Back Stage

Jack Davis, Farina, Mickey, Jackie Condon, Joe, Andy, Ernie

Production Notes

Length: Two Reel
Producer: Hal Roach
Director: Robert F. McGowan
Photography:
Editor:
Titles: H. M. Walker
Writer: Hal Roach
Released: June 3, 1923
Studio: Pathe Exchange

Main Cast

• Allen Hoskins
• Andrew Samuel
• Ernie Morrison Jr.
• Jackie Condon (actor)
• Jack Davis (actor)
• Joseph Cobb
• Mickey Daniels (actor)

Supporting Cast

• Charley Young - Workman
• Dick Gilbert - Workman
• Gabriel Saienz
• Ivadell Carter
• Jack Hill - Man In Audience
• James W. Cobb - Man In Box Seat
• Lassie Lou Ahern
• Peggy Ahern
• Richard Daniels Sr. - Man In Audience
• Robert F. McGowan - Pedestrian
• Wallace Howe - Theater Manager
• William Gillespie - Vaudeville Leader

The Short

Plot: The gang has created a donkey-powered double-decker bus over the foundation of an old car. Ernie rides the donkey inside the conveyance and signals to Farina to open a feedbox to get the thing going. A feather duster is used to get it to sound off as the horn, and to go into reverse, a strap pulls its tail to walk backward. Whenever Farina falls asleep, Ernie turns a crack to wake him up. Mickey is the tour guide with soda-bottle binoculars, and Jackie Condon is the conductor. They drive around in it when they meet up with the head of a second-rate vaudeville touring show who encourages them to join him in his act at the Greenpoint Theater.

Without even trying, the gang manages to wreck the entire show, having a good time in the process. The opening tap dance act is ruined when Joe, Jack, and Andy, who are in the balcony, accidentally lose their bug collection to the seats below, resulting in several audience members itching and scratching. Farina innocently wanders on stage to carry off The Great Bicepto's fake weights, and in the magic act, Jackie and Mickey's timing is off as their hands reveal objects moving magically from table to table. A goat, scared by Farina who has drunk a magic potion that causes small explosions when he burps, runs up an aisle through the audience. The audience loves the humor, and thinks it's part of the act. Finally Farina accidentally serves water laced with liquor to the horses in the last act, resulting in them moving across the stage in slow motion. Completely exasperated, the show ends when the vaudevillian chases the gang out of the theater.
Quotes:

• "The 'Gang' - On their good behavior all week - Reaction has started to set in." - Opening Narration
  
• "On my left the schoolhouse, I hope it burns." - Mickey
• "Hello, Hap - Whoo-hoo!" - Mickey
  

Notes/Trivia:

• This short was filmed on location in Culver City, California.
  
• Mary Kornman does not appear in this short.
  
• Director Robert F. McGowan appears in the short as a pedestrian frightened out of the path of the Rascal's bus.
  
• Mickey's real-life father appears in the audience trying to swat a spider along with Joe Cobb's real-life father.
  
• The scene with Farina carrying away the fake weights of the strongman was recreated by Porky years later in Pay As You Exit.
  

Sequence

• Previous Short: Giants Vs. Yanks
• Next Short: Dogs Of War

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