Three Chairs for Captain Spaulding!

Sitting down on a chair is a simple process.  A chair is specifically designed with a flat raised surface to allow a person to sit comfortably and take their weight off their feet.  An animal can rest by laying on the ground or cuddling up inside a burrow, but a man is unable to accomplish the simplest task without creating a device to aid him in his efforts.  Unfortunately, these unnatural devices can at times turn on their creators, which comedians are all too happy to demonstrate.  I have no other commentary today.  What else is there to say?  Without further ado, here is a comedian having trouble sitting in a chair.

 Charlie Chaplin in A Day's Pleasure (1919)

Lupino Lane in Summer Saps (1929)

 Danny Kaye in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) 

Jerry Lewis in The Patsy (1964)

 

 Jacques Tati in Play Time (1967)

Film historian Dan North was struck by the Play Time scene's "gleaming floors and comfortless furniture."  These same elements were used again by Jerry Lewis in Cracking Up (1983).

Peter Sellers in The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)

 

No comedian liked chairs more than Chaplin.

The Rounders (1914)

 

The Rink (1916)

The Circus (1928)

Modern Times (1936)

The Great Dictator (1940)

I have one last clip.   It is from the Marx Brothers' film that inspired the title of this article.

Animal Crackers (1930)

 

Take my Oyster. . . Please!

The oyster stew routine started out as a monologue joke.  A version of the joke was printed in James Melville Janson's 1899 joke collection, Encyclopedia of Comedy: For Professional Entertainers, Social Clubs, Comedians, Lodges and All who are in Search of Humorous Literature.  The joke went as follows, "And they had oyster stew.  It was the worst I ever saw: small, half-starved oysters, and the water they were in was not hot enough to kill them.  They were alive, and the minute I broke the crackers in the stew the oysters came from the bottom and ate the crackers."  Frank Bush, a popular dialect comedian and monologist, used this joke in expanded form during an appearance on the Keeney vaudeville circuit in December, 1915.  A Variety critic noted, "Bush was among those present with a batch of stories, most of them new, but a few, alas, lamentably old.  In the latter class that hapless tale about the restaurant stew in which the oyster ate the crackers was heartlessly paraded.  The funny thing about this last mentioned gag is that the audience laughed uproariously at it." 

Frank Bush

It was a funny situation to imagine and it was even funnier when Mack Sennett's special effects team got around to creating a physical oyster that could pop out of a bowl of stew and snatch away a cracker from Billy Bevan.  The rest is comedy history. 
 

Dutiful But Dumb (1941) 

The Big Baby

The optical trick of surrounding an adult actor with oversized furniture and props to make him look like a small child was employed by Roscoe Arbuckle years before it was employed by either Harry Langdon (Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, 1926) or Laurel and Hardy (Brats, 1930).  The effect was used for the prologue of Brewster's Millions (1921), an adaptation of a popular farce novel by George Barr McCutcheon.  The following description of the scene was included in a Film Daily review dated February 6, 1921: "Roscoe Arbuckle is not only a riot as young Brewster, but he makes a bid for the first prize in versatility when he appears as a one year old.  The introduction is immense, for 'Fatty' is shown in a high chair.  He wears a baby bonnet and is shown playing with two pieces of lump sugar which he clumsily handles (infant-like), when suddenly he surprises the audience and delights himself with rolling them, which despite his youth indicates an inborn knowledge of the African game." 

The stills from this lost film leave no doubt that the filmmakers went a long way with set design and costuming to make Arbuckle look convincing as an infant. 

However, the question becomes why the comedian would play a shrewd game of dice with sugar cubes when this less than childlike activity posed a risk of shattering the illusion.  What makes Brats so enchanting is the fact that Laurel and Hardy fully commit to their roles as children.   

Funny Old Props and Costumes

 Too few props from old comedy films are known to exist today.  I cannot say that a comedy film has produced anything as legendary as Sam Spade's Maltese Falcon or Dorothy Gale's Ruby Slippers, but I nonetheless wish more of those funny old props were still around today.

The Nineteenth Century Gentleman's Hobbyhorse that Buster Keaton had reproduced for Our Hospitality (1923) is presently housed at the National Museum of American History in Washington D. C.
 

It interested me to learn recently that this model of bicycle, which was also known as a Pedestrian Curricle or a Dandy-horse, had been popularized in England in 1818 and it was already outdated by the 1830s, which is when the film takes place.  But it doesn't really matter.  I very much share the opinion of the author of the Alpena Tweed and Bike Club website.  He wrote, "Though many people have pointed out that the Dandy-horse would have been rather old fashioned in the 1830s, . . . the thing that amazed me was how much fun Keaton made it look!"  Yes, indeed, Keaton did make it look like a fun little toy.

