My dogged pursuit of the increasingly obnoxious vaudeville routine known as ‘Niagra Falls’ or ‘Slowly I Turn’ continues with a Colgate Comedy Hour version starring Abbott and Costello featuring Errol Flynn. This is the worst version thus far of the routine–Flynn is miscast, unable to convincingly be broad and over
This past weekend I posted the Three Stooges movie ‘Gents Without Cents’ which features a classic Vaudeville routine known (incorrectly) as ‘Niagra Falls’. (It’s correct name is ‘Slowly I Turn’). The Stooges were one of many comedians to do a version of the sketch and above we see Lou Costello
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZstzB7F03E ‘Playing The Ponies’ (1937) is the 26th short film made by The Three Stooges for Columbia Pictures. It was photographed from Wednesday, May 12 through Wednesday, May 19, 1937 and was released on Friday, October 15th of that year. I present this film to you today in honor of
The generally accepted word on the Marx Brothers films is that they constitute a clear case of downhillism, with the first five Paramount films being their supreme achievements, the first MGM (‘A Night At The Opera’) being the most successful yet also signifying the beginning of the end, and a
Every move, every twitch, every eye-pop of Rodney Dangerfield’s is a brilliant piece of method acting. Add to that the non-stop jokes and you have one of the truly ‘performative’ comics; he’s a man named Jacob Cohen (his real name) who, under the pseudonym ‘Jack Roy’ (his first stage name)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vphizLAWcMg ‘Ants In The Pantry’ (1936) is the 12th short comedy made by The Three Stooges for Columbia Pictures. It was photographed from Wednesday, December 11 through Saturday, December 14 1935 and was released on Thursday, February 6 1936. In my opinion, this is the film in which the pacing
‘All The World’s A Stooge’ is the 55th short subject made by The Three Stooges for Columbia Pictures. It was photographed from Saturday, August 24th through Wednesday, August 28th 1940 and was released on Friday, May 16th 1941. The plot–such as it is–has to do with European child war refugees,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTLnUXDKgBs Having missed my usual Saturday Three Stooges posting (what can I say–the dog ate my homework) I’m posting this excellent short doc (18 minutes) about the great Jerome ‘Curly’ Howard. Titled ‘A Victim Of Circumstance”, it was compiled edited and narrated by Joe Ramoni whose other YouTube mini-docs I’m
Here’s a six minute reel of outtakes from ‘The Disorderly Orderly’, a 1964 Jerry Lewis vehicle written and directed by Frank Tashlin. Some of them–most of them?–are self-imposed goofs, things Jerry does on purpose to make the crew and other cast members laugh. Why would he waste time doing this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tTMQYdBIYQ Most of what we know about Lillian Roth we know from Susan Hayward’s robust but depressing portrait of her in ‘I’ll Cry Tomorrow’, the screen bio of Roth’s tragic life based on her memoir. One of the first searingly honest portraits of an alcoholic’s descent, Roth’s book completely overshadowed