No Pets

Series: Paul Parrott

Director: Jay A. Howe

Producer: Hal Roach

Titles: H.M. Walker

Photography:

Editor:

Stars: James Parrott, Mark Jones, George Rowe, Noah Young

Company: Pathé Exchange

Released: 07 October 1923

Length: 1 reel

Production No.: D-18

Filming dates: May 23-29, 1923

Rating: 2/10

No Pets

Review is from approximately 4 minutes of the film:

Paul Parrott has a small dog and stands at the hotel door arguing with the owner (Noah Young). There is only ever going to be one winner there... So Paul wanders around the outside of the hotel and is met by another man (George Rowe), who hands him a note (in the print I have viewed, the writing is foreign). Soon after, a US Parcel Post mail van arrives for Paul and on it is a horse! He then tries to sneak the creature into the hotel by leading it up the steps to the first floor, past the manager's office without being seen.
The unforgiving landlord then throws out a caged parrot, along with two guests for disobeying his "no pets" policy. The evicted gentleman takes a swing at the owner, but finds himself on the receiving end of a punch instead before walking off with his wife. Downstairs, the owner joins other guests at a séance when the horse in the upstairs room stamps his hoof through the ceiling, bringing down rubble on Mark Jones's head. The owner confronts Paul upstairs over the disturbance but the horse makes its escape down the back stairs and into the dining room, unseen by the guests. The horse, wearing a white sheet over its body scares everybody in the room when it is mistaken for a ghost, as all the residents flee in fear....

Noah Young (on the right) in No Pets (1923)

Favourite bit
With such little footage to choose from it is difficult to make a full assessment of the film. So, I am going with this bit - an evicted gentleman protests to hotel owner Noah Young about his wife's caged bird being thrown out of the hotel so takes off his jacket and tries to hit him. Noah, whilst munching on an apple, casually punches the guy in the face and sends him crashing to the floor. The guy gets up, puts his jacket back on and walks off.

Trivia
• Copyrighted August 11, 1923.
• Paul resides at the Hotel Grant.
• There are eighteen steps up to the first floor of the hotel from the outside.

	James Parrott Paul Parrott
	Mark Jones Man at séance
	George Rowe Messenger
	Noah Young Hotel manager
	Sammy Brooks Short man at séance
	Billy Engle Man at séance
	Katherine Grant Woman at séance

Acknowledgements:
A History Of The Hal Roach Studios by Richard Lewis Ward (book)
Robert Demoss (information)
Jesse Brisson (help and information; identification of Katherine Grant, Billy Engle, Sammy Brooks)
David Glass (footage)

This page was last updated on: 07 October 2019