Two
weeks ago in this space, I reviewed the Alpha Video release
Ultra-Rare Pre-Code
Comedies, Volume 2—and at the end of the post, I mentioned in
passing an additional Alpha release in
Blondes and Redheads:
Pre-Code Comedy Classics, Volume 2, which contains four comedy
two-reelers from a brief series churned out at RKO that starred June Brewster
(later replaced by Dorothy Granger) as the ginger, Carol Tevis as the peroxided
dame, and my main man Grady Sutton as their male sidekick (or boyfriend,
depending on the situation in each short).
The “Blondes and Redheads” comedies were initiated by future Academy
Award-winning director George Stevens, who had helmed a similar series at the
Hal Roach Studios entitled “The Boy Friends” (Sutton was a star in those
shorts, and Granger turns up in a few as well).
Alpha released
a set of Blondes and Redheads shorts back in March
of last year (
I
reviewed the set on the blog), and because it was so enjoyable I’m glad
they went to the well a second time with four additional two-reel
comedies.
(I only got the chance to sit
down with the entire DVD Tuesday night, though I did previously watch
Wig-Wag (1935), a very funny
outing.)
The premiere short in this
franchise,
Flirting in the Park
(1933), is on
Volume 2, and it’s singled out by Leonard Maltin in his
Selected Short Subjects book (a.k.a.
The Great Movie Shorts) for effusive
praise, noting that it’s not only a showcase for Sutton (the difference between
the
B&R series and
The Boy Friends is that
B&R focused more on the women than
the guys) but that it’s “reminiscent of the Roach comedies in more ways than
one, and with good reason:
it was
directed by Stevens, written by Stevens and Fred Guiol, co-photographed by Len
Powers, and it featured, in small roles, Charlie Hall and David Sharpe—all Hal
Roach alumni.”
(Former
Our Gang member Donald Haines also
appears in
Park as an office boy.)
|
Phil Dunham and the missus |
“The other Stevens shorts in the series do not quite come up
to the first one,” Maltin further observes, “but they are all extremely
enjoyable comedies, and full of wonderful touches.”
I thought
Flirting in the Park was
a fun little romp, but I’d only slightly deviate from his praise of the short’s
final slapstick sequence to opine that the strongest moments in
Park appear at the beginning.
Carol and June are employed at a department
store (Carol’s a salesclerk, June a switchboard operator) and there are some
amusing interactions between the store’s staff and customers with the common
theme of “The customer is always right!”
A man named Smith (Phil Dunham) approaches Carol’s service window,
accompanied by his angry wife, to complain that he purchased some socks at the
store…and when he arrived home and opened his package found women’s
lingerie.
(After telling Carol this, we
see that Smith has a dandy of a black eye…administered by Mrs. Smith, no
doubt.)
|
June Brewster and Carol Tevis |
Carol hands him another package marked Smith, and as the man
opens this he explains to the better half that it was all a simple mistake…only
to find more lingerie.
Mrs. Smith yanks
her husband out of camera range, and when he returns he’s got another shiner to
match the other one.
“You got your socks!”
exclaims a giggling Carol.
“You’re the dumbest girl I ever saw!” Smith seethes in rage.
And with that, the department store’s staff arises in unison to declare
“The customer is always right!”
Carol’s dizziness is mined for comic fodder in another
Volume 2 short,
Contented Calves (1934)—an
entry from
Wig-Wag director Sam
White.
She and June somehow manage to
become models for the “No Run Hosiery” firm, and in billboards and magazine ads
Carol is designated “The Dumb Bell.”
Angry, she asks boyfriend Grady—fresh out of law school—to sue the
pantyhose company for “information of character”; a clever comedy bit has Grady
slipping a summons to the company’s president (Charles Dow Clark) by placing it
in a stack of paper towels being replenished in the dispenser by the custodial
engineer (Sam McDaniel).
|
Tevis, Grady Sutton, Brewster |
The rep for a rival hosiery company (Syd Saylor) offers
Carol $5,000 to maintain a restraining order she’s had Grady put on the “No Run”
company just as she’s been asked by the “No Run” execs to visit with them to
mediate the matter.
There’s a bidding
war over the order (Saylor keeps holding up fingers to Carol outside an office
window), but Carol eventually tells the “No Run” executives she’s not
interested in money—all she wants is an apology!
(She’s not completely dumb—she manages to wangle
a job for beau Grady as well.)
Contented Calves (a little Carnation Milk
pun) is the weakest of the four shorts on
Volume 2, but there are still some very
amusing moments (and appearances from
TDOY
faves Jack Rice and Bud Jamison).
|
If I had played as many cops in these shorts as Buddy Jamison...I think I would lay in a supply of uniforms. |
My favorite
B&R
comedy on this DVD is
Bridal Bail
(1934), the second short in the brief series (also directed by Stevens).
June and Carol are sisters, and their mother
(Edgar Kennedy mother-in-law Dot Farley) is insisting that June tie the knot
with loutish policeman Gus Brown (Matt McHugh—Frank’s brother).
But June’s true love is Charlie (George J.
Lewis), and Charlie’s pal Grady has been inspired by a movie theatre’s
newspaper ad offering a C-note to any couple who’ll get married in the presence
of an audience.
(I’m guessing, what—they
didn’t have any dishes to give away that week?)
|
Grady & Carol |
Charlie and June’s nuptials are interrupted when they’re
picked up by the gendarmes for speeding (they thought the motorcycle cop they
were trying to outrun was Gus) with Charlie being held until they can come up
with fifty bucks for his bail.
(Carol
tries to sweettalk the desk sergeant [Frank O’Connor] into letting Charlie
go…and she winds up in the calaboose as well.)
So, Grady and June head off to the theatre to try and convince the
manager to let them have the $100 on account…but when they get there, they
learn that the theatre crowd is so irate at being cheated out of a wedding that
they’re dragooned into getting manacled to one another.
(They figure no biggie—they’ll head across
the border for a quickie divorce and that will be that.)
|
Mr. and Mrs. Grady Sutton |
Grady and June’s attempts to “untie the knot” get more and
more complicated when Charlie and Carol crash out…and Grady and June go to
hilarious lengths to keep their marriage a secret while waiting for the judge
(Sam Appel) to make the divorce official.
Bridal Bail is a fitfully
funny farce, with appearances from Roach alumni Charlie Hall and Arthur Housman
(the silver screen inebriate features in a running gag in which his attempts to
make martinis are constantly interrupted by the other cast members) and solid
direction by Stevens.
(Future director
Jean Yarborough co-wrote the script for this one…and if that movie usher looks
familiar, it’s because it’s future B-western star Don “Red” Barry.)
Fans of two-reel comedies will love this
second release of “Blondes and Redheads” comedies—I highly recommend it.
1 comment:
If "No Run Hosiery" had been a "pantyhose company," one would suspect its owners had access to an early version of Doc Brown's time machine. (Perhaps its car was not a DeLorean, but a (1934 Chrysler Airflow.) Pantyhose weren't invented for another quarter-century (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/50-years-of-pantyhose-33062523/), although IIRC that hosiery concept also was used for a time-travel gag in the Kathleen Turner comedy "Peggy Sue Got Married."
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