Bobby Bumps Starts a Lodge
About Bobby Bumps Starts a Lodge
Bobby asks a neighbor to join a lodge and hands him an apron, worn at the back because "this lodge does everything exactly different." He goes off to fetch the third degree. The neighbor plans to fool him. A bear shows up. Bobby bargains: he will help if the neighbor joins properly, and they argue over whether anyone may turn around on the goat. A candle is set to burn through a rope and turn the goat loose so both of them can be initiated. The last title puts the joke on Bobby: "Well, I reckon I'm the goat, all right!!"
Cast & crew
More about Bobby Bumps Starts a Lodge
Earl Hurd directed the short for Bray Studios. The Bray Animation Project gives 28 September 1916 as the release date. Wikidata lists a 5-minute running time. The copyright card names the Bray-Hurd patents of 11 August 1914 and 15 December 1914.
Themes
Background
Lodge initiations were a stock joke in 1916, when fraternal orders were ordinary men's clubs. Hurd plays the "third degree" as a goat, a rope, and a candle.
Making
Hurd stages the initiation as a string of title cards and a few repeating gags, the goat's charge and the bear, rather than as a drawn-out chase. The dialect lettering is part of the original cards, not a later caption.
Preservation
A print survives. Wikisource gives the titles in order, including the dialect spellings and the goat payoff.
Notes
- The neighbor's dialogue is lettered in minstrel dialect ("YEP. I'LL JINE!", "IS YOU ALL GWINE LET ME NISHIATE YOU, TOO?").
- The apron is supposed to be worn at the back. Bobby calls that proof the lodge is "swell.
- The initiation props in the titles are a goat, a candle, and a rope.
- When the candle burns down it'll burn the rope up and let the goat loose" is the bargain Bobby offers.
- The bear is announced with a plain title, "LOOK! A BEAR!", and a cry of "HELP!
- Bray Studios Inc. is the end card, as on the other 1916 Hurd shorts.
Scenes
- Bobby makes the neighbor wear the lodge apron backwards.
- A bear breaks up the initiation and both boys yell for help.
- A candle is left to burn through the rope holding the goat.
- The final card turns Bobby himself into the goat.
Quotes
This lodge does everything 'zackly different. That's what makes it such a swell lodge.
Well, I reckon I'm the goat, all right!!
