In 1926 Clara was already making "lurid love" headlines - a blue blooded ne'er do well had milked a day's dalliance with Clara into a steamy love affair and the papers lapped it up - Clara called it "Just an episode in my young life". Paramount decided to cash in on the notoriety and rushed "Kid Boots" into production. Paramount bought the Ziegfeld musical comedy (489 performances on Broadway) for $75,000, then spent $275,000 on production costs - ten times that of any Preferred Picture (Clara's old studio). Eddie Cantor was hired to re-create his Kid Boots role on film and the studio also changed the name of the movie's heroine from Jane Martin to Clara McCoy, to help audience identify Clara as the "captivating, heart snatching heroine". A silent film adaptation of a Broadway musical comedy didn't sound a receipe for success but the appeal of Cantor's comic bumblings and the added attraction of cute Clara and the astonishing beauty of Billie Dove made it an immediate hit.
"By July the postmen have delivered quite a few of the Valentines posted in February" (What's changed!!!) Tailor's assistant Kid Boots (Eddie Cantor) receives a particularly nasty one but when he meets Clara McCoy (Clara Bow) - she doesn't care for looks, she just "wants 'em reliable". He meets Tom (Lawrence Grey) who is having his own women problems. He is about to be divorced from gold digging Carmen Mendoza (Natalie Kingston), who now wants him back after she has read that he is inheriting $3 million. Tom hides away at a golf resort, posing as a professional (with Kid Boots as his caddy) - he cannot be found until Thursday, when his divorce becomes final. He meets Eleanor (the ultra gorgeous Billie Dove, the role was played by Mary Eaton on Broadway) - the kind of girl "at a mountain resort that makes the other girls wish they went to the seaside". Kid also becomes reacquainted with Clara (she is a swimming instructress at the lodge) but the path of true love never runs smooth and there is a very funny sequence in which Kid pretends to entertain a vamp in order to make Clara jealous. He succeeds and Clara leaves the cafe in tears but then the real vamp enters with designs on our hero!!! It is Carmen and her aim is to get rid of Kid Boots so she can compromise Tom and stop the divorce going through.
There is a hilarious comedy sequence at the end where Clara and Kid ride galloping horses over a steep mountain path, fall over the side and are roped to safety, only to come face to face with Kid's nemesis - Clara's old flame!!! I don't think Eddie Cantor caused the Big 3 of Comedy (Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd) any sleepless nights although Cantor had a funny skit very reminiscent of Chaplin's "The Cure" - it involved a massage table, a very enthusiastic masseur and lots of contortions. "Kid Boots" is still a very diverting piece of twenties fun!!!
Highly Recommended.
"By July the postmen have delivered quite a few of the Valentines posted in February" (What's changed!!!) Tailor's assistant Kid Boots (Eddie Cantor) receives a particularly nasty one but when he meets Clara McCoy (Clara Bow) - she doesn't care for looks, she just "wants 'em reliable". He meets Tom (Lawrence Grey) who is having his own women problems. He is about to be divorced from gold digging Carmen Mendoza (Natalie Kingston), who now wants him back after she has read that he is inheriting $3 million. Tom hides away at a golf resort, posing as a professional (with Kid Boots as his caddy) - he cannot be found until Thursday, when his divorce becomes final. He meets Eleanor (the ultra gorgeous Billie Dove, the role was played by Mary Eaton on Broadway) - the kind of girl "at a mountain resort that makes the other girls wish they went to the seaside". Kid also becomes reacquainted with Clara (she is a swimming instructress at the lodge) but the path of true love never runs smooth and there is a very funny sequence in which Kid pretends to entertain a vamp in order to make Clara jealous. He succeeds and Clara leaves the cafe in tears but then the real vamp enters with designs on our hero!!! It is Carmen and her aim is to get rid of Kid Boots so she can compromise Tom and stop the divorce going through.
There is a hilarious comedy sequence at the end where Clara and Kid ride galloping horses over a steep mountain path, fall over the side and are roped to safety, only to come face to face with Kid's nemesis - Clara's old flame!!! I don't think Eddie Cantor caused the Big 3 of Comedy (Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd) any sleepless nights although Cantor had a funny skit very reminiscent of Chaplin's "The Cure" - it involved a massage table, a very enthusiastic masseur and lots of contortions. "Kid Boots" is still a very diverting piece of twenties fun!!!
Highly Recommended.