Not long ago, Debbie Reynolds consigned to the Profiles in History auction house a number of items from her vast movie memorabilia collection.  These items included a 1918 Ford Model T purportedly used in a film by Laurel & Hardy.  Brian Chanes, a Profiles in History representative, could not say for sure that this was an authentic article.  He explained, “[Y]ou’re not going to find a VIN number or a document proving that the car was used by Laurel & Hardy.  There’s no paper trail leading back to the Hal Roach Studios.”  Still, the buyers who attended the auction must have been convinced that it was for real because, in the end, it sold for $35,000.  Another of Laurel and Hardy's Model T Fords is on exhibit at the Hollywood Cars of the Stars Motor Museum in Miami.  The crushed car from Hog Wild (1930) is on display at The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

Profiles in History sold many of Reynolds' items at an auction held in June of 2011.  Laurel & Hardy's suits from Jitterbugs (1943) sold for $16,000.

 
A top hat and wig that Harpo Marx wore in the 1930s sold for $55,350.

 A bowler that Charlie Chaplin wore in several films sold for $135,300.

Laurel and Hardy costumes from the 1954 film The Bull Fighters sold for $7,768 at Sotheby's in December, 2002.

Joe DeRita's widow sold this mallet, which Moe Howard had used as a prop in a number of Three Stooges films.  

This wolf mask was used in Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).

This is the scene.

The monster's boots from Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein has also become a collectible.

    
On November 25, TCM acted as the curator of an auction event titled "What Dreams Are Made Of: A Century of Movie Magic at Auction."  Several costumes from comedy features were presented at the auction.  This includes the following:

Robert Woolsey costume from Cockeyed Cavaliers (1934)

W.C. Fields' jacket from The Bank Dick (1940)

Chico Marx's tailcoat from Horse Feathers (1932)

Harold Lloyd blazer from For Heaven's Sake (1926)

This original script from Buster Keaton's Spite Marriage (1929) sold for $1,187.

   
One interesting item that turned up at the auction was W. C. Fields' joke file.

Personally, I would most love to own Oliver Hardy's ukulele from Sons of the Desert (1933).  To me, that ukulele is truly the stuff that dreams are made of.

Our Gang Does the Classics

 
I watched a few Our Gang comedies the other day and I could not help but notice the gang using  a number of stock routines.  These routines are no doubt familiar to fans of classic comedy.

Farina employs a Rube Goldberg-style machine to make breakfast in Little Daddy (1931).

Chubby tries on a variety of hats in Bargain Day (1931).

Wheezer, Stymie and Shirley Jean perform the "Watt Street?" routine in Bargain Day (1931).

In A Tough Winter (1930), Stepin Fetchit's inept efforts at plumbing repair causes plumbing lines and gas lines to get mixed up.

 
In Love Business (1931), Jackie's mother (May Wallace) unknowingly spills a box of mothballs into a pot of soup.  Miss Crabtree, a guest for dinner, tries to politely eat the horrid tasting mothball soup, but she has finally had enough and pushes away her plate.  She forces an awkward grin and offers a perfect backhanded compliment, "It's a little too rich for me."

This is off topic, but I have to say that Dorothy DeBorba did the greatest doubletakes.

A Couple of Laughs from Weber and Fields

Weber and Fields were, without a doubt, the forefathers of Abbott and Costello.  I cannot help but think of Abbott and Costello whenever I read one of Weber and Fields' typical dialogue exchanges.

Fields - It will be the best thing I ever put your money in.

Weber - Well, I will say one thing for you.  Whenever you have pushed my money in you have done it good.  It never came back.  Sometimes I have a suspicion when you are around that my money don’t belong to me.


Fields - What you need is physical torture to reduce yourself — you're too fat. 

Weber - I don't believe in it.  I bought one of those exercisers, put it in my room, and would you believe me, I gained six pounds in a week.

Fields - You didn't use it right.

Weber - Do you have to use it?


A similar joke turned up in a recent episode of Kirstie.

That's the problem with exercise equipment.  It's not enough to have it in your home - you have to actually use it!

Spotlight on The Butler's Tale (2013)

It's nice to see a modern filmmaker make use of classic gags.  This is one of my favorite classic gags.

Here that gag was used recently by René Riva in his short film The Butler's Tale.

You can see the complete film for lots more funny business and an appearance by Jean Darling of Our Gang at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4Z_sFwSBb0.