The Office Scandal (1930) is weird puppet fun

If you have ten minutes to kill and don't mind a wooden puppet being mean to adults, you should watch this. It is great for people who love old Vaudeville humor. If puppets give you the creeps, you should probably stay far away from this one. 🤡

It is from 1930, so the film is a bit grainy and the sound has that hissing noise in the background. I kind of like that though. It feels like finding an old photo in an attic.

Edgar Bergen plays the straight man, which he was always good at. He is trying to get Charlie McCarthy a job as an office boy for a guy named Mr. Depew.

I kept wondering how a puppet is supposed to carry coffee or file papers. The movie doesn't really care about the logic of that. Charlie is just there to make jokes and look sassy in his little suit.

There is this woman Julie in the office who is apparently married to Mr. Depew and someone else? The plot gets real messy real fast for a short film. It reminded me a bit of the weird social drama in Trying to Get Along.

One thing I noticed is how Charlie's eyes move. They have this blank stare that is supposed to be funny, but sometimes it lingers a second too long. It makes the office feel kind of haunted. 🏚️

The dialogue is very fast. You have to really listen or you'll miss the puns. Charlie is a total brat to his boss, which I guess is why he gets fired so quickly.

I think I liked the sets the most. Everything looks so heavy and official. Big desks, rotary phones, and everyone wearing hats inside. It is much more visually interesting than something like A Close Shave from the same era.

The ending is very abrupt. Like, one second they are talking about marriage and the next the screen just says 'The End'. I actually had to check if my video file was broken. It wasn't, that is just how they did things back then.

There is a moment where Charlie makes a joke about a 'second husband' that felt a bit scandalous for 1930. Or maybe I just misinterpreted it because the audio is a bit crunchy. 🔊

It is not a masterpiece or anything. It is just a recorded stage act, really. But it has a lot of energy. Unlike The Empire of Diamonds, which feels like it goes on forever, this one is over before you get bored.

I honestly wish there were more scenes of Charlie actually trying to do office work. Imagine a puppet trying to use a typewriter. That would have been gold.

Instead, we get a lot of talking. Bergen is a master, though. You can barely see his mouth move, even in these old close-ups. It is impressive even if the jokes are a bit dusty now.

If you like seeing how comedy used to work before television took over, give it a look. It is a neat little time capsule of a world that was just starting to talk on screen. Just don't expect it to make total sense. 🎞️