SilentComedyMafia.com

A reader of my blog has e-mailed me with a question that truly sounds like a case for the Silent Comedy Mafia:

I'm looking for specific info on Paul Parrott, that is, was he gay? - My birth name was Beau Berrit, and an aquaintence of my mother would make fun of my name, saying "Paul Parrott Paul Parrott". Evidently there was a gay Paul Parrott - maybe spelled differently, I'm just trying to find out who it was.

So... does anyone know?

Hi Chris
I've never heard of James Parrott being gay, and he was married. In Randy Skretvedt's LAUREL AND HARDY there's a picture (pg 297 in the paperback edition) of Babe Hardy, and his wife Myrtle with Parrott and his wife Ruby at the 1936 Academy Awards (although they are sitting next to pedophile Gus Meins).

I remember as a kid hearing older people say "Paul Parrott, Paul Parrott" in a squawky parrott voice, but have no why or what it referred to.

Steve

Steve Massa wrote:Hi Chris
I've never heard of James Parrott being gay, and he was married. In Randy Skretvedt's LAUREL AND HARDY there's a picture (pg 297 in the paperback edition) of Babe Hardy, and his wife Myrtle with Parrott and his wife Ruby at the 1936 Academy Awards (although they are sitting next to pedophile Gus Meins).

I remember as a kid hearing older people say "Paul Parrott, Paul Parrott" in a squawky parrott voice, but have no why or what it referred to.

Steve

Well now, shouldn't we say "accused pedophile" when referring to Gus Meins, or was he ever found guilty of any charges? I sometimes wonder if he didn't commit suicide just because the accusations would have been enough to have ended his career as a Director of childrens comedies or anything else for that matter. I never heard any of the Our Gang members say anything weird about Gus Meins or his behavior around them. Not that that was necessarily something they would have talked about in public either for that matter.

I never heard that being gay was one of Paul Parrotts issues either. And what does saying "Paul Parrott, Paul Parrott!" have to do with being gay anyway? Wasn't that tied in with a brand of children's shoe called Paul Parrott?

RICHARD M ROBERTS

Being a kid about a half-century ago, it's just fun to say "Paul Parrott...Paul Parrott" or "Polly Parrott...Polly Parrott" in a parrott's voice. Nothing gay about it.

Now Charley actually named his daughter Polly didn't he? Talk about cruel & unusual punishment.

When I first heard of comedian Paul Parrott years back, I wondered why the name sounded so familiar. A quick Google search provides the probable explanation: a guy named Paul Parrot started the Parrot Shoe Company in the mid-1920s, with Poll-Parrot kid's shoes their big product. Evidently they advertised on The Howdy Doody Show, which is no doubt where the name firmly lodged in this kid-of-the-'50s impressionable little brain.

You're right we should say "accused pedophile" in regards to Meins. In fact, I think in the note he left for his family he said the reason for killing himself was because he was German, and he felt that he wouldn't get a fair trial because of anti-German feelings at the time.

Maybe there were TV commericals for the shoes with a parrott that squawked "Poll Parrott."

Steve

A nursery rhyme that dates back to at least the nineteenth century, and maybe as far back as the seventeenth, reads as follows:

Little Poll Parrot
Sat in his garret
Eating toast and tea;
A little brown mouse
Jumped into the house,
And stole it all away

... and gave us the name of a comedian and a brand of kids' shoes.

Frank

Maybe there were TV commericals for the shoes with a parrott that squawked "Poll Parrott."

Lifted from a chat site:

Poll Parrot, Poll Parrot
Are the shoes you want to buy
They'll make your feet run faster
As fast as I can fly

Steve Massa wrote:You're right we should say "accused pedophile" in regards to Meins. In fact, I think in the note he left for his family he said the reason for killing himself was because he was German, and he felt that he wouldn't get a fair trial because of anti-German feelings at the time.

Maybe there were TV commericals for the shoes with a parrott that squawked "Poll Parrott."

Steve

It would explain why Tommy Bond left Our Gang, and then came back after Meins was gone.

DBP

Steve Massa wrote:Maybe there were TV commericals for the shoes with a parrott that squawked "Poll Parrott."

Steve

There were, although I don't recall a parrot squawking, I recall someone singing a jingle. I hate to say this because it really dates me, but I remember the commercials from my wee vamplet days. I may well have sung the jingle myself and annoyed my parents by begging for a pair of Poll Parrott shoes. Clearly an early indication of what would become a lifelong struggle with "the shoe thing."

Joan