One Wild Ride

Mary, Jackie, Joe, Farina, Johnnie, Mickey

Production Notes

Length: Two Reel
Producer: Hal Roach
Director: Robert F. McGowan
Photography:
Editor: Richard Currier
Titles: H. M. Walker
Writer: Hal Roach
Released: December 6, 1925
Studio: Pathe Exchange

Main Cast

• Allen Hoskins
• Jackie Condon (actor)
• Joseph Cobb
• Johnny Downs (actor)
• Mary Kornman (actress)
• Mickey Daniels (actor)

Supporting Cast

• Al Hallet - Man With Birdcage
• Ed Brandenberg - Sprinter
• Jackie Hanes
• Richard Daniels Sr. - Johnnie's Grandfather

The Short

Plot: The gang gets a hold of an abandoned car without an engine and pull it by horse as a sight-seeing taxi. Johnnie and Jackie run the sight-seeing business, and coax Mickey and Joe out of chores to go on rides. Rich girl Mary gets a ride only after she changes clothes with another girl as Mary's dress is too nice. Farina chases the gang for a long time, but they refuse to give him a ride. The fun continues up until Johnnie's grandfather comes round and takes his horse back. They get a tow up a hill and eventually coast to a stop where Farina finds it and takes it for a spin by hooking the taxi to a parked truck.

Things work out great at first until the ride breaks loose and sends Farina wheeling out of control down a hill, in and out of traffic, and barely missing dozens of vehicles and pedestrians. Along the way, he hits a stand carrying a parrot who jumps on board, has a fishbowl fall on his head, with the fish sliding down the back of his shirt and pants, and just misses an organ grinder whose monkey also jumps on board and gets in an egg fight with Farina. Then a piece of flypaper falls from a windowsill and lands on Farina's face, and after he gets that off, he runs into a flock of chickens, getting himself, the monkey, the parrot, and the taxi all covered in feathers. Finally he bumps a watermelon cart, knocking almost all of the fruit out which rolls downhill where the taxi overturns and comes to a stop. The watermelons roll up against the side of the taxi, completely burying Farina as he struggles out. Farina survives, but he ends up covered in watermelon juice and pulp with watermelons stuck on his feet and head.

Quotes:

• "Whassa matter - Yo' horse get a punkture?" - Farina
  

Notes/Trivia:

• This short was later remade as Free Wheeling.
  
• Ironically, Mickey Daniels later worked as a taxi driver in his life.
  
• The gag of the driver being blinded by flypaper would also happen to Spanky and Alfalfa in Auto Antics.
• The big hill used in the film starts at the intersection of Rose Avenue and Overland Avenue in the Palms section of Los Angeles.
  

Sequence

• Previous Short: Your Own Back Yard
• Next Short: Good Cheer

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