The Kid Brother

Like the one in Twain who “don’t get no show”.

A native son, adept at climbing trees, well-rooted.

Inventor of labor-saving devices on the farm, where he does the kitchen work.

He lets the medicine show play town, his father the sheriff sends him to stop it.

It burns to the ground, he meets the girl in the show, it rains.

Lloyd rarely took a directing credit, his films are his, to be sure (J.A. Howe is a co-director here).

All this coincides with a county dam the sheriff has raised money for by public subscription.

The two big brothers take an interest in the girl.

The medicine-show barker and his strong man swipe the money, the sheriff is suspicioned.

The strong man prevails against his partner.

Brownlow and Gill are certainly correct in ranking Lloyd with Keaton and Chaplin.

The medicine-show monkey is a great ally of the hero aboard the listing wreck of the Black Ghost, an unforgettable scene among the rest. The big palooka can’t swim, he also has designs upon the girl, Harold puts him under and ties him up briefly, encases him in life preservers, rows him to shore, rolls him downhill to a wagon and brings him to Hickoryville before Sheriff Jim Hickory is hanged.

The girl’s look of approbation is more than father and brothers reconciled, she inspired him.

The American Cinema has Lloyd wrong.