The plot against Harry

The following passage kicks off the chapter on comic legend Harry Langdon in Smileage Guaranteed: Past Humor, Present Laughter, the invaluable reference tome written by film historian/friend of the blog Richard M. Roberts: All right...that’s it—hey, you!  Yes, you—come here!  It’s time for a heart-to-heart, mano a mano.  Now I know there’s a lot of…

“And they used Bon Ami!”

Before my family and I relocated from Teays Valley to Ravenswood, West Virginia in the fall of 1972, I spent my formative years attending St. Francis of Assisi in St. Albans.  It was a Catholic school, and I’ve always had mixed feelings about it because while I remember with great fondness the wonderful friends I made…

Book Review: Rediscovering Roscoe – The Films of “Fatty” Arbuckle

In his reference book The Great Movie Comedians, film historian Leonard Maltin writes of Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle: “It seems tragic that Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle should be remembered today for a scandal in his private life and barely recognized for his contribution to screen comedy.  To be sure, Arbuckle was never one of the comic giants,…

“Never a help—always a hindrance!”

Facebook veterans know that there’s a group on there for every person, place or thing currently in existence (and if it hasn’t been created yet...give it a few seconds) and as a member in good standing since 2009 (my dues are paid up), I know there are some really outstanding Facebook aggregations dedicated to a…

“Ah…the vastness of it all…”

One of my Facebook chums and I were having a chinwag about the latest DVD release from our friends at Kit Parker Films/The Sprocket Vault: Charley Chase at Hal Roach: The Talkies Volume Two 1932-33.  This two-disc collection, which “hit the streets” in mid-July this year (July 16), makes available the 15 two-reel comedies that funnyman…

Coming (Ma)clean

No sooner has silent film accompanist Ben Model (the hardest working man in the ebony-and-ivory business) recovered from the huzzahs and favorable plaudits for his Undercrank Productions DVD release The Alice Howell Collection than he’s back in the Kickstarter business, with a campaign that got underway yesterday.  As a lifelong fan of silent film comedy,…

Adventures in Roku II: Texas Blood Money

The recent acquisition of the Roku in the House of Yesteryear has been both a source of welcome entertainment (for your humble narrator) and amusement (also for your humble narrator, because his mother is now calling it the “Yoko”).  I mentioned in this last post that I am fast becoming a fan of some of…

Go Ask Alice

It wasn’t quite a year ago today (and admittedly, I’m a little late with this review) but in April of last year silent film historian/accompanist Ben Model—the hardest working man in the 88 keys business—launched a Kickstarter campaign to produce a DVD showcasing the work of silent movie mirthmaker Alice Howell.  Howell, described on the back of the…

Adventures in Blu-ray: Stand-In (1937)

The agenda at a board meeting of prominent New York bank Pettypacker & Sons centers around the sale of Colossal Pictures—a Hollywood independent studio that financier Ivor Nassau (C. Henry Gordon) seeks to acquire for far below its $10,000,000 price tag.  Nassau has made president Fowler Pettypacker (Tully Marshall) an offer of five million, and the senior Pettypacker is seriously considering…

Adventures in Blu-ray: Along Came Jones (1945)

The town of Paynesville isn’t a particularly welcoming one to cowpokes Melody Jones (Gary Cooper) and George Fury (William Demarest) as they ride in one day...but there’s an explanation for this.  Native Paynesvillian (definitely not a favorite son) Monte Jarrad (Dan Duryea) has a $1,000 price on his head after a stage robbery nets him…