New-York tribune., 1921-04-25
On the Screen
Jackie Coogan in ''Pcck'e Bad
Boy" at Strand; 'sTravc..ing
Salesman" at Rialto
By FIarriette Undcrhill

Any one who has met Jackie Coogin
the kid in "The Kid" must be con
vinced that there is something in this
Einstein theory OF reincarnation, and
Jackie must have been at least King
Solomon. Jackie thinks and talks like
an overeducated, extremely Intelligent
youth OF twenty-one might think ard
talk. He is not annoying with his
knowledge, as most overtraincd chill
dren are. for you never think of him
as child. You don't have to talk
down to him. If there Is any inequality
it is Jackie who ia talking from the
heights. "Aro you connosscur of
pictures?" he asked gravely when we
met him at luncheon on Saturday. We
told him yes; but he probably won't
believe us after he reads what we have
to say about his new pi.ture, "Peck's
Bad Boy at the Strand. 1t isn't
Jackie's fault Mt all that this picture
is not a masterpiece. If only all the
contributory factors had reached the
perfection of the standard set by
Jackie and Queenie, his dog But
they did not. They did not even come
anywhere near it. You will wait for
a whole reel before you begin to de-
eide, that you are going to be disap-
pointed in this picture. At least that
is the way we reacted to this old
masterpiece which has found its way
artist. He is positively Chaplinesque
in the amount of humor he is able to
inject in scene with a minimum of
effort. The same may be said of
Queenie, and really you marvel almost
as much at one as at the other, for
Jackie Coogan is only baby, and
most children of his age are considered
infant prodigies if they can lisp out
u see the COW. Is it brown COW?
Nc, it is n white cow"
Irwin Cobb wrote the titles and we
sat back prepared to revel in them for
an hour and quarter. Mr.. Cobb can
undoubtedly say funnier things on
paper than anybody else, we have
said, but he certainly did not prove it
in his movie titles. Any one might
have written them, and with the ex-
ception of one or two they are not
funny. The picture relies for it's
laughs on the antics Of the bad boy,
and, speaking of antics, one Of the
things which he did was to put captive
ants in his fathers sciatica pad. so
that they swarmed all over him in
church.
We cannot enjoy characters in play
unless they have counterpart in real
life and surely no five -year-old boy
ever was like this one.
With the exception Of Raymond
Hatton, who played the pirate owner
OF the corner grocer store, the sup
porting cast was no' good. W:.aeler
Oa&man did very well with the role
was the sister, but where are her erst-
while beauty and charm We can only
believe that the lighting must have
been bad. And we absolutely refuse
to accept Lillian leighton as the
mother of such smart child as the
bad boy. Oh no, it could not be! At
the best she couldn't have been more
than his stspmother After you have
seen the picture you will understand.
1t seems to US that It would have
been rather a nice idea to have had
Jackies own papa and mamma play in
the picture and Jackie, himself, was
the one best fitted to write, or at least
TO suggest the titles If you don't be-
lieve he could do it, listen TO this:
One day Charlie Chaplin said to him:
"Wc must have something big for this
scene; something startling. Now,
Jackie suggest something big" TO
which Jackie replied: why don't you
borrow about fifty feet Of daddy's
nose!'
There is prologue to the picture in
which the Strand Quartette is heard
One Of tho songs is called "Pocl;'s Bad
Boy"
The overture is Victor IIel oert's
Little Memo" and there is a mermaid
comedy called Bang" There is also
on the picture program another one of
Patne's. adventures Of Bill and BODY"
The feature picture at the Rial1o this
week is not the feature of the program.
The honors are divided between Charlie
Chaplin, who produced the comedy,
"The Floorwalker," and Louis Fcrdi-
nand herold, who produced Tampa"
the overture. This is one of the most
effective things we have heard at the
Rialto this season and is bound to ap-
peal whether one knows music or not.
The Chaplin comedy seems to draw
just as many laughs as it did when it
was first shown some half dozen wears
ago.
The feature is Roscoe Arbuckle in
"The Travelling Salesman 1t is a
good many years since we saw this on
the stage with, it seems to us it was.
Frank Mcintyre and Elsie Ferguson
But we liked it much better then than
now. 1t is too long in getting started
and too much abbreviated at the end