A Boy’s Punishment For Skipping School - The Strop (Boys Will Be Boys)

@tederbate - Little Willie is a wilful boy who doesn’t want to become a clerk in the Post Office, like his father. He also dislikes school and forges a letter to excuse his absence, which makes things even worse when he arrives home late one evening as the clock is striking nine o’clock. When Willie proffers his rear end, dad’s initial inclination is to give him a good spanking, then he detects the protective item in Willie’s trousers. A brief altercation ensures, ending with dad getting his strop (the sturdy length of leather used for sharpening razors) and leading Willie by the ear upstairs to his bedroom for a beating, despite Willie’s protestations that he has changed his mind and will, after all, become a clerk in the Post Office. The scene is set in a London suburban home just after the First World War (1919 to be exact), and displays the typical Hollywood lack of authenticity British audiences were used to, although both the screen parents were from England. The most glaring mistake, aside of the strange house layout and the accents of the boys, is the repeated mispronunciation of the word “clerk“, definitely not the way the English pronounce it (except the very stupid ones, and there’s no shortage of those in any country). Willie, incidentally, is played by Jackie Searl, a busy child actor during the 1930s.