Series: Charley Chase

Director: Leo McCarey
Producer: Hal Roach
Titles:
Photography:
Editor:

Stars: Charley Chase, Mildred Harris, Vivien Oakland
Company: Pathé Exchange
Released: 13 March 1926
Length: 2 reels
Production No.: B-5
Filming dates: October 27 - November 6, 1925
Rating: -/10


Mama Behave

Available on DVD:
 

Charley and his wife Lolita (MILDRED HARRIS) are attempting to dance to the Charleston in their living room, but Charley is unsuccessful and falls to the floor. She is clearly better than he is and tells him so with her body langauge. Charley retreats into a side room and having seen his pathetic performance, the helpful butler (SYD CROSSLEY) offers to show Charley how to do the dance. Charley confesses that he already knows how to do it but to let on to the wife would mean he would be pestered into going out with her every night, so he has faked it. As Charley demonstrates his skills to the butler, his wife walks into the room and catches him red-handed. She suspects that some other woman has been teaching him the moves, but Charley storms off in protest. In his gymnasium, he viciously assaults a dummy, but when his wife catches him, he continues his protest by smacking the pillow on his bed.
Across the hallway, Lolita's best friend (VIVIEN OAKLAND) pays her a visit, but when Lolita sees her dressed in a beautiful fur, she complains she has no good clothes because she never gets to go out. The nosey butler overhears this and quickly rushes to tell Charley, who walks out into the hallway minus his pants and encounters Vivien. Charley has decided that in order to fulfill his wife's desire for him to be more like his twin brother, he would order a new suit. He returns home wearing it, still with a reduced price tag attached to the back of it, much to the amusement of the butler.

REVIEW INCOMPLETE.

Trivia
Copyrighted January 23, 1926.
The musicians in the background of the nightclub sequence were a real band, Paul Howard's Quality Serenaders.
Partially reworked by Chase as Thin Twins (1929).
The opening scene shows a record: "The Original Charleston" by The Kickerbockers.
Charley has a twin brother - Jim. Of course, in real life that was the name of Charley's real brother, James Parrott.

Charley Chase
Charley Chase/Jim Chase
Mildred Harris
Lolita Chase
Vivien Oakland
Miss D'Arcy
Syd Crossley
The Chase butler
Floyd Goodman
Cafe Riskae patron
Rolfe Sedan
Friend of the family
Inez Ramey
Hat check girl
Evelyn Burns
Cafe Riskae patron
Hugh Crumplin
Cafe Riskae patron
Alice Williams
Cafe Riskae patron
Gus Kerner
Cafe Riskae patron
Fenwick Oliver
Cafe Riskae patron
Bill Dillon
Cafe Riskae patron
Hayes Robertson
Waiter
Suzanne Rhoades
Cafe Riskae patron
Roland Ray
Cafe Riskae patron
Jay Eaton
Cafe Riskae patron
Harry Bowen
Cafe Riskae patron
William H. O'Brien
Cafe Riskae patron
Harold McNulty
Cafe Riskae patron
Al Flores
Cafe Riskae patron
Ione Reed
Cafe Riskae patron
Paul Howard's Quality Serenaders
Jazz musicians
Paul Howard
Jazz musician (saxophone)
Leon Herriford
Jazz musician (clarinet)
Henry 'Tin Can' Allen
Jazz musician (drums)
Harvey Brooks
Jazz musician (piano)
George Orendorff
Jazz musician (trumpet)
Thomas Valentine
Jazz musician (banjo)

CREDITS (click image to enlarge)

Acknowledgements:
Smile When The Raindrops Fall by Brian Anthony & Andy Edmonds (book)
Robert Demoss (for providing an extensive list of paid actors for the film)
Jesse Brisson (identification of Paul Howard, George Orendorff, Thomas Valentine, Harvey Brooks, Floyd Goodman, Inez Ramey, Evelyn Burns, Hugh Crumplin,
Alice Williams, Gus Kerner, Fenwick Oliver, Bill Dillon, Hayes Robertson, Suzanne Rhoades, Roland Ray, Jay Eaton, Harry Bowen, William H. O'Brien, Harold McNulty,
Al Flores, Ione Reed)

This page was last updated on: 06 January 2026