Search found 58 matches

by Chris Snowden
Sat Sep 30, 2017 1:18 am
Forum: SOUND MOVIE MAIN
Topic: Correcting Trav S D on Louis Gasnier and Other Directors
Replies: 2
Views: 12692

Re: Correcting Trav S D on Louis Gasnier and Other Directors

Trav's crack about Gasnier descending to the realm of psychotronic cinema is one thing. But I was shocked to hear Ben Mankiewicz ripping Harry Edwards on TCM last Sunday, after presenting several very solid comedies Edwards had directed.
by Chris Snowden
Wed Jun 28, 2017 5:26 pm
Forum: SILENT COMEDY MAIN
Topic: LOVE SPEED AND THRILLS (1915) Mack Swain, Chester Conklin
Replies: 2
Views: 5976

Re: LOVE SPEED AND THRILLS (1915) Mack Swain, Chester Conklin

This has always been one of my favorite Keystones. Not so much because of the comedy, but because it used to be one of the handful of silent one-reelers that were screened on endless loops at Disneyland's Main Street Cinema. Main Street hadn't yet become the Mickey Mall, and the Cinema hadn't yet sw...
by Chris Snowden
Fri Feb 10, 2017 8:10 pm
Forum: SILENT COMEDY MAIN
Topic: THE OLD WALLOP (1927) Our Gang
Replies: 6
Views: 15061

Re: THE OLD WALLOP (1927) Our Gang

If you love Our Gang and you haven't yet watched The Old Wallop on YouTube, you might want to make that a priority.

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but Richard Bann announced on Facebook this week that "This is a copyrighted film and will be removed from YouTube."
by Chris Snowden
Mon Nov 21, 2016 11:19 pm
Forum: SILENT COMEDY MAIN
Topic: Restored WHEN COMEDY WAS KING DVD from Sprocket Vault
Replies: 12
Views: 23546

Re: Restored WHEN COMEDY WAS KING DVD from Sprocket Vault

As an extra bonus, Mr. Roberts graciously allowed TSV permission to showcase three complete, rare, wild and crazy silent comedies from his own large collection of early film. For the first time in over 90 years audiences can get a taste of undeservedly forgotten names from the hundreds of comedians...
by Chris Snowden
Tue Nov 04, 2014 3:31 am
Forum: CLASSIC TELEVISION
Topic: THE RED SKELTON SHOW: The Early Years, 1951-1955
Replies: 14
Views: 33404

Re: THE RED SKELTON SHOW: The Early Years, 1951-1955

We've all heard sad stories about Bela Lugosi's appearance on the Skelton show. They're told in some otherwise impressive books about him, and they're underlined by a painful scene in Tim Burton's Ed Wood , in which a confused, humiliated Bela struggles through a live TV comedy. All of this seems to...
by Chris Snowden
Mon Nov 03, 2014 2:19 am
Forum: CLASSIC TELEVISION
Topic: THE RED SKELTON SHOW: The Early Years, 1951-1955
Replies: 14
Views: 33404

THE RED SKELTON SHOW: The Early Years, 1951-1955

I'd like to put in a good word for Red Skelton. That would've been a silly thing to say just a couple of generations ago, when he was still one of America's best-loved comedians. But in the years since his show went off the air in 1971, his fame has slowly and quietly diminished--- not because his s...
by Chris Snowden
Sun Oct 26, 2014 4:37 pm
Forum: SILENT COMEDY MAIN
Topic: Everybody's Favorite Norwegian Silent Film Comedian
Replies: 1
Views: 5111

Everybody's Favorite Norwegian Silent Film Comedian

Yep, that could only be Barney Hellum, a Sennett veteran who headlined the obscure Barney Google series in the final months of the silent era. Here are headliners Hellum and Philip Davis, in a press photo from August 1928: http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii241/Black_Jeans_Chris/HellumBDavisPhilip...
by Chris Snowden
Sun May 12, 2013 4:53 pm
Forum: CLASSIC TELEVISION
Topic: The Joke's On Me
Replies: 4
Views: 11933

Re: The Joke's On Me

Bud Abbott must have had the same lousy agent as Bela Lugosi. He was a natural to play fast-talking wise guys, detectives, Damon Runyon-type characters... you name it. He should have gotten all the work he wanted, and he was sure in need of some career security, once his relationship with Lou Costel...
by Chris Snowden
Wed Jan 26, 2011 10:54 pm
Forum: SILENT COMEDY MAIN
Topic: 1927: The Beginning of the End?
Replies: 4
Views: 8536

Re: 1927: The Beginning of the End?

Wow, Michael! I was joking about the Beery reference and then you go and find an article written back then in which the writer is even more sarcastic concerning the comic styling of Mr. Beery. Gary, I think you were closer to the mark than you realized. Exhibitors Herald did an annual survey, askin...
by Chris Snowden
Wed Jan 19, 2011 2:13 pm
Forum: SILENT COMEDY MAIN
Topic: The Reviews Are In
Replies: 3
Views: 7552

Re: The Reviews Are In

Yes, it was a perennial complaint with the Lloyd features (throughout the 1920s) that the rentals were too costly for the exhibitors to see much profit. With the Lloyd Paramount releases, the exhibitors had to pay a flat rental fee plus a percentage of the total admissions paid. Checkers would show ...