Ten Dollars or Ten Days (1924)

Mack Sennett Comedies
Starring:
 Ben Turpin, Harry Gribbon, Irene Lentz
Directed by: Del Lord

Synopsis: A soda clerk (Ben Turpin) working in a department store loves the store’s cashier (Irene Lentz), who in turn loves the ribbon clerk (Harry Gribbon), but when a robbery occurs everyone finds themselves involved and the wrong people are accused, leading to comedy chaos.

Kitty Cameos: In the first scene of this comedy short, the soda clerk is seen in bed at 3:00 a.m.  He is awakened by two cats fighting on his windowsill.

Ten Dollars or Ten Days cats fighting

In frustration he throws a shoe at them, which flies outside and hits a passing policeman.  This scene is odd because when the cats are seen there are objects being thrown at them before Ben Turpin throws his shoe (maybe they had planned to have him throw several shoes at the cat to begin with?)  Also when the shoe flies through the window, the cats both fall off the windowsill but only the shoe lands on the policeman.  (And exactly how did cats manage to get up on this window pane several stories off the ground in the first place, we wonder?)

Ten Dollars or Ten Days cats fighting 2

Later in the morning a cat climbs up onto the table at the foot of Ben Turpin’s bed.  Seeing, the cat, Ben pulls out a gun and shoots at it.  But because he is crosseyed he misses and shoots the sock off his own foot instead.  Oddly enough in this scene the cat appears to be somewhat transparent, as if the footage of the cat were superimposed over the bedroom background.  Or is this supposed to be the ghost of one of the cats which fell out the window?

Ten Dollars or Ten Days cat at end of bed

Final Mewsings: It’s rather pointless trying to shoot a ghost cat.


Relevant Links:

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