Torchy (1920) "TORCHY" A Torchy Comedy T - 11 Johnny Hines at left "Torchy" First Master Films Release of Sewell Ford "Torchy" Comedies, Featuring "Johnny" Hines. Reviewed by Louis Reeves Harrison. THAT "Torchy" as announced to be the first of a series of Sewell Ford comedies commends it to attention, and there is seen in it a sincere attempt to be entertaining. The rold of "Torchy" is played by full grown "Johnny" Hines, supposedly a pert office boy. He secures his first situation by sending all other applicants for it to the story below and assuming that he is already hired. He has attracted the attention of the boss, who is looking for a live boy, and this saves him from being fired at once. He shows the boss how to wake up a lazy girl at a telephone switch board and this constitutes his first day's work. He manages to get the evening job of a check boy at a fashionable restaurant and dancing cabaret. While engaged in checking the wraps of guests and picking up tips, he becomes interested in an impulsive young lady who is bored by conventions and looking around for something new. "Torchy" elects to dance with her, but he cannot go on the floor in his uniform. He snatches off the dres (sic) coat and waistcoat of a terrified young man and sails out on the dancing floor with the venturesome young lady. Their dance is different -- it is the sensation of the evening -- but the young lady's mother intervenes and "Torchy" is sent back to his job in the cloak room. When the evening is over, he is seen riding on the rear axle of a limousine, puffing a cigarette, murmuring "home James." -- Moving Picture World, February 28, 1920, p. 1523 "Torchy" Yea, Bo! Want a good comedy -- a good two-reeler -- with the latest innovations in shimmying music captions? Then get to "Torchy" This is a new one. The "Torchy" comedies featuring Johnny Hines are being produced by Charles C. Burr and if the rest of them come through as well as the first, shown this week at the Strand, it's a bet that they are going over big. And the titles! Some titles. One or two of them are too long but otherwise they get across in great shape. Probably the captions really make this two-reeler a feature. Johnny Hines is good, of course, bnd the director has seen fit to let him alone so he plays his natural self. When he crosses himself after rubbing the countenance of a young Hebrew before he shoots crap, will get a giggle out of anybody. And his shimmying feet. If there is a girl who loves to dance who comes to your house who just won't rave over Johnny's dancing, and the way shimmy music notes are shown on the screen -- well then -- she just isn't a dancer. It is a good deal harder, so some say, to make a snappy two reel comedy than a feature. If so the Johnny Hines organization doesn't seem to be afraid of the job. They've certainly got a knock-out in their first one. -- Wid's Daily, February 22, 1920, p. 22 with Johnny Hines. Directed by Charles Hines. C.C. Burr/Educational. More Information on this film...                                      This work (Torchy (1920), by Burr/Educational), identified by Bruce Calvert, is free of known copyright restrictions. Books (none) Last Modified August 24, 2024