Eddie Lyons solo comedy from 1922
Eddie Lyons was part of a comedy team with Lee Moran during the 1910s. Their many short subjects and handful of feature films for Universal were wildly popular. However, according to comedy film historian Anthony Balducci: “Eddie Lyons and Lee Moran are regarded as one of the first major comedy teams in motion pictures, but I have come to question that distinction after recently discovering that the actors did not normally function as a team in their films. The duo worked apart for much of the time and tended to play adversaries rather than allies. The success of a comedy team depends on the mutual dynamic of the partners, with humor largely derived from the partners' interaction. A team shares mutual goals and works together to resolve dilemmas. The scarcity of the interplay between Lyons and Moran makes it difficult to qualify them as a true comedy team.”
In late 1921, the trades announced that Eddie Lyons had signed with Arrow productions to run his own production company. The result was a series of solo short comedies two of which had already completed at the time of the trades’ announcement. One of these was “Pardon Me” which was released in January, 1922.
“Pardon Me” features Lyons as a typical 1920s go-getter who vies for a pretty girl, but whose father insists she “marry a count not a no-account.” The count, Eddie’s rival for the girl, is played by a top hat-wearing Gino Corrado, whose comically florid gestures exhibit the effectively haughty pretentions. This premise allows for some creatively amusing situations.
The opening gag has Eddie running around the palatial grounds of the estate where the girl lives, being chased by her cane-wielding father as well as the family dog. The humor is punctuated by Eddie’s constantly sneezing because he is allergic to the bouquet he is holding in his hand. Eddie climbs a phone pole to get away from the dog, but not before the seat of his pants is bitten away. Eddie is then chased by a cop due to his exposed derriere. The chase is on foot, gradually building from a trot to a full on sprint. Eddie hops into a moving car, but it turns out to belong to the girl’s father. He jumps out, hops into another car, and is reunited with an old war buddy whose life he saved on the battlefield. The war buddy is the count! However the two men do not realize they are after the same girl, when they each reveal to the other “I am in love but I have a rival.” Meanwhile, the girl prefers Eddie and does not realize he and the count know each other.
Much of the film has the two rivals attempting to see the girl, but never running into each other. When the men are together, they commiserate and give each other advice. One funny scene features the count, an expert at firearms, teaching Eddie how to effectively use a gun in a proper duel. A practice occurs and Eddie is impressed with the Count’s ability to shoot small targets with his back turned, holding a pistol over his opposite shoulder. Eddie closes his eyes and fires the gun with somewhat less successful results.
It all comes to a head when each man decides to elope with the girl. The count sneaks in a window, finds Eddie hugging his girl, and realizes his friend is actually his rival. A foot chase ensues throughout the streets of the town, as the count goes after Eddie. It ends up back at the girl’s home where Eddie subdues the count’s henchman. When the count finally catches up to Eddie, he says he was just chasing him to tell him he is a lucky guy. Eddie ends up with the girl, and this pleasantly breezy comedy ends.
“Pardon Me” is one of prolific comedian Eddie Lyons’ many solo comedies for Arrow after he split from partner Lee Moran in 1920. From 1911 until 1924, Eddie appeared in nearly 500 comedies, producing and directing many as well. Only a few of these survive, and they reveal Lyons to have a good comic sense and some real creative vision as a director.
Unfortunately, Eddie Lyons never achieved the same success as a solo comic as he had once enjoyed in his popular movies with Lee Moran. His comedies were prolific, continuing until 1924, after which his production company shut down. Lyons had produced, directed, written, and starred in a dozen short comedies in 1924. By the following year he found work in only one film.
Eddie Lyons’ only appearance in 1925 was in a feature for Corrine Griffith’s production company at First National, in which Lyons had a small role opposite Louise Fazenda, who played his wife. In 1926 he appeared in a supporting role in a feature at the low budget Tiffany productions.
Despondent over the direction his career had taken, Eddie Lyons suffered a nervous breakdown in May of 1926. He was placed in a Sanatorium in Glendale, California, and remained an invalid for the next three months. He died on August 30, 1926. He was only 39 years old.