The comedy short Taxi Tangle (1931) opens with a comic dialogue between an Irish cop with a New York cabby (Tammany Young) who has every excuse in the book for not noticing a red light. In the back seat, dapper in a straw hat, is Jack Benny.

In another cab right next to Jack's, a beautiful young woman, Helen Hunt (Francetta Malloy), is annoyed to be trapped in traffic, complaining to her chauffeur (Walter Wilson).

Jack looks over to where she's stewing about being late & tries to chat her up. At first she ignores him but soon she's amused. He pretends to have met her before & she goes along with the gag.

Witty dialogue turns to marriage, & Jack says, "You're the only girl I've ever loved. In traffic of course." They seem to be daring each other to really do it, so Jack calls out into the city crowd, "Is there a justice of the piece anywhere near?"

A judge steps forth & agrees to conduct a marriage ceremony. The two cabbies agree to be the witnesses. Jack insists on a bargain ceremony, for a dollar & a half instead of the usual two dollars. They actually do get married. In the next moment, however, they're arguing about this & that, & Helen asked the judge for an annulment. The judge even gives Jack back his dollar-fifty.

Compared to most of the comedy shorts of the era, this is a fairly sophisticated romp, & a general delight.

copyright © by Paghat the Ratgirl