Only Me (1929)

Lupino Lane’s amusing one-reeler borrows heavily from Charlie Chaplin’s A Night in the Show (1915) and Buster Keaton’s The Playhouse (1921). Chaplin’s disruptive audience member comes from his stage routine in A Night in an English Music Hall. Being an old music hall hand himself, Lane had probably performed similar material himself. 

It’s perhaps the Keaton one-reeler gave Lane the idea of playing all 24 roles in Only Me, giving the film its double-edged title.

Character zero is an inebriated toff who staggers into the Palace Theatre for a variety show, sitting in stage level box stage left. His opposite number is a bratty kid, also Lane, of course, who does everything he can to wreck each act. On stage, we see Lane as a lady singer, a lady acrobat, and a lady dancer. There are fundamentally two ways to play drag: either so badly no one would ever be fooled, or so well we marvel at the mimicry. Lane chooses the second option.

There is no story. The film is just a series of music hall gags in a music hall setting. Lane presents us buffoonery using wigs, an assortment of props, and even the inevitable pie. We also get to see him juggle, which he does quite well. 

Between the stage acts, Lane is the guy in 18^th century duds who comes out before the curtain and displays a sign telling the audience members which act comes next. They reference the letter of the alphabet he displays with their programs. He sets out a “B” (backwards) and lets everyone know what’s coming up. There’s a “G” and then an “O,” which he fears he has also displayed backwards. He gives up when the designation is in Yiddish.

The film’s credited director is Henry W. George (who, appropriately enough, is Lupino Lane in disguise—although his birth name was Henry William George Lupino). As an actor he gets an uncredited assist from his brother, Wallace Lupino.

The Lupino family produced several generations of performers. Lane’s niece was Ida Lupino.