''The Particular Cowboys'' is a lost 1914 American silent comedy film produced by the Lubin Manufacturing Company and starring Frances Ne Moyer and

Raymond McKee Eldon Raymond McKee (December 7, 1892 – October 3, 1984), also credited as Roy McKee, was an American stage and screen actor. His film debut was in the 1912 production ''The Lovers' Signal''. Over the next 23 years, he performed in no less ...

. Also among the cast was

Oliver Hardy Oliver Norvell Hardy (born Norvell Hardy; January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his c ...

, who had a small role as a cowboy.

Plot

Jake hires Muriel, a pretty young woman, to cook for the cowboys at the ranch. Unfortunately, the food she prepares is inedible and the cowboys riot. Jake defends her honor by dressing up as Muriel, serving the dinner himself, and thrashing any cowboy who complains. When the cowboys discover the trick and find Jake and Muriel embracing, they debate whether to kill Jake or merely tar-and-feather him. Just then the ranch boss arrives with a Chinese cook, "and it all ends gloriously and everyone is satisfied".''The Lubin Bulletin'' vol. 1, no. 12 (May 29, 1914), p. 20

Cast

* Frances Ne Moyer as Muriel, the cook *

as Jake, the chief cowboy * Ben Walker as Bill, the terrier *

as a cowboy (uncredited)

Production and reception

''The Particular Cowboys'' was filmed in Jacksonville, Florida, at the Jacksonville unit of the

Lubin Manufacturing Company The Lubin Manufacturing Company was an American motion picture production company that produced silent films from 1896 to 1916. Lubin films were distributed with a Liberty Bell trademark. History The Lubin Manufacturing Company was formed in 1 ...

, under the supervision of Arthur Hotaling.Rob Stone, ''Laurel or Hardy: The Solo Films of Stan Laurel and Oliver "Babe" Hardy'' (Temecula, CA: Split Reel Books, 1996), pp. 7–8. It was a very short split-reel comedy, lasting approximately 5–6 minutes, and sharing a single reel of film with a second, unrelated comedy, ''

For Two Pins ''For Two Pins'' is a lost 1914 American silent comedy film produced by the Lubin Manufacturing Company and starring Jimmy Hodges, Marguerite Ne Moyer, and Raymond McKee. Also among the cast was Oliver Hardy, who had a small role as a policeman. ...

'', featuring Jimmy Hodges, Marguerite Ne Moyer, and Raymond McKee. The films were released by the General Film Company on May 26, 1914. Both ''The Particular Cowboys'' and ''For Two Pins'' are among the several Lubin split-reel comedies made in the spring of 1914 that include the earliest screen appearances of Oliver Hardy. In most of these films he was an uncredited extra playing one of a group of cops or, as here, a cowboy. Although the film itself does not survive, Hardy can be seen seated at the head of the table in a promotional still printed in ''The Lubin Bulletin'', the studio's advertising newsletter. The film received mixed reviews: ''Moving Picture World'' wrote "The laughs that are won by this half-reel of Lubin comedy will result from one or two bits of genuinely funny 'business' introduced. The excuse for the action can scarcely be held strong enough to justify all that is done by a bunch of wild and wooly Westerners who are dissatisfied with their ranch cook";''Moving Picture World'', vol. 20, no. 11 (June 15, 1914), p. 1540.
/ref> but ''The New York Dramatic Mirror'' had a more favorable impression: "Rough and ready laughter that spends itself at general good situations and laughable particulars is what makes this short slapstick comedy as good as has been turned out of the Hotaling laughter laboratory in recent times".

Plot

Cast

Production and reception

References

See also