Guests Wanted

Back in the 20s and 30s, Benny Rubin was a stage comic whose appeal was very narrow. He played a VERY stereotypical Jewish role and his short films abound with Yiddish and VERY heavily accented English. One thing they did NOT abound with was humor. I've seen four of his films recently, and just cannot see why he was popular, as he just doesn't seem very funny. It isn't because Jewish humor can't be funny—his contemporary, Max Davidson, was Hilarious in his ethnic shorts.

As for "Guests Wanted", it's by far the best Rubin film I've seen—mostly because the plot is pretty funny and very silly. Unfortunately, he isn't very good here—and what's funny isn't Rubin but what all the extras do in the film. The film begins with Benny inheriting a hotel in California. However, it's not as great as he expects, as the place has no guests. So, as a publicity stunt, he announces that there is supposed to be a hidden treasure somewhere in the place. Naturally people begin flooding the hotel—where they then tearing the place apart! It's a simple and predictable gag—but a cute one to watch.

Old-time comedy short director Ralph Ceder -- usually remembered, if at all, for directing some of Stan Laurel's poorer shorts in the early 1920s -- does a fine job in this story of Benny Rubin inheriting a a hotel from his uncle, bringing his show business friends to help him run it, and trying to drum up business by claiming that there is a fortune buried some place -- with the expected results.

What is unexpected -- by me, anyway -- is that Ceder took advantage of his knowledge of his performers to showcase their abilities in unexpected way. As a result we have Bud Jamison singing and a goodly assortment of fine supporting comics, including Billy Franey as a miner trying for the treasure with dynamite. If you have a chance, take a look at it.