Was Henny Youngman ever really funny? Of course not. Which is why he’s so frigging funny. It’s the staleness of the jokes, the completely tossed-off manner of his delivery (as if he were pre-bored on the audiences behalf) and constant lack of invention and relentless recylcling of material that somehow
Here’s a terrific clip of the Nicholas Brothers from ‘Orchestra Wives’ (1942) performing ‘I’ve Got A Gal From Kalamazoo’. Unfortunately the first minute and a half of this precious routine is wasted by having the brothers sing (or should I say lip-sync) the entire song. Hiring the Nicholas Brothers to
Given the hugeness of their talent, the above title is ludicrous and reductive to say the least. Lets kick off this early 2024 week with the terrific ‘Jumpin’ Jive’ number from ‘Stormy Weather’. You have to sit through a minute and a half of Cab Calloway (not an easy task)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twBwZz1GXKM ‘Woman Haters’ (1934) is the first of 190 short comedies made by The Three Stooges for Columbia Pictures. It was photographed from Tuesday, March 27 through Friday, March 30 1934 and was released on Saturday, May 5th of that year (the 125th day of the Gregorian calendar and the
Behold an amazing clip of Glenn Gould playing the first portion of Bach’s Piano Concerto 1 (in D Minor, kids) accompanied by the New York Philharmonic with Leonard Bernstein conducting. The opening five or so minutes consists of a lecture–very well done–by Lenny discussing the lack of indication in Bach’s
No. He never appeared on ‘Hullabaloo’. But at least I got your attention. Above is an extraordinary short film about genius classical pianist Glenn Gould called ‘Glenn Gould–On The Record’. Shot in 1959 at Columbia Records legendary 30th Street Studios, it shows the then 27 year old Gould in the
Let’s kick off this terrifying year with a kickass episode of the great dance show ‘Hullabaloo’. This particular show dates from 1966 and features the young Simon & Garfunkel, a thin Lainie Kazan and the awful George Hamilton (skip his opening vocal number unless for some reason you’re jonesing for
Yesterday I posted ‘Putting Pants On Phillip’ (1927),, the first film in which Laurel and Hardy are paired as a team even though they play characters unassociated with each other prior to their on-screen meeting. Today’s silent L&H, ‘Do Detectives Think?’ (also 1927) is their following film and the first
‘Putting Pants On Phillip’ (1927) is the first official teaming of Laurel and Hardy, though they had appeared in a handful of films together prior to this (but not as a team). They’re not really a team here either which makes this silent comedy a real curiosity. Laurel plays a
‘Double Whoopee’ (1929) is, for my money, the best of the L&H silent shorts. Though not as iconic as ‘Liberty’, ‘Two Tars’ or ‘Big Business’, the film has a motor that never quits–a very jazz-age, syncopated almost out-of-control rhythmic thrust that I find irresistible. The art deco hotel lobby setting