American film director, comedian, and screenwriter, born on August 2, 1897, in Baltimore. He is the younger brother of the actor Charlie Chase, and he dropped out of school, in order to support his mother and brother. He left home at the age of 16 to work at the vaudeville circle as a singer and comedian. He appeared during the 1920s, in a series of relatively successful comedies. Among his works are: Be Big! (1931), Blockheads (1938), and Blotto (1930). He died on May 10, 1939 in Los Angeles, at the age of 42, of a heart attack.