For classic movie buffs and comedy geeks, especially silent era comedy geeks, the Christmas season invariably means mandatory viewing of classics by Hal Roach Studios (a.k.a. The Lot of Fun).
One of my greatest experiences watching movies was my first viewing, in an auditorium packed with cub scouts and their dads, all ROFL, of Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy, starring as incredibly inept Christmas tree salesmen in BIG BUSINESS (1929).
Starring the boys and nemesis Jimmie Finlayson, BIG BUSINESS was greeted with uproarious laughter from the scouts and their dads.
Another holiday must-see from Hal Roach Studios is There Ain't No Santa Claus, starring Charley Chase and Noah Young.
Could there be more jokes about ill-fitting Santa suits and ridiculously long beards? No.
Nobody combines the outrageously silly with nuanced character-based comedy quite like Charley.
This reminds the comedy-crazed rapscallions at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog that there is a new Blu-ray release of Charley's very funny silent 2-reelers, some featuring Babe Hardy in the supporting cast.
The press release elaborates: A collection of 15 all-time great silent-era comedy shorts starring one of the silent era's top stars.
Both Charley Chase and the Hal Roach Studios Golden Era was in the late 1920's, and 1927 was the year Charley Chase was the Lot of Fun's Number One star.
His films from that period, directed by his brother James Parrott and supervised by Leo McCarey, were not only some of his best but were also some of the greatest comedies from the silent era.
Most of these classic shorts have never been seen since their original release, and this set combines materials from film archives and private collections from around the world to bring these shorts together for the first time, all with wonderful accompaniment from Dr. Andrew Simpson, commentary tracks by noted Hal Roach Historian Richard M. Roberts, and restoration by the experts at CineMuseum LLC.
Preceding this selection of Charley's 20 minute comedy masterpieces on Blu-ray: Laurel & Hardy's incredibly funny silent slapstick fests of 1927-1928.
The latest Flicker Alley release, the 1928 L&H gems, packs quite the classic comedy punch.
This is our last post for 2024. We wish all a Merry Christmas- Happy Hanukkah - Cool Kwanzaa - Felicitous Festivus (retroactively) and shall return on January 3, 2025 with a post about silent screen comedy goddess Marion Davies.
Since we will not be able to attend Tommy Stathes' epic Christmas Cartoon Carnival: Santa Claus 4 U & Me program this coming Sunday at Rubulad in Brooklyn, and the annual winter edition of the KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival has been cancelled (postponed for now, returning to Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California in spring 2025. . . we hope), the gang here shall try to get in at least a somewhat festive holiday mood by watching the following selection of Yuletide comedy sketches.
If you're in NYC and able to attend Christmas Cartoon Carnival: Santa Claus 4 U & Me at Rubulad (338 Flushing Avenue between Classon and Taffee in Brooklyn), here is the teaser trailer for the event.
There will be two shows and pianist Charlie Judkins shall provide excellent accompaniment for the silents.
In general, this blogger's all-time favorite Walter Lantz Cartunes were made in the 1940's.
When it comes to the early Woody Woodpecker, we love that cameo appearance (starting at 4:29) in the WW2 themed Swing Symphony cartoon 21 DOLLARS A DAY ONCE A MONTH.
Of the loony bird's adventures, we consider those directed by former Disney and Fleischer animator James "Shamus" Culhane to be tops.
Another former Disney animator, Dick Lundy, also directed a bunch of classic cartoons for Lantz.
We're fans of the Musical Miniatures series.
A talented crew of former Disney artists revisited their days working for the other Walt at the Lantz Studio with the following clever and entertaining Andy Panda cartoon, The Bandmaster, which includes animation by the legendary Fred Moore. It's arguably the best of the Musical Miniatures.
And, speaking of the Walter Lantz Studio's predecessors of Woody Woodpecker, wrote about OSWALD THE LUCKY RABBIT in one of the very first posts on this blog back in 2006. Read about the quite bizarre Ozzie opus THE HASH SHOP but had never seen it then. Now it is up on YouTube.
Since that day five or six lifetimes ago, somebody posted THE HASH SHOP among a slew of wonderfully weird Ozzie cartoons on YouTube.
Many moons ago, long ago and far away, my favorite way of getting LANTZ-ED was to watch The Woody Woodpecker Show on TV - and see none other than Walter Lantz, a terrific host. Loved those Moment With Walter Lantz segments!
Today, we conclude this salute to the woodpecker and Walter Lantz by tipping the Jimmie Hatlo top hat to the artists who made these excellent cartoons. . . to name just a few, the aforementioned Shamus Culhane and Dick Lundy, Bill Nolan, Tex Avery, Grim Natwick, Emery Hawkins, Manuel Moreno, Les Kline, Pat Matthews, Laverne Harding, Ben "Bugs" Hardaway, Milt Schaffer, Philip DeGuard, Art Heinemann, Alex Lovy, Don Patterson and music man Darrell Calker.
On December 1, 2024, the addled mind that writes this blog wanders to the question of who would be considered unequivocally the Godfathers of the Psychotronix Film Festival (which we hope just might MAYBE return to Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, CA sometime in early spring 2025).
One answer would be the highly original standup comedian and actor Dick Shawn, born on this day in 1923.
Many of us way back in the halcyon days of the 20th century first saw Dick Shawn dancing with the nimble and graceful Barrie Chase in It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World.
Shawn's character of Sylvester Marcus in It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World is the son of. . . an even more over-the-top character, played beyond the hilt by Ethel Merman.
And then there's Dick Shawn's performance as Lorenzo St. DuBois in Mel Brooks' 1968 movie The Producers.
Mark Evanier delves into the career and standup comedy of Dick Shawn, as well as the role of Lorenzo St. DuBois, in an outstanding post on his News From Me website. Unlike most of us writer/historian types, Mr. Evanier has the advantage of actually having seen Dick Shawn's standup act multiple times.
The earliest Dick Shawn appearances we've seen are from 1954-1955 on The Steve Allen Show.
It's true - Dick Shawn was a guest on The Judy Garland Show. These were two performers who went for broke; to use a hackneyed sports expression, they left it all on the playing field, only every time.
Didn't know there was still a Colgate Comedy Hour in 1967, but, instead of Bob Hope, Martin & Lewis, Eddie Cantor or Abbott & Costello as seen in its 1950's incarnation, here's Dick Shawn, introduced by another long-gone but not forgotten comedy great, Allan Sherman.
We especially love Mr. Shawn's role as Bing Bell the singing cowboy in the unique, inventive and comedian-packed 1972 western spoof Evil Roy Slade.
Dick Shawn appeared twice on the shows of Bill Boggs.
It is not lost upon us here that at the end of the following show, Dick Shawn shares the scene with a highly original and inventive standup comedian after his own heart, the indescribably hilarious Dana Gould.
Dick Shawn's last TV appearance would be on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson on November 11, 1986.
In closing, we note that Madame Blogmeister saw Dick Shawn do a standup comedy set three months after this Tonight Show appearance, and noted that he was having difficulties just maintaining a basic level of coherence, so the heart condition that took him out just a few weeks later was not the only severe health issue he was suffering from. This brings to mind what happened to another highly unorthodox, creative and brilliant standup comedian, the great Jonathan Winters, who officially retired nine years before his passing in 2013.
Noting that Father Time, as always, is undefeated, we'll close this post with kudos, bravos and huzzahs to Dick Shawn and a clip of him demonstrating the latest and greatest dance craze, "The Cockamamie," on The Edie Adams Show.
