My Boy
About My Boy
Jackie Blair’s mother dies in steerage on the way from France. At Ellis Island he slips past the officers by joining a family of eight and follows old Captain Bill home. When Bill falls ill, Jackie dances with a hand-organ grinder to pay for medicine. At a settlement-house party he is accused of stealing a rich woman’s handbag. The bag is found, and the woman is his grandmother, Mrs. Blair, who has been looking for him.
Cast & crew
More about My Boy
Victor Heerman and Albert Austin directed. Sol Lesser produced. Jackie Coogan plays Jackie Blair and Claude Gillingwater plays Captain Bill. Associated First National released it on 25 December 1921.
Themes
Making
Heerman wrote as well as directed, with Austin sharing the direction. The Ellis Island dodge is Jackie attaching himself to a family that already has eight children.
Music
Silent.
Preservation
Preserved. The Library of Congress and the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research hold prints. Warner Home Video issued it in 2004 with The Kid.
Notes
- Mathilde Brundage plays Mrs. Blair. Patsy Marks is a little girl, uncredited. Frank Hayes is the rent collector, uncredited.
- Distribution rights went from Warner Bros. to Associated Artists Productions in 1956 and to United Artists in 1958.
- The Library of Congress holds a copy. A 16mm print is at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research.
- Warner Home Video included it in 2004 on a two-disc special edition of Chaplin’s The Kid.
- Coogan’s mother dies before the ship docks. He arrives with no one to claim him.
Scenes
- Jackie blends into a family of eight and walks off Ellis Island.
- He dances beside the organ grinder for medicine money.
- The handbag’s owner is his grandmother.
Also available
- Warner Home Video, two-disc special edition of The Kid (2004)
