Time was when ethnic comedies were popular, and here's a really obscure one from the Weiss Brothers. The Goldbergs live across the hall from the O'Connors, and though Jews and Irish shouldn't really mix, their young adult children are making eyes at each other. The comedy is broad and things move along at a rapid clip, but the primary reason to watch Ham and Herring are the two female leads, Elfie Fay and Margery Meadows. As the O'Connor matriarch, the rail-thin Fay gurns brilliantly, crosses her eyes with aplomb, and looks considerably older than she actually was - perhaps unsurprising, as she was already dying of tuberculosis during production. Meadows, on the other hand, is a kewpie doll cutie who can roll her eyes and a pair of stockings with the best of them. Can true love overcome ethnic differences? Probably, but true love is not the focus of this amusing two-reeler.
2 Reviews
Sort of like "Bridget Loves Bernie"...but in the 1920s.
planktonrules28 November 2021
The plot to "Ham and Herring" is a lot like the 1972 show "Bridget Loves Bernie". Both are stories about a Jewish young man who falls in love with a Gentile girl. In the case of this silent, It's an Irish girl and a Jewish boy who are in love. However, their families live across from each other in the apartment house and they don't always get along. So, for the sake of Izzie and Lizzie, they all decide to go on a family camping trip together to bring the families closer. Naturally, things don't go nearly as smoothly as they'd hoped...especially when the park they all go to ends up being some rich guy's estate!
Much of the second half of the film (the camping trip) appears to be a copy of W. C. Fields' 1926 film "It's the Old Army Game"...so much so that it's practically ripping of the Fields film. And, if you haven't seen this 1926 movie, Fields himself remade it in 1934 as "It's a Gift".
Apart from blatantly ripping off this other film, "Ham and Herring" is a decent and enjoyable comedy...though the laughs aren't exactly belly laughs! And, if you'd like to see it, it's currently posted on YouTube.
Much of the second half of the film (the camping trip) appears to be a copy of W. C. Fields' 1926 film "It's the Old Army Game"...so much so that it's practically ripping of the Fields film. And, if you haven't seen this 1926 movie, Fields himself remade it in 1934 as "It's a Gift".
Apart from blatantly ripping off this other film, "Ham and Herring" is a decent and enjoyable comedy...though the laughs aren't exactly belly laughs! And, if you'd like to see it, it's currently posted on YouTube.
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