The Beau Brummels

When one thinks of vaudeville, one thinks of...well, nothing at all. It's a dead art form of several generations before this and nearly forgotten all together. If you watched the Turner Classic Movies network between 9:45-10:45, you got a reminder. One of the better reminders (if not the best) came from Shaw and Lee. Dry as a desert, but one of the funniest short subjects I've ever seen. Great songs, side splitting dialogue, and all with a straight face. This one of things that made vaudeville great. If you like silly, but dry humor, this film is definitely worth a look and (shockingly) a listen! What will those Warner Brothers think of next?

I watched the hour-long Vitaphone Shorts on Turner Classic Movies last night which showed a cast of vaudevillian talent shot in 1928. It's sort of ironic that the emergence of "talkies" would help lead to the demise of Vaudeville as a form of entertainment. It was almost like the film maker has the foresight to get these type of acts on film before they completely disappeared. Vaudeville was still strong during the silent era I suppose because it was inexpensive, live, and - unlike silent films - you could hear the performers. Once talkies entered, people could at least get two out of three for their money. Of the several shorts shown on the program, "Shaw and Lee, the Beau Brummels" stood out the most. I'm not sure if it was their deadpan delivery, or their hilarious faces. It wasn't because of their jokes and one-liners, which are so awful they will make you groan. Then again, I found myself laughing at some parts of their performance. I realized that THIS is an example of what people went to see for comedy entertainment at the beginning of the last century. I have a feeling that the film short, while interesting, doesn't come close to conveying what it must have been like to seeing these guys live during a time before television and the entry of the cynical and too often profane humor we see today. Shaw and Lee were probably a lot funnier as a comedy duo on a stage in front of a packed house instead of in front of a camera, but I am still glad I watched this.

One is Shaw and one is Lee and I'm sure they knew which was which, but I don't and I don't care. These two vaudeville performers have that wonderful one-on-one timing that is very rare today, a timing born of talent and experience. Abbott and Costello had it in spades, Martin & Lewis had it in their live shows, although it doesn't show so clearly in their movies and the four Marx Brothers had it. After that the list grows short and the evidence is hard to find. Weber and Fields? Probably, but have you ever seen Weber and Fields or known someone who has? But Shaw & Lee have it, and you can see it in the way they do their close harmony, idiotic lyrics, the way they gape at each other when they flub a line and the way they end the show.

These early Vitaphone shorts are a mixed lot, but this is among the best. A definite 10.

An early Vitaphone film, this Warner Brothers short apparently was one created using a very complicated system through which an accompanying record was synchronized with a movie camera. There were several serious setbacks for such a system (such as if a film skipped--it became out of sync for the rest of the film plus the records quickly wore out--and 20 showings was the normal life-span of the records) and even though it produced excellent sound, it was eventually replaced. The last of the Vitaphone films were made in 1930, then the studio switched to the standard sound-on-film system.

Wow. This is a very unusual Vitaphone short. Instead of the usual big band music or song and dance teams, Shaw and Lee were the strangest musical routine of the Vitaphone series--or at least among the weirdest. For the most part, you need to see this to appreciate their unusual and humorous singing routines.

Shaw and Lee both dress similarly with derbies and suits and sing almost like automatons. What makes this funny is that their songs are just awful--with lyrics that catch you off guard--such as their song "Don't Forget to Breathe or You'll Die"! In addition, they tell bad jokes that are given with the same sort of delivery--almost always staring into the camera. I liked the one about the people who fell off the roof and weren't hurt. It's really funny and I give it major kudos for staying in character so well.

Of all the shorts included with the DVD set for "The Jazz Singer", this is my favorite! See this film--it's one you won't forget.

UPDATE: I just watched this one again...and STILL laughed at their terrible jokes!

The Beau Brummels (1928)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

When sound came into play nearly everyone working on the stage was thrown in front of the camera in hopes that they could at least do something. I've probably seen at least a hundred of these early talkies and this one here has to be one of the best and strangest. Al Shaw and Sam Lee perform a song, then a comedy routine and then a song and dance number. Now, if you're looking for a voice like Sinatra and dancing like Kelly then you're going to be disappointed. What makes this film so special isn't the "greatness" of the duo in a normal sense. What makes this film worth watching is how utterly bizarre it is from start to finish. Both men come out on the stage and what really caught my attention was their eyes because I wasn't sure if they really looked like that or if they were just pretended to be tired. As strange as their eyes are you could make a strong argument that this here was the first zombie movie ever made! The comedy routine featured some really bizarre jokes and the dead-faced pair really make them funny. Fans of the bizarre will certainly want to add this to their must-see list as you're not going to find anything else like it.