In January of 1928, a decade before he became “Wild Bill” Elliott (self-proclaimed “peaceable man” of serials and westerns), twenty-four year-old Gordon Elliott was engaged for work in short comedies by Hal Roach Studios. THE BOY FRIEND was shot as part of the “Roach Star Comedies” series during the week of June 18. Elliott was given notice of termination on July 16. Almost exactly sixty years later, upon examining a BOY FRIEND still photo of the pokerfaced future “Red Ryder,” Hal Roach explained why: “He wasn’t funny; I remember the guy.” Ironically, Elliott’s life-long role model was the equally solemn-visaged William S. Hart, then recently retired, spending his idle time enjoying Roach’s Culver City playground.

THE BOY FRIEND was released November 10, a typical Roach-McCarey story of how bank clerk Davidson’s daughter meets a college student in a shoe store. He happens to be the son of Max’s boss. Not knowing this, Max and his wife believe their little girl is too young to marry and try to scare off her suitor by pretending to be crazy, a gag device used before by Charley Chase in CRAZY LIKE A FOX (1926), and that would also serve The Boy Friends (by then a series brand name) in MAMA LOVES PAPA (1931). The daughter is petite 4’11” Marion “Peanuts” Byron, shortly after co-starring with Buster Keaton in STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. This original BOY FRIEND benefits from bright location shooting all over the Main Street, Culver City, business district, where cars with rumble seats add to the fun.

Preprint was the British export nitrate negative, with flash titles that had to be stretched during the restoration and preservation work.

Richard W. Bann