One Terrible Day

technical details:

Production A-4.

Filmed May 22 to June 10, 1922. See 'miscellaneous' section below for more details.

Previewed during the summer of 1922. Moving Picture World reviewed this film on Aug. 19, 1922.

Released September 10, 1922. It was the 1st film in the series to be released.

Copyrighted October 9, 1922, by Pathé Exchange, Inc. Registration no. LU18286. Since the copyright was not renewed, this film is now in the public domain.

Silent two-reeler.

Probable opening title: '"Our Gang" Comedies - Hal Roach presents His Rascals in "One Terrible Day".' This is the way it appears on the lobby poster. The film itself may have read '"Our Gang" Comedy' or '"Our Gang" Series.'

Released into TV syndication as Mischief Makers episode no. 1043, "The Outing," copyrighted Sep. 1, 1960, with registration number LP17348.

the crew:

Produced by Hal Roach

Probably credited in the film as a presenter.

Supervised by Charles Parrott

Better known as Charley Chase. This credit is probably included in the film. Parrott was director-general of all of the studio's output during this period.

Directed by Robert F. McGowan and Tom McNamara

This credit probably appears in the film, but without McGowan's middle initial.

Titles by H. M. Walker and Tom McNamara

This credit probably appears in the film, but it might not include McNamara's name.

Story by Hal E. Roach and Tom McNamara

This credit probably doesn't appear in the film.

Released by Pathé Exchange, Inc.

Passed by the National Board of Review

Probably indicated in the film.

studio personnel

general manager - Warren Doane

assistant general manager - L. A. French

secretary-treasurer - C. H. Roach

construction supervisor - C. E. Christensen

purchasing superintendent - John L. Murphy

still photographer - Gene Kornman

possible uncredited involvement

photography - The earliest credits given were for Len Powers, who was working for Roach during this period.

editing - Credit usually went to Thomas J. Crizer during this period.

titles - Tom McNamara probably illustrated the title cards.

writing - Robert F. McGowan, Tom McNamara, Thomas J. Crizer and Leo McCarey may have contributed gags.

property department - Charles Oelze and Dick Gilbert were probably involved in this capacity by this time.

the kids:

Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison as "Booker T. Bacon"

Featured role. He gets plenty to do in the film, and was still pretty much the star of the series, though the other kids were catching up.

Mickey Daniels as "Mickey Daniels"

Featured role. Mickey is given significant screen time in this short, and had already established himself as one of the prime players. His name is revealed on an invitation seen in the 9.5mm print.

Jackie Condon

Supporting role. Jackie gets plenty of business in this film, and was still one of the featured kids. The 9.5mm copy calls him "Jackie," but it isn't an original inter-title.

Allen "Farina" Hoskins as "Farina"

Supporting role. He gets more to do in this film than in his earlier appearances. He plays Ernie's little sister.

Dick Cartwright

Supporting role. He's the tall boy in the Harold Lloyd glasses. I think the implication is that Jackie is his younger brother. He gets plenty of screentime, but doesn't seem to have returned to this series.

Peggy Cartwright

Supporting role. She apparently lives on the farm, but only makes a couple of brief appearances in this print. Ernie addresses her as "Sis." The 9.5mm print calls her "Molly May," but the inter-titles are not original.

Jack Davis

Supporting role. Jack mainly does ensemble acting in this film, but he's there the whole time.

Winston and Weston Doty

Supporting roles. These twins do everything in unison. Otherwise, they mostly do ensemble work.

the animals:

monkey 004

Featured role. This is the society matron's monkey, which is seen pretty much throughout the film.

dog 003

Supporting role. This is Jackie's dog and he stands in for Bill the Bulldog as the main dog in this film.

pony 001

Supporting role. This is the pony that pushes Jackie into the fountain, and later retrieves the boys' clothes for them. She's given the name "Lady Diamond" in the 9.5mm footage.

Dinah the Mule

Small part. She's ridden by Peggy in this film.

other animals

Small parts and bit parts.

(1.) A cow seen during the bullfighting scene, and probably the same one from "Young Sherlocks" (no. 3).

(2.) A cow dragging the tall boy around by its tail. Previously seen in "Fire Fighters" (no. 2).

(3.) A slightly smaller cow seen with the second cow listed.

(4.) A white cat owned by Gilmore.

(5.) Three goats, one of which is larger than the other two. Another is a smaller brown goat. The third is a 'kid,' which may be the same one from "Young Sherlocks" (no. 3).

(6.) Two horses appear briefly taking notice of the kids arriving at the house. They also watch Jackie and Farina at the fountain.

(7.) A turkey chases the twins around.

(8.) Several chickens and geese.

the adults:

William Gillespie as "James," the chauffeur

Supporting role. He gets plenty of screentime during the journey to the house.

