Alas, started this day by accidentally hitting the "delete" button and instantaneously jettisoning this entire post - in the immortal words of motivational speaker Matt Foley, WHOOPS-A-DAISY. Shall now attempt to re-construct the 7-29-2023 post on the fly - and rewrite as we go!
Let's just say that on this day back in 1906, the pride of Lawrence, Kansas, the talented actress Thelma Todd was born.
The vivacious comedienne was also The Pip From Pittsburg!
Her 120+ films included both countless comedies and memorable dramatic parts in the crime thriller Corsair and the first screen adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon, starring Ricardo Cortez as a rather randy, always hot-to-trot Sam Spade. Here, Thelma (as "the college widow") attempts to romance Groucho Marx in Horse Feathers.
Whenever the gang here gets down and in the dumps, we watch a comedy film in which one of the supporting players happens to be Thelma Todd!
Was there ANY comedian in the late silents and early talkies who Thelma did not co-star with?
The answer to that question is Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, Roscoe Arbuckle, Lupino Lane, W.C. Fields, Lloyd Hamilton and the certifiable Clark & McCullough.
Thelma appeared as a valuable supporting player in films with all the rest of the funmakers, including the aforementioned Marx Brothers, Buster Keaton, Joe E. Brown and the outstanding movie comedy teams Laurel & Hardy and Wheeler & Woolsey.
Knowing comedy talent when he encountered it, producer Hal Roach signed Thelma as a stock company member at The Lot Of Fun in 1929.
She has striking parts in several entries from the Roach Studio's bizarre (but hilarious) 1929 Harry Langdon series, which this writer reviewed here.
Tops in my book - Thelma's films with comedian Charley Chase!
A less prominent but extremely funny Hal Roach short subject featuring Thelma Todd is Love Fever, from The Boy Friends series.
Author, film historian and Hal Roach Studios expert Leonard Maltin elaborates on this lesser known but hilarious Hal Roach comedy.
At the moment, several entries from The Boy Friends series have been posted as a playlist on Archive.org. Perhaps The Boy Friends comedies will eventually find their way onto Blu-ray or DVD. . .
After Thelma and Charley made a wonderful team and worked beautifully together in The Pip From Pittsburg, Looser Than Loose and other short subjects, producer Hal Roach spun Thelma off into her own series. Roach had been experimenting with female comedy teams for awhile, having teamed comediennes Anita Garvin and Marion "Peanuts" Byron in the silent 2-reelers A Pair Of Tights, Feed 'Em And Weep and Going Ga-Ga. Thelma was teamed with character actress and comedienne ZaSu Pitts.
Hal Roach, who wanted to establish a "female Laurel & Hardy" as soon as it was clear that Stan & Babe were an enormous hit, tried a comedy team of Anita Garvin and Marion "Peanuts" Byron in 1928-1929, then, beginning in 1931, produced a series of 17 Thelma & Zasu comedies.
The first Todd-Pitts short subjects were directed by Marshall "Mickey" Neilan, veteran of numerous silent features and short subjects.
Thankfully, the complete series of Todd-Pitts comedies can be bought on the Sprocket Vault 2-DVD set Thelma Todd & Zasu Pitts: The Hal Roach Collection 1931-33.
Watch the following, On The Loose, all the way through to see one of the funniest cameos in silver screen comedy history!
Here's an excerpt from one the funniest of the Todd-Pitts and Todd-Kelly comedies, The Bargain Of The Century (1933), which was directed by none other than Charley Chase.
Zasu, with numerous and increasing offers to work in feature films, left the series in 1933. She would be succeeded as Thelma's teammate by the very funny and enjoyably rowdy Patsy Kelly. All 21 Todd-Kelly 2-reelers, thankfully, are available on DVD from Classic Flix, the same company which has produced several terrific sets featuring Our Gang a.k.a. Hal Roach's Rascals.
Our favorite from the Todd-Kelly series? Top Flat (1935)!
Wikipedia elaborates:Todd continued her short-subject series through 1935 and was featured in the full-length Laurel and Hardy comedy The Bohemian Girl. It was her last role before her untimely death at age 29. Although she had completed all of her scenes, producer Roach had them re-shot, fearing negative publicity. He deleted all of Todd's dialogue, and limited her appearance to one musical number.
In closing, important acknowledgments for this and many other Lot Of Fun-centric posts go to Leonard Maltin, Sprocket Vault, Classic Flix, Benny Drinnon and the extremely thorough Dave Lord Heath of the Another Nice Mess website - thanks to all of you! In addition, we note that YouTube poster Anthony Scibelli has covered Thelma Todd's movie career and untimely passing as part of his entertaining and informative Unsung Legends Of Comedy series.
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