Billy as The Janitor (1921)Billy laughing at Edgar Kennedy in one of his last two-reelers, Mutiny in the County (1940)

WILLIAM "BILLY" FRANEY (1882-1940)


CAREER OVERVIEW / THE CRITICS DON'T CARE / A GAG FOR THE AGES / AN AGE-OLD MYSTERY / THE SLAPSTICK POET /

Built like a fire hydrant and wearing a perpetual hangdog expression, Billy Franey was one of the journeyman stalwarts of silent and sound comedy. For over three decades, Billy could always be counted upon to take more than his share of physical abuse.  Franey's very body was a comic tool, instantly recognizable even from the back.  His starring career was surprising brief, lasting just over a year for Reelcraft.  As a States Rights distribution company, Reelcraft comedies had only regional releases, hence no national publicity or reviews.  By the time the company collapsed, Franey had a solid reputation as a laugh-getter and embarked on a twenty year run of providing comic support in many a feature drama or comedy.

CAREER OVERVIEW:


THE CRITICS DON'T CARE:

One of the deficits faced by Billy in his career is that lack of attention payed to states rights-distributed comedies.  There is nary a review of his starring series.


A GAG FOR THE AGES: 

One of Billy's surviving films for Reelcraft, The Cameraman (1920) is saddled with a plot that is little more than a remake of Chaplin's debut film, Making a Living (1914). But under the direction of Grover Jones the little one-reeler takes off in a very unusual direction. A mysterious whittler appears more and more frequently until he is juxtaposed with himself in reverse shots. There is no explanation for his presence right up to the final frame, when he is collared by the police. The Whittler looks into the lens and mouths something like, "Isn't this crazy?"  It's like something out of Richard Lester's Running, Jumping, Standing Still Film, only four decades out of time.


AN AGE-OLD MYSTERY:

Depending on what text you read, Franey was born either in 1882, 1885 or 1889. As a rule of thumb, when actors have multiple birth dates, always go with the earliest one. In Billy's case, I'd put my money on an earlier decade, probably the late 1870s. Look at the frame above from one of his last films. Is this a man in his fifties? In my opinion Billy was in his forties when he made his Reelcraft series and in his sixties when he died. Of course, he could have been one of those folks like John Ford, who were born old and just stayed that way.

THE SLAPSTICK POET:

I am the Screen Comedy.

My mission in life is to make people laugh; I fear no just critic; neither do I fear the censor's sharp shears.

When I am placed on exhibition men guffaw, women smile and children howl.

The theatre manager loves me because I make his path easier; the people love me because I bring gladness into their hearts.

Sometimes I am even greater than the feature.

Men ship me around the world in a tin box and as I travel from town to town, from theatre to theatre, I know that I will be welcome wherever I go.

Though I journey alone hundreds of men are slaving day and night to make my comparitively short span of life a success.

Tenderly I am handled and heavily insured. I come to you gladly and stay until you send me away.

I am the Screen Comedy.

-Billy Franey in Moving Picture World, July 15, 1922

BACK TO MUG SHOTS HOME PAGE or leap to our other comedians...

MONTY BANKS

CHARLEY BOWERS

MAX DAVIDSON

BILLY FRANEY
LLOYD HAMILTON

GALE HENRY

LUPINO LANE

HENRY LEHRMAN
MAX LINDER PAT & PATACHON

BILLIE RITCHIE

LARRY SEMON
BILLY WEST BULLS EYE/REELCRAFT