Charles Stevenson as the butler

Supporting role. He appears mostly during the journey. I'm not sure if he's really supposed to be a butler in this short, since there's another one at the house.

Molly Thompson as "Mrs. Pennington Van Rensselaer"

Supporting role. She appears quite a bit throughout the film. Maltin & Bann spell her last name "Van Renssalaer," but a calling card shown in the 9.5mm print reveals the spelling favored here.

Vera White as "Alvira"

Supporting role. I'm assuming that Guiol plays the secretary, since Maltin & Bann describe the secretary as one of the people on the car journey. In any event, she appears sporadically throughout the film. Maltin & Bann list Clara Guiol.

Roy Brooks as the butler

Small part. This is the butler at the house. He's listed by Maltin & Bann as Lincoln Stedman. Stedman is listed as the secretary, but this conflicts with the text, which indicates that the secretary takes the car journey.

Helen Gilmore as "Caroline Culpepper"

Small part. She doesn't appear in the TV print, but I think she must be shown at the beginning as Mrs. Renssalaer announces her charitable outing. Maltin & Bann list her character name as "Carlene Culpepper."

Ed Brandenberg as the cook

Bit part. He's seen briefly running an eatery. The monkey lands on a hot skillet there.

Wallace Howe as the traffic cop

Bit part. He's seen briefly holding up his hand to stop the car.

other adults

Bit parts.

(1.) The young woman accompanying Peggy at the farm.

(2.) The man who paints Gillespie's face by mistake.

(3.) The caucasian maid who rubs beauty cream on Thompson's neck. She's later seen carrying the monkey.

(4.) The black maid who gets the beauty cream all over her face.

the locations:

the wealthy neighborhood

The neighborhood used in this film is the same later seen in "Tire Trouble" (no. 22) and "Mary, Queen Of Tots" (no. 41). Even the shot of the walkway with the street in the background seems to occur in all three films.

the hill

Ernie takes a ride in a rolling tire and takes a spill on a steep hill. This hill is also shown in "The Sun Down Limited" (no. 31)

miscellaneous:

17 days of shooting went into the making of this film. Filming was considered 'started' on May 22nd, and 'finished' on June 10th. No filming took place on May 28th or on June 11th, which were Sundays. Tues, May 30th was Decoration Day, and no work took place that day, either. Also, the studio took off Mon, May 29th, to make it a three day weekend, and then worked on Sun., June 4, to compensate for this. It should be noted that no shooting for this film took place in early July as stated by Maltin & Bann. It's also interesting to note that shooting began the Monday after the Saturday 'finish' for "Young Sherlocks" (no. 3) and that story construction for "A Quiet Street" (no. 5) began the Monday after the Saturday 'finish' for "One Terrible Day."

The 1922 datebook also gives details about the weather on each day of shooting. On most days, the weather was described as 'bright.' The exceptions to this were on May 24th, 25th and 31st, when it was described as 'medium' June 2nd, 3rd and 5th, when it was described as 'medium bright,' and June 1st, when it was described as 'cloudy.'

In the category of unseen characters, "Mrs. Rex de Puyster" appears in a newspaper article shown in the film.

This film was the first of six in the first 'series' of Our Gang films.

There were 40 copies of this film printed for its initial release.

The name of the country estate in this film is "The Oaks."

Mickey's invitation (as shown in the 9.5mm print) reveals that the date of the outing is Sat., Aug. 26th.

availability:

Our Gang Volume #3 (VHS) from Grapevine Video and also from The Picture Palace

This is a TV print from the Mischief Makers series entitled "The Outing," with some footage from an additional source added in. The series opening titles are missing, but the episode title card is retained. The ending title card is from Castle Films. It seems apparent that most of the missing footage from this print comes from the beginning of the film. The inter-titles have mostly been removed, with the few that are intact coming from the added footage. Maltin & Bann no doubt watched a better print than this. The print totals 15:11, with 15:05 of original footage. Roughly two-thirds of the original film is included. This version has appeared on numerous bootlegs.

Our Gang - Volume #1 (1922-1923) (DVD-R) from Grapevine Video

Released early March 2006. This is the TV print, but with a remade opening title.

Our Gang Silent Comedies Vol. 8 (VHS) from Video Classics

The order form for this tape lists "One Terrible Day" as one of the titles, but my copy included "Fast Company" in its place. I don't know whether the order form was in error, or the (private) seller had mistakenly put the wrong film on the tape.

Our Gang Silent Comedies Vol. 3 (VHS) from HenryButch

This is the Mischief Makers print.

special note

I was able to view a 9.5mm copy made in the UK, which includes much of the first half of this film, but not the portion missing from the TV print. Certain shots, however, are included that don't appear in the TV print, as well as non-original text-titles.

See anything that needs changing? Contact me at BtheW@aol.com.

© Robert Demoss.