Pass the Gravy (1928)

Pass the Gravy (1928)

Wednesday September 13, 7:30pm, Kenyon Hall

Describing anything as the ‘best’ or ‘greatest’ almost certainly demands subjectivity, invites unrealistic expectations and may ultimately result in disappointment. Pass the Gravy has often been described as the funniest silent film ever made, and while there may be many others as outrageously entertaining, this 1928 Hal Roach short is pretty damn funny!

The humor in Pass the Gravy is based on the use of pantomime, as a means of conveying information to one person, while concealing it from another. Two neighbors are at odds, Schultz (Bert Sprotte), the nattily dressed over achiever and winner of many trophies for his prize winning chickens, and his eccentric neighbor Max (Max Davidson), who constantly battles the hoard of chickens invading his garden. When Max’s lovely young daughter (Martha Sleeper) and Schultz’ son (Gene Morgan) announce their engagement, the two warring fathers decide to bury the hatchet and celebrate over dinner. Max gives his son "Ig-NATZ!" (Played by freckle-faced teenage deviant Spec O’Donnell) two dollars with instructions to get a roasting chicken. Iggy starts out for the butchers but stops on the sidewalk. He looks at the cash in his hand, thinking, as he watches his neighbor’s prize rooster ‘Brigham’ strut past him and around the corner of a tall fence. Iggy pockets the money and disappears around the fence, followed by a cloud of feathers.

Much of Max Davidson’s work is unknown today due to what is seen as his use of negative racial stereotypes in his portrayal of European Jews. While those character traits are for the most part absent from Pass the Gravy, the film is not free of overt racial caricature. As the story progresses to the meal at Max’s house, a chicken is seen in a roasting pan as the housekeeper/cook, a stereotypical ‘Black Mammy’ character, bastes the bird.

The two families toast the pending marriage with champagne and dinner is served. At the table, Ignatz notices a silver band on the bird’s leg, beautifully engraved with a large "1st", presumably for winning First Place in competition. He is instantly possessed by a sense of "woe is me" hang doggedness, and sits at the table, head in hands, waiting for the inevitable and catastrophic explosion. As the moment passes and no one else has noticed, he begins gesturing to his sister, all the time fearful of being noticed by his father or Schultz. After an eternity, the girl finally catches on and elbows her fiancée. Iggy makes a futile attempt to take the leg as Max carves the bird, but is given the tail instead and excuses himself from the table, "That kid is hiding something from us!" The two older children also leave the table for the living room, where they act out the funniest part of the film, a hilarious game of charades, performed for Max’s benefit while Shultz has his back turned. As Max serves his neighbor the leg with the band, they strut around like chickens, the son flails like his head has been cut off, and the daughter lays an egg! Finally Max understands and while he places his hand on his heart, Ignatz is seen through the window, walking away from the house with a knapsack over his shoulder, as an ambulance passes him going the other way. When the attendants show up at the door, (someone has obviously called them) they are asked to "Stick around for a few minutes." By now, Max can do nothing but try to take the leg from his neighbor before he notices, while Schultz is just as determined, "This is my chicken and I’m going to eat it!"

The combined efforts of Hal Roach and Leo McCarey produced some of the funniest films to come from Hollywood’s silent and early sound eras. While many of these treasures have been lost, there are many others that survive unseen and unrestored. Pass the Gravy is among the latter, existing in unjustified obscurity, while generations of filmgoers are deprived.