The Gay Nighties

Bobby Clark and Paul McCullough made up one of the crazy comedy teams of the 1930s, at least until McCullough died in 1936 and Clark went on to a long career on Broadway. To the modern eye, their Pre-Code shorts border on burlesque and this one, set in a hotel during a political convention during which they frame rival candidate James Finlayson is no exception. Clark mostly stands aside, making wise cracks and McCullough is his put-upon stooge.

There is one lovely little sequence in which seemingly dozens of strangers wander through their hotel, including a couple of gun men and a woman looking for a bath -- "We've only been here a few weeks" explains Clark. It's funny and should amuse you, but it's too chaotic for my taste.

I'm not quite sure why this Clark And McCullough short subject was entitled The Gay Nineties. This certainly did not take place in the 1890s although some people seem to be having one gay old time.

Bobby and Paul are a pair of political operatives, the sharper one of course being Clark. They get called in by candidate John Sheehan who has had a long running feud with rival James Finlayson who has stolen a nomination he desperately wants. What to do, but set him up and Clark and McCullough are the guys to do it.

In about half this film McCullough is running around in women's evening apparel smoking a cigar and that in itself is funny. The two do manage to set Finlayson up and his reactions are almost as funny as Clark's witty remarks.

Witty and risqué, not as sharp as some of their shorts, but good enough for Clark and McCullough fans.

Bobby Clark and Paul McCullough were a popular vaudeville team in the 1920s. They also made a string of shorts for RKO but their team came to an abrupt end when McCullough killed himself--in a particularly bloody and violent manner. Clark didn't make any films after this and the team pretty much disappeared from the history of Hollywood. In fact, it's very difficult to find any of their films--and after seeing "The Gay Nighties" I might have some idea why--it just wasn't a very good film. Perhaps their others were better...but their style seems pretty dated today.

The film begins with Clark (with his trademark painted on glasses) and McCullough working for a political campaign. However, this seems to be only a very broad idea for a plot--as mostly it consisted of the pair cavorting about and acting....well...stupid---sort of like a poor man's Wheeler & Woolsey. None of it's all that funny, though some is a bit risqué--with Clark trying, in vain, to get a sexy sleepwalker in a nightie to hop into bed with him. Frankly, had McCullough not killed himself in 1936, the implementation of the strengthened Production Code would have either killed their film career sooner or later or changed it drastically, as sexual innuendo and the like were forbidden as of mid-1934. Overall, a strange little film but one only die-hard film comedy buffs would care to watch.

By the way, since watching this short I've seen a few other Clark & McCullough shorts and they were a bit better.