Country: United States
Language: English
Directors: F. Richard Jones, Hal
Yates
Stars: Mabel Normand, James
Finlayson and Max Davidson
Release Date: 2 January 1927
(USA)
Production Co: Hal Roach Studios
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Comedy | Short
This pleasant two-reel comedy
marked one of the last screen appearances of Mabel Normand, the legendary
screen comedienne who established her reputation at Keystone during that
studio's glory days. Mabel was a founding member of the company back in 1912,
and her fortunes were closely tied (off-screen and on) with those of producer
Mack Sennett, but once she left Keystone and went to work for other filmmakers
her career began to teeter while her private life grew increasingly rocky.
Mabel's behavior was erratic, and scandals seemed to erupt all around her.
There were rumors of substance abuse problems, and her health declined. Long
before Britney Spears or Michael Jackson there was Mabel, and sadly it was she
who established the template for Celebrity Meltdown Syndrome.
By the time she signed with
producer Hal Roach for a series of films in the mid-1920s Mabel was in
precarious shape. She was still in her early 30s but the years of difficulty
had taken a toll: she could no longer handle the reckless knockabout comedy of
Keystone days, and the fresh beauty of her early film appearances had faded.
The Mabel Normand of the Roach series often looks frail and heavily powdered:
sometimes gaunt, sometimes puffy. Expert assistance was on hand, however, as she
was surrounded with top comedy professionals both behind the scenes and in her
supporting casts. As it happens Mabel's four surviving Roach comedies (out of
five produced) are generally enjoyable, surprisingly so considering the
circumstances under which they were made.
ANYTHING ONCE! is a Cinderella
story. Mabel works in a tailor shop, pressing clothes and dreaming of a better
life. We're told that she's taken a lot of bumps in life and doesn't know where
the next bump is coming from, which sounds uncomfortably close to the leading
lady's real-life situation. Her boss is Jimmy Finlayson, but instead of playing
the expected sourpuss Finn is quite benign here, and doesn't even punish Mabel
when she accidentally sets his toupee on fire. Mabel (oddly identified only as
"the Little Girl") struggles to prepare a gown for a haughty society
lady named Mrs. De Puyster, who plans to wear it to a costume ball where she
hopes to impress Prince Chevalier, a highly eligible bachelor of royal
pedigree. Mabel has to carry the gown to its owner via mass transit—i.e., on a
streetcar—which means of course that she must deal with the hoards of
stampeding commuters so familiar from silent comedies. The streetcar sequences
are lively and amusing, and demonstrate that Mabel could still summon up the
energy for a fair amount of slapstick when the occasion demanded. After a few
plot twists Mabel winds up going to the ball in Mrs. De Puyster's costume,
complete with a towering Marie Antoinette-style wig, and of course she charms
the Prince and dances with him in her rival's place. There's a nice comic
moment when the real De Puyster shows up and charges across the dance floor to
confront the impostor, while Mabel tries to escape by dancing away with the
Prince at an ever-increasing tempo. Eventually, the high-born lady is married
off to the prince's imposing chancellor (played by that imposing character
actor with the unforgettable name, Gustav Von Seyffertitz) and Mabel winds up
with her handsome royal beau. The fade-out gag is a bit anti-climactic, but the
film leaves a pleasant aftertaste; pleasant, that is, until we recall that
behind the scenes its leading lady was in such fragile condition.
ANYTHING ONCE! provides a nice
quota of laughs, and features a running gag about Mrs. De Puyster's recent
face-lift that still feels topical. The lady's surgeon tells her that she must
avoid high emotion or else her new face will fall. The actress playing this
role, Nora Hayden, managed to simulate the weird, stretched look of a woman who
has "had work done" that looks eerily genuine.
