In 1930, Hal Roach experimented with having the opening credits of some of his comedies spoken by two young women who appear to be identical twins, posed on a very nice quasi-Egyptian themed deco stage. Much like the soundtrack of the trailer I posted yesterday, this was likely another fad designed to squeeze a little extra juice out of the novelty of the talking picture. Above are two examples–one from an Our Gang comedy (identified in the spoken credits as ‘His Rascals’, the he being Hal Roach) and a Charley Chase short. I haven’t found one for a Laurel and Hardy short and I suspect the reason would have been a fierce objection from Stan Laurel. He was notorious for being controlling and opinionated about the team’s work–rightly so, I would say–and he probably cringed at the somewhat insipid nature of the two girls reciting the film’s creators names. Personally, I’d like to see the technique revived–singing trailers and spoken credits for the worst of Netflix’s offerings. That would be worth the price of the subscription.