Brent Walker wrote:As for "Charley Chase", here's a jaw dropper for you - I think it may be Henry Lehrman! It looks like him, and not tall and thin enough to be Chase, and this may be circa April 12, 1927, when Lehrman was announced in the L.A. Times as being placed in charge of the Hal Roach story department. I don't know how long he lasted, because I haven't seen any other mentions--knowing Lehrman, he might have rubbed someone (Roach?) the wrong way but this may be a brief shot in that moment.
In that same announcement, it said Louis Gasnier (future REEFER MADNESS director) was going to make some two-reel westerns for Roach, and that they'd recently signed Reed Heustis and Lige Conley as writers. I don't see Lige, I don't have any photos of Gasnier handy, and I can't remember if I've seen a photo of Heustis before.
Anyway, see what anyone else thinks about it being Lehrman rather than Chase.
Brent, I wasn't completely certain it was Chase, and the possibility of it being Lehrman is intriguing to say the least! But if the squatting man with the glasses is in fact Tom McNamara, that would place the photo at 1921-23 - as far as I can tell, he wasn't at the studio in 1927 when Lehrman was briefly there - so it seems like it's an either/or scenario with Lehrman and McNamara.
If the man with the glasses is Tom McNamara, the photo would have to be from the early '20s, and with the personnel from the early Our Gang shorts on hand (McGowan/McNamara), it would sort of make sense for Chase to be there, as he had supervised the earliest entries.