James W. Horne

He worked at a number of studios in the early 1920s and directed Buster Keaton's successful 'College' in 1927 before arriving at Hal Roach studios in 1928 where the following year he directed Laurel and Hardy's 'Big Business'and the following year their sound film 'Chickens Come Home' In 1931 he directed 5 of their films including 'Beau Hunks' and not being able to find an actor to play an Arabian Riff played the part himself. While Hal Roach had other directors working on the English language versions of Stan and Ollie's films he preferred Janes to work on the German, French and Spanish versions. He left Roach Studios in 1932 but returned in 1935 to direct one of their last shorts, Thicker Than Water and the features 'Bonnie Scotland', The Bohemian Girl' and 'Way Out West'. Later he went to Columbia where he produced a number of serials.