High Society: Did I Just See...?

[myhomeo]

Found the short 'High Society' on Youtube. That's the silent where Mickey Daniels lives with his poor but happy uncle and hangs out with the rest of the Gang. Unfortunately, Mickey's wealthy aunt decides to take him away and raise him in her mansion. Despite the wealth, Mickey is miserable and hates being 'civilized,' having to wear a fancy suit, etc. He writes a letter to his uncle asking for him to come visit and bring the Gang. They arrive while the aunt is out but Mickey lets them in and they inadvertently make a shambles of the mansion. The aunt tosses Mickey out and lets him go live with his uncle again, so it's a happy ending.

Anyway, I'd heard someone mention a bathtub scene earlier and they indicated Mickey Daniels was nude there. So I was kinda prepared. What surprised me was how much we saw. Was I imagining things or did Mickey do a Full Monty jumping out of the tub?

Granted, he was covered in soap suds and I'd have no problem believing he had on a body stocking. He's definitely got on something under the towel when he's chased down the stairs and falls down, though we see what seems to be his exposed backside when he's spanked. Also, not to be indelicate, but he was ten so it's not like it'd be that obvious. But still...

I know nudity was rare but not unheard of in the pre-Code Roach shorts. Laurel and Hardy were supposedly nude in a very early short, 'With Love And Hisses,' though we don't really see anything. But still...

[mtw12055]

I always assumed (or rather, hoped) it was one of those fake nude suits. Definitely helped me get through that scene without cringing.

[malaria]

Never saw that, and happy I didn't. SOME THINGS CANNOT BE UNSEEN.

Plot sounds a little Huckleberry Finn-ish. Huck misspelled it "sivilized," which suggests that Huck may have been an honorary Rascal himself.

Not for nothing did Hemingway call that book the Great American Novel.

[myhomeo]

Actually, it was a fairly common plot back then: A penniless parent gives up their child to a wealthy person to allow the child a better life. The child, however, misses the parent and the two are eventually reunited.

It started out as melodrama and worked its way down to slapstick. I think a Mickey McGuire short, MICKEY'S RESCUE, had roughly the same idea.

[malaria]

I can think of few more disturbing phrases than "Mickey Daniels' Naked Butt."

Well, maybe "Louise Emmons Does Dallas." Bot only MAYBE!!

[myhomeo]

Well, if it's any consolation, I didn't notice any freckles back there...

[myhomeo]

Also, how's about 'Mickey Daniels Does Full-Frontal...'?

[malaria]

Perhaps the sight of an elderly and rotund John Quincy Adams skinny-dipping in the Potomac *while he was president* (and yes, he did that, with some frequency) would have been about as disturbing. Worse yet, what would one SAY to this legendarily brilliant and principled man while he was splashing around in the altogether, were you to be there? One shudders to think.