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Our Gang's GOOD CHEER (1926) is now playing on You Tube. I had seen it years before in truncated form. I have never seen Chase's THERE AIN'T NO SANTA CLAUS (1926). Is this hidden in some archive? I stumbled upon this title recently, Carter De Haven's CHRISTMAS (1923), but haven't stumbled upon anyone who has actually seen it.

Gary J.

Gary Johnson wrote:Our Gang's GOOD CHEER (1926) is now playing on You Tube. I had seen it years before in truncated form. I have never seen Chase's THERE AIN'T NO SANTA CLAUS (1926). Is this hidden in some archive? I stumbled upon this title recently, Carter De Haven's CHRISTMAS (1923), but haven't stumbled upon anyone who has actually seen it.

Gary J.

Well, THERE AINT NO SANTA CLAUS exists in the Roberts Archive, and I think we ran it last at Slapsticon 2003. The only way to see CHRISTMAS with Mr and Mrs Carter DeHaven is to find a copy of Robert Youngson's THIRTY YEARS OF FUN in which he excerpted and surrepticiously preserved it.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

There is an xmas themed episode of the "twisted Tales" series that was released on 16mm but I cannot remember the title.

Gary Johnson wrote: I have never seen Chase's THERE AIN'T NO SANTA CLAUS (1926). Is this hidden in some archive?
Gary J.

Gary,

One reason There Ain't No Santa Claus is on the scarce side is because, unlike so many other Roach-Pathe releases, it is still copyrighted. It is one of the earliest Roach films to have been renewed (not counting Lloyd's films) and one of only four 1926 Roach-Pathe films still copyrighted.

Joe Moore

Thanks fellas,
I should had guessed the Roberts Archive....

I had read in AMS about a clip of CHRISTMAS appearing in the Youngson's comp. Is this another example of his preserving
just the portion that he wanted and the rest of the short melted away or could it be intact somewhere else....like Helsinki?

Gary J.

Hello, Gary, and all----Another Christmas-themed silent comedy that makes the rounds is SNOOKUM'S MERRY CHRISTMAS, a 1926 entry in Universal's NEWLYWEDS AND THEIR BABY SERIES. Among the presents given are a toy ironing board for a Chinese kid, and a stuffed chicken for a blak kid! ---HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Cole Johnson.

Cole, Thanks for the info on this Newlyweds Christmas film. Silent comedies, ya gotta love 'em. Where else can we get such un-PC bits as this in a Christmas film!

Gary, I feel I should give you proper warning before you go hunting down this Newlyweds film. Sunny McKeen, who plays Baby Snookums in the series, is so creepy looking he can give you nightmares! So this film (and any others in the series) may be more appropriate for Halloween than Christmas.

Best for the New Year

Joe Moore

Aww Joe, Sunny is an adorable child. Who else has a corkscrew hairdo?

Didn't Sennett's the SMITH FAMILY have a Christmas short? I seem to recall Mary Ann
cavorting around a tree being trimmed at one point.
I can't believe Sennett didn't mine the season more often outside of Langdon's HIS NEW MAMA?

Gary J.

I’ve always thought that Sunny McKeen’s one long hair sticking straight out of his bald head made him look like a living tampon.

The short that Cole refers to is an unidentified in the collection at MoMA, and was one of the inspirations for Ron Magliozzi, Ben Model and myself to do our “Cruel and Unusual Comedy” series there. In fact it was one of the shorts we showed to the bigwigs of the film department when we proposed the show. Anyway, for the sake of keeping the silent comedy waters as unmuddied as possible, I wanted to mention that the film is actually THE NEWLYWEDS’ CHRISTMAS PARTY (12/5/1927). Here’s a review/synopsis from the 11/5/1927 Moving Picture World (pg. 17):

“THE NEWLYWEDS’ CHRISTMAS PARTY (Universal – Two Reels)
This Universal Junior Jewel, produced by Stern Brothers and directed by Gus Meins, should delight all children around Christmas-time. In it Snookums again charms as the mischievous child who gets into the goldfish aquarium to do a little fishing, follows the family to the toy shop and impersonates a Jack-in-the-box, starts a riot in the crowded trolley car on the way home and invites a score of poor children to enjoy his Christmas tree with him. Then Santa Claus comes down the chimney with a full pack, and ironing boards are distributed to little Orientals and chickens to little darkies. This subject has snap and sparkle and can be highly recommended for children.”

Santa also gives a big ham to a Jewish kid and bricks to an Irish one. This short is a lot of fun to see with an audience as they gasp and can’t believe what they’re seeing. As the reviewer said “highly recommended for children.”

Just happened to remember another silent comedy with a holiday theme. It's the 1914 Vitagraph one-reeler SWEENEY'S CHRISTMAS BIRD. Hughie Mack, Flora Finch, Kate Price, and William Shea star, and it's a hilarious story about the mix-up of a dead parrott and a family's Xmas dinner turkey.