''Townies and Hayseeds'' is a 1923 Australian film comedy from director Beaumont Smith. It is the fifth in his series about the rural family the Hayseeds. It is considered a lost film.

Synopsis

City-dweller Pa Townie goes to the country for a holiday with his wife Ma and children Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brissy, Perth and Hobart. They stay with the Hayseed family, who they then invite to stay at their place in Potts Point. There is a romantic subplot where Pa Townie's daughter Adelaide ( Lotus Thompson) is pursued by a returned serviceman, George, and an English "new chum" called "Choom". Some of the satire included a "suicide club" at The Gap in Sydney, with Pa Townie trying to commit suicide, and a send up of former Prime Minister

Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia, in office from 1915 to 1923. He is best known for leading the country during World War I, but ...

Cast

* George Edwards as Pa Townie *JP O'Neill as Dad Hayseed *Pinky Weatherly as Mum Hayseed *Ada S Claire as Ma Townie * Lotus Thompson as Adelaide Townie *W.J. Newman as Choom *

Gordon Collingridge Gordon Collingridge was an Australian actor during the silent film era. He played many matinee idol type roles, most notably for director Beaumont Smith and opposite Louise Lovely in ''Jewelled Nights'' (1925). Lovely called him "the male screen ...

as George Fisher *Ena Aldworth *J Rayner *Freddie Tauchert *Gwen Gamble *Matthew Gamble *Jim Coleman *Gloria Lloyd Weatherly *Jack Tauchert *Harold Parkes

Production

The film was written, produced and sold within five weeks in May 1923 with shooting taking place in and around Sydney. Specific scenes and titles were added for the Melbourne and Adelaide release (e.g. Potts Point was changed to Toorak).

Reception

The titles of the movie received praise for their cleverness. Indeed, one reviewer though the titles were funnier than the actual sequences themselves. The film was popular enough to lead to another in the series, ''

Prehistoric Hayseeds ''Prehistoric Hayseeds'' is a 1923 Australian film comedy that was written, produced, and directed by Beaumont Smith. It is the sixth in his series about the rural family the Hayseeds and concerns their discovery of a lost tribe. It is considere ...

''.

References

External links

and Hayseeds''
in the Internet Movie Database
''Townies and Hayseeds''
at

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Townies And Hayseeds 1923 films Films directed by Beaumont Smith Lost Australian films Australian silent feature films Australian black-and-white films Australian comedy films 1923 comedy films 1923 lost films Lost comedy films Silent comedy films