Billy West

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Frank Flood
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Billy West

Postby Frank Flood » Fri Jan 08, 2010 2:21 pm

Does anyone out there have a good filmography for Billy West, particularly his 1920's starring comedies? Any assistance would be appreciated.

Frank

Tommie Hicks
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Re: Billy West

Postby Tommie Hicks » Sat Jan 23, 2010 1:30 am

Sorry to take so long to answer but I am unaware of a complete West filmography existing. Here are some titles from the Films In Release section of the MOTION PICTURE WORLD:

Here are some Reelcraft titles from 1918:

WHAT NEXT
GOING STRAIGHT
THE ARTIST (not the same film as the King Bee title)
THE BEAUTY SHOP
HARD LUCK
BRASS BUTTONS
THE MASQUERADER
THE DODGER
FOILED
CLEANING UP
HAPPY DAYS
THE DREAMER
HANDS UP
ITALIAN LOVE
BLUE BLOOD AND BEVO

From the Broadway-Arrow series:

ONE EXCITING EVENING 10-1-1923
BE YOURSELF 11-1-1923
HELLO BILL (EXISTS) 12-1-1923
PAY UP 1-1-1924
HELLO STRANGER 2-1-1924
THE NERVOUS REPORTER 3-1-1924
NOT WANTED 4-1-1924
OH, BILLY 5-1-1924
TWO AFTER ONE 6-1-1924
THAT'S THAT! 7-1-1924
DON'T SLIP 9-1-1924
LINE'S BUSY (EXISTS) 9-15-1924
LOVE 10-15-1924
MEET FATHER 11-15-1924
WATCH OUT 12-51-1924
BELIEVE ME 1-15-1925
HARD BOILED HUSBANDS 2-15-1925
RIVALS 3-15-1925
THE COPPER BUTT-INS 4-15-1925
WEST IS WEST 5-15-1925
FIDDLIN AROUND (EXISTS) 6-15-1925
THE JOKE'S ON YOU (EXISTS) 7-15-1925

And one Weiss Bros. title: NICE NEIGHBORS (1-5-1927) More likely than not West only directed this title and did not appear in it.

There is mention in the MOTION PICTURE WORLD around 1923 of West making a series of western comedies for C.B.C. I have seen no titles yet. West also around that time made a series of shorts for Joan Film Sales of which one title exists in a Netherlands archive entitled HE'S IN AGAIN, not to be confused with a Bulls-Eye comedy by the same name made by West.

Steve Massa
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Re: Billy West

Postby Steve Massa » Sun Jan 24, 2010 3:16 pm

Hi guys
I've actually been collecting info for and working on a Billy West silent filmography for a while, but it isn't ready for "unveiling" yet. Tommie's supplied a lot of good titles, and it's kind of amazing how many films and different companies West worked for in the silent era. Besides King Bee and Arrow, he also made shorts for Belmont Films/Unicorn, Bulls Eye, Emerald (which came out as Reelcraft releases),Joan Film Sales, C.B.C. Sunrise Comedies, and Smart Films, Inc., not to mention the four starring features he did for Rayart. In addition he also produced the mid-20s Bobby Ray comedies for Arrow, the West Brothers series he did with his brother George, such as the Winnie Winkles, Hairbreadth Harrys, Izzie & Lizzies, etc., that Weiss Brothers put out, plus directed some late 20s shorts for Fox. Pretty darn prolific.

Survivors that I know of besides the King Bee titles include:

MoMA - HANDS UP, GOING STRAIGHT, and chunks of the features THRILLING YOUTH, TROUBLE CHASER and LUCKY FOOL

LOC - A ROLLING STONE, CLEANING UP, THE NERVOUS REPORTER, DYIN' FOR LOVE, BELIVE ME (a.k.a. START HERE), RIVALS

Nederlands Filmmuseum - They have the rare King Bees BACK STAGE and THE MILLIONAIRE, plus THE BEAUTY SHOP, and HE'S IN AGAIN ('21)

others that are around include SHIP AHOY, HIS WAITING CAREER,ITALIAN LOVE, DON'T BE FOOLISH, HELLO BILL, NOT WANTED, LOVE, WEST IS WEST, THE JOKE'S ON YOU, HARD BOILED YEGGS, and SO LONG BILL.

