The Fatal Glass of Beer (1933)

Richard Cramer: Officer Posthlewhistle

Photos 

Quotes 

• Pa Snavely : [pulls out a "dulcimer" from a chest]  You won't consider me rude if I play with my mitts on, will you?

  Officer Posthlewhistle : Not at all, Mr. Snavely, not at all.

  Pa Snavely : [singing]  There was once a poor boy / And he left his country home / And he came to the city to look for work / He promised his ma and pa / He would lead a civilized life / And always shun the fatal curse of drink / Once in the city / He got a situation in a quarry / And there he made the acquaintance of some college students / He little thought they were demons / For they wore the best of clothes / But the clothes do not always make the gentleman / So they tempted him to drink / And they said he was a cow'rd / Until at last he took the fatal glass of beer / When he found what he'd done / He dashed the glass upon the floor / And he staggered through the door with delirium tremens / Once upon the sidewalk / He met a Salvation Army girl / And wickedly he broke her tambourine / All she said was, "Heaven bless you" / And placed a mark upon his brow / With a kick she'd learned before she had been saved / Now, as a moral to young men / Who come down to the city / Don't go 'round breaking people's tambourines.

• Pa Snavely : [to a Canadian Mountie who just walked in from a blizzard covered with snow]  Is it still snowing?

  Officer Posthlewhistle : I don't know. To tell you the truth, I never looked.

• [first lines] 

  Pa Snavely : [knock at the door]  Who's thar?

  Officer Posthlewhistle : Officer Posthlewhistle of the the Canadian Mounted.