A Peach of a Pair

Daphne Pollard was the sister of silent comic Snub Pollard and she was herself a silent film comedienne. I was very surprised to discover that she also made sound comedies for the Vitaphone division of Warner Brothers and showed very little of her native Australian accent. Unfortunately, only one of the films I've seen so far was any good ("His First Flame") and the other ("Smoked Hams") was god-awful! Unfortunately, "A Peach of a Pair" isn't very good either.

When the film begins, a couple ridiculously stereotypical rich snobs are having problems because they no longer have a butler or cook. At about the same time, a terrible stage team, "Cook and Butler" (Pollard and Shemp Howard) just got fired. When they learn that an employment agency wants a cook and butler, a merry mix-up occurs and the two are accidentally hired. When they learn what they are expected to do with the job, however, they try their best...and that isn't saying much.

In many ways this plays like a bad Three Stooges short. You think to yourself "no one can be THIS stupid when it comes to cooking"....and that is the reason this short stinks. Shemp putting his cuffs and watch inside the turkey and cooking it...in fact that whole routine...is just stupid...as is giving everyone alum instead of sugar and turning the dessert into a bomb by using gasoline instead of brandy. A totally unfunny mess of a film and it is hard to imagine Warner Brothers not being able to hire a few competent gag writers. Unfunny and inept.

Shemp and Daphne play two actors, Cook and Butler, who happened to get canned at the same time a wealthy socialite and her husband need a new cook and butler for a party. You can guess what happens from here. The short is great, with the female playing the violent leader role, although she takes her share of bumps, too. Shemp is great, as always, especially when stuffing a turkey and trying to wear a tuxedo shirt that won't stop rolling up. It's interesting that all of the gags that Shemp uses while stuffing the turkey predate the Stooges' (Moe, Larry, Curly) use of the same gags.

The film is a bit hard to find, as most of Shemp's solo stuff is, but if you can track it down it's worth a buy. Seeing a young Shemp do the boxer shuffle (which he calls "the IL' razzmatazz"), get slapped around by his female companion who is half his size, and getting drunk while trying to figure out which barrel contains brandy would be worth any price!