommend it as I would most any Roach film from the same period.