Born c. 1888. A slight, short, slapstick comedian who starred in
two-reel comedies for Mermaid, Educational, and Christie Film Company
in the 1920's. Died in 1933 at age 45 in Glendale, California.
In 1921 Adams starred in two-reel comedies for Educational Pictures and
Al Christie. The slightly built, pencil-mustached Adams has been
described by historian Kalton C. Lahue as "a poor man's Charley Chase."
Like Chase, and unlike the other comics at Educational, Adams favored
situation comedy over slapstick.
He briefly replaced Mack Sennett comic Harry McCoy in the
cartoon-inspired Hall Room Boys series (produced by Harry Cohn and Jack
Cohn, later of Columbia Pictures). By 1924 Adams was back with
Educational.
Christie hired Adams for six comedies released in 1926 and 1927. The
Christie comedies were more polite and less extreme than the slam-bang
comedies of other studios, but Christie's soft-pedal comedy style did
find an audience. Star comedians Jimmie Adams, Bobby Vernon, Lige
Conley, Neal Burns, and Billy Dooley constituted a lineup that was no
threat to Hal Roach, but nevertheless entertained millions with a style
than neither Roach or Mack Sennett could or would provide.
Adams was also a singer. In 1930 he co-starred with burly comic Bud
Jamison as "The Rolling Stones," a pair of singing vagabonds touring
America. Adams also sang with The Ranch Boys, a musical group featured
in Charley Chase comedies.
