Sweet Daddies

{{short description|1926 film}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}} {{Infobox film | name = Sweet Daddies | image = Sweet Daddies poster.jpg | caption = Poster | director = Alfred Santell | producer = M.C. Levee | writer = W.C. Clifford<br>George Marion Jr. | narrator = | starring = George Sidney<br>Charles Murray<br>Vera Gordon | music = | editing = Frank Lawrence | cinematography = Arthur Edeson | studio = First National Pictures | distributor = First National Pictures | released = {{Film date|1926|06|13}} | runtime = 70 minutes | country = United States | language = Silent (English intertitles) | budget = | gross = }} '''''Sweet Daddies''''' is a 1926 American silent comedy crime film directed by Alfred Santell and starring George Sidney, Charles Murray, and Vera Gordon.<ref name=":22">{{Cite book |last=Erens |first=Patricia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-v2Di_5ShGMC |title=The Jew in American Cinema |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-253-20493-6 |location=Bloomington |pages=89, 91 |language=en}}</ref> The film foregrounds positive relationships between Jewish and Irish American characters, despite the presence of some stereotypes.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Biskupski |first=M. B. B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wYAzmjlJmVoC |title=Hollywood's War with Poland, 1939–1945 |date=2010-01-08 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0-8131-3932-6 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":22"/>

The plot revolves around comedic mishaps in the bootleg liquor business.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Hall |first=Mordaunt |date=1926-06-23 |title=THE SCREEN; The Finklebaums and the O'Briens. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1926/06/23/archives/the-screen-the-finklebaums-and-the-obriens.html |access-date=2022-07-09 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The romance between the daughter of the Jewish Finkelstein family and the son of the Irish O’Brien family ends happily.<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 August 2019 |title=Sweet Daddies |url=https://www.tcd.ie/irishfilm/showfilm.php?fid=58336 |access-date=2022-07-09 |website=Irish Film & TV Research Online, Trinity College Dublin}}</ref>

==Cast== * George Sidney as Abie Finklebaum * Charles Murray as Patrick O'Brien * Vera Gordon as Rose Finklebaum<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vera Gordon |url=https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/gordon-vera |access-date=2022-07-09 |website=Jewish Women's Archive |language=en}}</ref> * Jobyna Ralston as Mariam Finklebaum * Jack Mulhall as Jimmy O'Brien * Gaston Glass as Sam Berkowitz * Aggie Herring as Mrs. O'Brien

==Reception== The ''New York Times'' film critic described it thus: {{Blockquote |text=One really can't quite grasp what this picture is all about, as there are sudden interruptions, for the sake of comedy, which crop up according to the whims of the director and scenarist. The fun is good-natured, but just about as probable as the dropping of a leather pouch on a schooner's deck from an airplane a couple of thousand feet in the air, which incidentally happens in this tepid affair.<ref name=":0" />}}

==Impact== Sidney and Murray, who portrayed the fathers of the two families, would go on to work together in many films that, focusing on Jewish and Irish relations, were often described as “ethnic comedies.”<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Biskupski |first=M. B. B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wYAzmjlJmVoC |title=Hollywood's War with Poland, 1939–1945 |date=2010-01-08 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0-8131-3932-6 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bradley |first=Edwin M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cbfwCQAAQBAJ |title=The First Hollywood Sound Shorts, 1926-1931 |date=2009-04-27 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-4319-2 |pages=11 |language=en}}</ref>

Jobyna Robson (Mariam Finkelstein) would go on to be regarded as a great silent film comedian.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Roots |first=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pigvBQAAQBAJ |title=The 100 Greatest Silent Film Comedians |date=2014-10-23 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4422-3650-9 |pages=109 |language=en}}</ref> Arthur Edeson became a major cinematographer.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Monaco |first=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kqcYAQAAIAAJ |title=The Encyclopedia of Film |date=1991 |publisher=Perigee Books |isbn=978-0-399-51604-7 |pages=175 |language=en}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Bibliography== * Erens, Patricia. ''The Jew in American Cinema''. Indiana University Press, 1984.

==External links== {{commons category|Sweet Daddies}} *{{IMDb title|0017444}} *[https://www.silentfilmstillarchive.com/sweet_daddies.htm Still] at www.silentfilmstillarchive.com

Category:1926 films Category:1926 comedy films Category:1926 American films Category:1920s crime comedy films Category:1926 English-language films Category:American black-and-white films Category:American silent crime comedy films Category:American silent feature films Category:English-language crime comedy films Category:Films directed by Alfred Santell Category:First National Pictures films