To Heir Is Human

Una Merkel locates Harry Langdon, heir to a fortune and a mansion. However, relatives Christine MacIntyre, Lew Kelly and Eddie Gribbon have other ideas for the estate in this Columbia comedy short.

This one seems to have a larger budget than most in the unit; for one thing, it has incidental music. Producer Hugh McCollum always seemed to get more out of his movies than Jules White, probably because he let his talent have their heads. In this one, although it's Langdon's series, it's Una Merkel who gets to run through most of the slapstick gags -- Harry would turn 60 the year this was made, and die before it was over. It's Kelly and MacIntyre who get the best laughs, however, as two of the creepy would-be murderers.

The result is a typical-looking production for Jules White's unit, with many of the standard gags, aided by Harry's slow-reacting character. He plays well with Una, but nothing came of it in the long run: just another paycheck for some real talent, who did the gags and moved on to the next job.