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Townies and Hayseeds
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Wikipedia article
'Townies and Hayseeds' is a 1923 Australian film comedy from director Beaumont Smith. It is the fifth in his series about the rural family the Hayseeds.
It is considered a lost film.
Synopsis
City-dweller Pa Townie goes to the country for a holiday with his wife Ma and children Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brissy, Perth and Hobart. They stay with the Hayseed family, who they then invite to stay at their place in Potts Point. There is a romantic subplot where Pa Townie's daughter Adelaide (Lotus Thompson) is pursued by a returned serviceman, George, and an English "new chum" called "Choom".[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37203335 "TOWNIES AND HAYSEEDS.". 'The Advertiser (Adelaide)' 5 Sep 1923: 17]
Some of the satire included a "suicide club" at The Gap in Sydney, with Pa Townie trying to commit suicide, and a send up of former Prime Minister Billy Hughes.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65040878 "TOWNIES AND HAYSEEPS" 'The Register (Adelaide)' 7 Sep 1923: 14]
Cast
*George Edwards as Pa Townie
*JP O'Neill as Dad Hayseed
*Pinky Weatherly as Mum Hayseed
*Ada S Claire as Ma Townie
*Lotus Thompson as Adelaide Townie
*W.J. Newman as Choom
*Gordon Collingridge as George Fisher
*Ena Aldworth
*J Rayner
*Freddie Tauchert
*Gwen Gamble
*Matthew Gamble
*Jim Coleman
*Gloria Lloyd Weatherly
*Jack Tauchert
*Harold Parkes
Production
The film was written, produced and sold within five weeks in May 1923 with shooting taking place in and around Sydney. Specific scenes and titles were added for the Melbourne and Adelaide release (e.g. Potts Point was changed to Toorak).Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, 'Australian Film 19001977: A Guide to Feature Film Production', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 117.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65032086 "TOWNIES AND HAYSEEDS." 'The Register (Adelaide)' 8 Sep 1923: 18]
Reception
The titles of the movie received praise for their cleverness.[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37203335 "TOWNIES AND HAYSEEDS". 'The Advertiser (Adelaide)' 5 Sep 1923: 17] Indeed, one reviewer though the titles were funnier than the actual sequences themselves.
The film was popular enough to lead to another in the series, 'Prehistoric Hayseeds'.
References
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