Before he spent twenty years playing a twitchy, warbly-voiced, mildly incompetent Dagwood Bumstead, Arthur Lake spent his youth in the movies playing a twitchy,warbly-voiced, mildly incompetent young man. Earlier, in the silent era, he had to do without the voice, but it was the same character all the way through.

In this one, an episode in the Universal Studios series called "Horace in Hollywood", Lake dates up Gertrude Messinger. While waiting for her outside a movie theater, he is handed a baby by its mother with a request to mind it while she goes offscreen. Naturally, Gertrude thinks the baby is Lake's. So does Glen Cavender, who seems to be in about forty percent of all short comedies in this period, as a beat cop.

Most of the humor in this one-reel comedy consists of Lake's comic reactions, which were the same ones he used as Dagwood, He had a real talent for this style of physical comedy, assuming that his audience had not tired of the daddy-is-a-dope trope. Well, as of the writing of this review, they still haven't. So you should find this a competent if uninspired late silent comedy.

The slapstick comedy subgenre, a term that originates from a type of wooden paddle with a hinged flap that was used in early comedic performances to create slapping noises during comedic actions, is a form of physical comedy characterized by exaggerated, boisterous, and often absurd actions, situations, and physical interactions. Slapstick humor relies on visual gags, physical stunts, and exaggerated movements to create laughs.

Leslie Nielsen in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)

The comedy genre refers to a category of entertainment that aims to amuse and entertain audiences by using humor, wit, and comedic situations. Comedies are created with the primary intention of eliciting laughter and providing lighthearted enjoyment. They encompass a wide range of styles, tones, and themes, appealing to various tastes and audiences.

Will Ferrell, Angela Grillo, and Lap-Gei Cheung in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

The short form refers to creative works characterized by their brevity and concise storytelling. Unlike full-length feature films, short films have a running time of less than 45 minutes, while TV shorts have a running time of less than 22 minutes.

Benedict Cumberbatch in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023)

Horace meets Betty and she agrees to a date. While waiting for her to arrive, a woman asks Horace to mind her baby for a minute. Betty comes along, sees the infant and assumes he's married and a father who's being unfaithful. Things go downhill from there.

Glen Cavender, Arthur Lake, and Gertrude Messinger in Whose Baby? (1929)

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Whose Baby?

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