Merry Christmas 2024 from The Lot Of Fun

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.



Here is the promotional trailer for Charley Chase At Hal Roach: The Late Silents: 1927, a 3-disc set from our old friends at The Sprocket Vault.



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.