I'm crabby today. Really crabby and nothing seems to be helping with my attitude. :-( I'm just not sleeping and have a whole bunch of crap going on in my head. Again, first world problems.
For months I've been meaning to have a good old slapstick day. Since I'm crabby and have NO ATTENTION span again today....slapstick it is. Maybe it'll cheer me up. Prolly not though.
I have to be in the mood for slapstick, because let's face it, it's ridiculous. It's supposed to be. If I'm in a pissy mood or impatient, I can be too critical of it and just think it's stupid. Oooooo there's that pissy mood. However, one of the things I really like about slapstick is that it requires no concentration. Even if you lose track of the story line, which I'm guilty of all of the time even with talkies, you can still get a lot out of the film just based on the gags. The story lines are secondary. Oh yeah, and the films are short. Really short. Anyway today could go either way, so let's see!
I choose Snub Pollard today. I didn't know much about him other than the fact that he was Australian. I have a TON of his shorts. I bought all these silent "marathon" and " comedy collection" DVDs and he's all over them. So I've got a lot to choose from. Light, easy, cartoon comedy. Charley Chase and James Parrott are all over these too. Their presence kept distracting me. I've got to have a Charley Chase day.
The shorts don't have a lot of stunts. Not a lot of creative effects. Simple. Funny. I have to say nothing really unique. But I really liked Snub. There was something about him. I wanted to watch him and I wanted his character to succeed. I think that's where his skill lies. He was really likable.
I did so love his mustache too. Every comedian seemed to have something that identified them and for Snub it was his 'stache. In fact, later in his career, he ditched it to set himself apart from...himself? I guess that's the best way to say it.
A lot of the films were very Laurel and Hardy. Once I started reading up on him, I found out that they were supposed to be. He worked with Marvin Loback as a knock off Laurel and Hardy team. They directly copied them. I don't know how I feel about that... And Marvin's nickname was "Fat". I don't know how I feel about that either. He died quite young, only 41 but I couldn't find a cause of death. He and Snub actually had some pretty good chemistry. I just wish the copycat stuff wasn't there. It was irritating and distracting. I kept going, "Where have I seen this?" It was that close to Laurel and Hardy. In some scenes it looks like they were even in the same location!
The one that was really awesome was called "It's A Gift". You can find it on You Tube. Snub plays an inventor, and his inventions are just so clever. "An invention for every occasion." This short also features a magnet driven car. I'm sure we've all seen them in cartoons growing up. The character gets in a vehicle and hold up a huge magnet and gets pulled around that way. I'm sure this is the first appearance. Copied many times since! If you're going to see one Snub Pollard short, choose this one!
Snub had some pretty cool roles later in his career. He was in Miracle of 43th Street, AND the one I think is the coolest is Singing In The Rain. He was the guy that Gene Kelly gives his umbrella to at the end of the song after the cop stops him from dancing(stupid cop). Of course I had to go and watch it. You can't tell that it's Snub. Can't even see his face. I still think it's a fabulous cred! ;-)
Great Sunday! And yes, I'm not so crabby anymore! Thanks Snub!
Love,
Olive
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