BEAUTY A LA MUD (1926) Silent Film Comedy Short Jimmie Adams Christie Comedies

Description

Vintage original 11x14 in. US title lobby card
from the 1920's silent film comedy short,
BEAUTY A LA MODE
, released in 1926 by Educational Pictures and
directed by Harold Beaudine
. Produced by the Christie Film Company, the film is about a quack hair salon where they are anticipating the arrival of some genius French beauty specialist. At the same time, the owner's daughter is being courted by a young man that the father hates--and so the young man disguises himself repeatedly to avoid detection. Finally, he dresses up as the French man--leading to mayhem and lots of slapstick humor. The cast includes Jimmie Adams, Charlotte Merriam, Billy Engle, Eddie Lambert, Blanche Payson, William Irving, Dorothy Sebastian, and Aloha Porter.
The image features a close shot of Jimmie (
Jimmie Adams
) pouring some skin tonic lotion into a pot as he looks about himself. It is unrestored in good- condition only with chips of various sizes in the borders; a 2.5 in. and a 2.25 in. diagonal crease and signs of wear on the top right corner; small creases and tears in the right border; and some spotting in the left half of the bottom border.
James B. Adams (October 4, 1888 – December 19, 1933) was an American silent-screen comedian and actor. In 1921, Adams starred in two-reel comedies for Educational Pictures and Al Christie. The slightly built, pencil-mustached Adams has been described by historian Kalton C. Lahue as "a poor man's Charley Chase." Like Chase, and unlike the other comics at Educational, Adams favored situational comedy over slapstick.
He briefly replaced Mack Sennett comic Harry McCoy in the cartoon-inspired Hall Room Boys series (produced by Harry Cohn and Jack Cohn, later of Columbia Pictures). By 1924, Adams was back with Educational.
Christie hired Adams for six comedies released in 1926 and 1927. The Christie comedies were more polite and less extreme than the slam-bang comedies of other studios, but Christie's soft-pedal comedy style did find an audience. Star comedians Jimmie Adams, Bobby Vernon, Lige Conley, Neal Burns, and Billy Dooley constituted a lineup that was no threat to Hal Roach, but nevertheless entertained millions with a style than neither Roach or Mack Sennett could or would provide.
Adams was also a singer. In 1930, he co-starred with burly comic Bud Jamison as
The Rolling Stones
(silent film), a pair of singing vagabonds touring America. Adams also sang with The Ranch Boys, a musical group featured in Charley Chase comedies.