Saturday, November 11, 2006

Today's Bonus Video Link

From yesterday's Countdown With Keith Olbermann, a compilation of some of what late night comedians have been doing since the Tuesday elections...

• Posted at 6:08 PM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Ever hear of Hellzapoppin'? Probably. Know what it was? Maybe not. Ever seen it? Probably not. Hellzapoppin' was a Broadway show and touring revue starring the comedy team of Olsen and Johnson. It opened in New York in 1938 at the 46th Street Theater (now the Richard Rodgers) to critical appraisals that ranged from ecstasy to utter bewilderment. But a lot of people loved it and since the show kept changing, they kept coming back to see it over and over...in sufficient volume for it to run three years, then be displaced by another Olsen and Johnson revue and and then another and another. This article presents a nice overview of the career of these two men.

In 1941, Hellzapoppin' was made into a motion picture out at Universal Studios. Due to some sort of legal problem that I won't pretend I understand, the movie is no longer shown in this country, nor has it ever been legally available on home video. It is, however, pretty easy to come by in other lands. (I have a DVD that was made off an Australian VHS release.) The film is said to be loosely based on the stage production...and as you'll see, it involves so many gags about the medium of film that very little of it could have been from the original. But the film is also said to capture the manic attitude of the original. Either way though, the movie was not a hit. None of the many movies that starred Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson did all that well at the box office, though they probably hold up better today than many that did.

Our feature attraction today is the first ten minutes of this very odd movie...especially odd when you consider the year in which it was made and how non-surreal most movies were back then. So enjoy this much of it and, yes, that's Shemp Howard playing the projectionist...

• Posted at 12:18 AM · LINK