Monkey Business

Production Notes[]

Length: Two Reel
Producer: Hal Roach
Director: Robert F. McGowan
Photography: Art Lloyd
Editor: Richard Currier
Titles: H. M. Walker
Writer: Hal Roach
Released: March 21, 1926
Studio: Pathe Exchange

Main Cast[]

Supporting Cast[]

Charles A. Bachman - Police Officer
Charlie Hall - Balloon Vendor
Ed Brandenberg - Patrol Driver
Harry Bowen - Mechanic
Robert A. McGowan - First Officer
William Gillespie - Police Officer

The Short[]

Plot: Between his parents fighting at home and the gang giving him a hard time, Farina decides to run away from home. At the same time, a monkey dubbed "The Missing Link" escapes from the Vaudeville act he is a part of and meets up with Farina who realizes the primate can fight and returns to the gang with new respect, However, the monkey gets drunk on bootleg liquor and turns out to be a menace. He decimates a car, opens a fire hydrant, beats up a police officer and steals his uniform, overturns a fruit cart, yanks down the britches of a pedestrian and fires two loaded pistols. The police blame the Rascals for the actions of their monkey and load them up into their paddy wagon for a scare, but the monkey gets control of the wagon and takes it on a wild chase through the streets of Greenpoint, wrecking it and leaving the gang running from the police.
Quotes:

"Darwin says - Man sprang from monkey. Will Rogers says - Some of them didn't spring far enough." - Opening Narration
"Ah did own him - But Ah decided to go out o' the monkey business." - Farina

Notes/Trivia:

This short was created as was several other films and movies of the time following the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925 debating the right to teach Darwin's theory of evolution in schools.
One of the police officers is played by Robert A. McGowan, nephew of Director Robert F. McGowan, who often acted under the name Anthony Mack and was blamed for the lesser quality of the late MGM Our Gang shorts.

Sequence[]

Previous Short: Buried Treasure
Next Short: Baby Clothes