One area for research are the Bulls Eye films that were made after he jumped ship and went to Emerald, but were still releashed as Billy West Comedies. Many like THE FLIRTS and DON'T PARK HERE are well-documented, but there are others that haven't been.

Anyway, that's a little unorganized material on Billy West comedies.
Steve

Frank Flood
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Re: Billy West

Postby Frank Flood » Mon Jan 25, 2010 5:13 pm

As busy as he was during many years of the silent era, he almost drops off the face of the earth come the talkies.

In the shorts field, first he directs at least one Snub Pollard title for the Weiss Brothers, which might be one of those obscure early talkies that the Weiss' released in 1929 and 1930. In 1929 he is an assistant director of a handful of comedies made by Pathe in New York. 1930 has him playing supporting roles in another handful of Darmour shorts, and he also shows up in the crowds in some of the earlier-Jules White produced Columbia comedies in 1934 or thereabouts.

The always reliable Internet Movie Database has him in a supporting role in a 1932 Mascot serial and an uncredited bit in a 1932 feature from Tower Productions. And that's it.

Considering the fact that West acted, wrote, directed and produced, and had the dexterity to completely change his characterization around in mid-career with continued success (even though on the states rights market) it is surprising he disappeared the way he did. Did he become an assistant director or script doctor for one of the feature companies and thus disappear from the credits? Did he retire on his sizeable earnings from the Izzie and Lizzie Comedies? Did a heavy Russian accent doom him to bit parts? I will be interested in what Steve Massa comes up with.


Frank

Richard M Roberts
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Re: Billy West

Postby Richard M Roberts » Mon Jan 25, 2010 6:29 pm

Frank Flood wrote:As busy as he was during many years of the silent era, he almost drops off the face of the earth come the talkies.

In the shorts field, first he directs at least one Snub Pollard title for the Weiss Brothers, which might be one of those obscure early talkies that the Weiss' released in 1929 and 1930. In 1929 he is an assistant director of a handful of comedies made by Pathe in New York. 1930 has him playing supporting roles in another handful of Darmour shorts, and he also shows up in the crowds in some of the earlier-Jules White produced Columbia comedies in 1934 or thereabouts.

The always reliable Internet Movie Database has him in a supporting role in a 1932 Mascot serial and an uncredited bit in a 1932 feature from Tower Productions. And that's it.

Considering the fact that West acted, wrote, directed and produced, and had the dexterity to completely change his characterization around in mid-career with continued success (even though on the states rights market) it is surprising he disappeared the way he did. Did he become an assistant director or script doctor for one of the feature companies and thus disappear from the credits? Did he retire on his sizeable earnings from the Izzie and Lizzie Comedies? Did a heavy Russian accent doom him to bit parts? I will be interested in what Steve Massa comes up with.


Frank


Billy West actually pops up in a number of uncredited bit parts, and he seems to have spent quite a bit of time at Columbia, but I think he was busily dodging creditors, including the Weiss Brothers and Consolidated Labs, to whom he and his brother George had defaulted on a number of loans. He may have been keeping low profile deliberately due to this. He opened the Columbia Grille across from Columbia in the late thirties, and ran that successfully until he died. he also was good at suing folk, including Paramount when they reused his bit part in BROADWAY BILL for RIDING HIGH without his permission. He also had the chutzpah to try to demand royalties from the Brothers Weiss when they reissued the comedies he produced for them to television in the late forties, apparently convienently forgetting he was still in arrears to them for those defaulted loans.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

Frank Flood
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Re: Billy West

Postby Frank Flood » Tue Jan 26, 2010 12:39 pm

Richard M Roberts wrote:Billy West actually pops up in a number of uncredited bit parts, and he seems to have spent quite a bit of time at Columbia, but I think he was busily dodging creditors, including the Weiss Brothers and Consolidated Labs, to whom he and his brother George had defaulted on a number of loans. ... He also had the chutzpah to try to demand royalties from the Brothers Weiss when they reissued the comedies he produced for them to television in the late forties, apparently convienently forgetting he was still in arrears to them for those defaulted loans.


Well that explains why the West Brothers suddenly stop producing the Weiss Brothers comedies, being replaced by the likes of W.T. Lackey and William Brown on series like Izzie and Lizzie and Winnie Winkle that they had produced in 1926-27.

Frank


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