College Humor

I haven't seen this movie, but I just read an (unconfirmed) story about it today:

The football game scenes of "College Humor" were filmed in Riddick Stadium on the campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC! The stadium has since been torn down, and the only remaining remnant of the site is the old field house (re-purposed several times since the 1950s when games moved to a new stadium), which is now used as a construction office. The building is due to be torn down and replaced by a parking garage in 2009.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/blogpost/1802170/

Not sure if anyone can confirm this or not.

According to the story, the field house was so small that there was not enough room for the whole team to sit down for meetings!

"College Humor" took place on the college campus of Midwest University where Professor Danvers (Bing Crosby) spent more time crooning than teaching. I know that the movie was just a platform to showcase Bing Crosby's singing and George Burns and Gracie Allen's comedy.

Barney Shirrel (Jack Oakie) was a new student and a new pledge to Delta Alpha fraternity. If you didn't like fraternities to start, "College Humor" won't help any. Barney's senior frat bros were Mondrake (Richard Arlen) and Tex Roust (Joe Sawyer). They were unnecessarily cruel, but I suppose it was all an expected part of frat culture.

This movie, along with not being funny, was in poor taste. One of the coeds, Barbara Shirrell (Mary Carlisle), Barney's sister, openly kissed Mr. Danvers (Bing Crosby) on the mouth in class. The appropriate response would have been to chastise her right away, but Professor Danvers clearly enjoyed it and made himself the third leg of a love triangle.

It was hard to tell if it was a triangle or not. In a normal triangle there is one person who is the object of the love of two others. In this case, Barbara loved Danvers, but it wasn't clear that he loved her. Mondrake loved Barbara, but she didn't quite love him. It was a mess.

Barbara didn't help matters any. She openly flirted with Danvers while being arm and arm with Mondrake. It was a whorish scene that took moxy and shamelessness.

Besides the Barbara mess, the fraternity hazing was a bit too serious. They did hazing in "Animal House," but they made it funny and it wasn't too violent. In "College Humor" the hazing was more serious and definitely too violent.

"College Humor" made college look like a detestable place to be. Frat boys were abusing pledges, pretty girls were romantically involved with their teachers, all the school pride was based on the football team, and jocks were expected to be treated special. "College Humor" was not a good showcase of what a healthy college looks like.

Free on YouTube.

During the 1930s, films about college were very, very popular...even though most folks at the time could never dream of affording to go to college. And, most of these films are fluff...with little in the way of plot. This is DEFINITELY true with "College Humor"...a film that is so slight and plotless...even compared to films like "Horse Feathers"!

Instead of plot, this film seems to be made up of snippets. So, while I could try to explain the plot, I won't other than to say it's mostly about football. Additionally, one of the professors (Bing Crosby) spends a lot of time crooning and occasionally putting the moves on one of the co-eds. And, Burns & Allen are there...well...for no reason whatsoever.

Because there is almost no plot and a few of the characters complete jerks (Richard Arlen and Joe Sawyer's are both good examples), it's a film I am loathe to recommend. It's not awful...it just seems more slight, more silly and more of a time-passer than usual for this ever so slight genre.

By the way, like so many of these college films, most of the students are well into their 30s!

The film is called College Humor, but there are very few truly humorous incidents. Some of the situations are downright poignant, especially those involving the two older football stars. The Burns and Allen appearance, predictably, is probably the lightest moment in what resembles melodrama with music. The frequent repetition of two songs suggests that many components of the film were just thrown together. All this being said, I have come back to the film four or five times and am engaged by it. The Old Ox Road sequence is terrific. (Crosby once commented that it was his personal favorite among his recordings.) Perhaps what draws one in is the attractiveness of the performers. In a "college musical" can one expect much more?

If you can believe Jack Oakie, Richard Arlen and Joe Sawyer (billed as Joseph Sauer) as college kids then what a vivid imagination you have!!!! Joe Sawyer looked in training for his tough guy roles and Arlen looked as though he'd be more at home on skid row than a college campus. At least Jack Oakie was still in his "trim" period but all of them looked older than they actually were (I thought). I know Jack Oakie was in a couple of college films - "Touchdown" and "Sweetie" where he played a vaudeville hoofer who followed Nancy Carroll to college - but I don't know whether he actually played many "college kids". Eddie Nugent, surprisingly, had a "blink and you'll miss him" part as Whistler.

At least the girls were pretty and youthful, including a very cute Mary Kornman who played Amber. She had been leading lady in the original series of "Our Gang" and then the spin-off series from the early 30s "The Boyfriends". She had also co-starred with Bing Crosby in a couple of his shorts.

Bing Crosby (looking young and beautiful) plays the drama and music professor, Fred Danvers. The film doesn't really hold up that well and could have done with more of Bing and his singing. "Down the Old Ox Road" could have been done more like "Flirtation Walk". It is such a catchy song when Bing sings it but before that Richard Arlen has a go - and he can't sing!!!. Then Jack Oakie and Mary Kornman walk and sing - it is very disjointed. "Learn to Croon" again is a very catchy song that Bing sings to his students - "if you're looking for a sunny honeymoon, learn to croon!!". He also sings a few bars of some of his big hits - "Please", "Just an Echo in the Valley", "I Surrender Dear"

• as if audiences needed reminding that he was Bing Crosby!!! He also sang it again at a party. "Moonstruck" was a love song sung to Mary Carlisle, with Bing at the piano.

This was Mary's first film with Bing and she was beautiful and compli- mented him very well. She plays Barbara Shirrel, Barney's (Jack Oakie) sister, who is supposed to be Mondrake's (Richard Arlen) girl but has secretly fallen for Mr. Danvers. Arlen's character is not appealing - he is grumpy, a heavy drinker and just does not look like a college type. Another reviewer questioned Joe Sawyer's character leaving college - then turning up a year later with a wife and 2 kids!!!! - I think it was just the shoddy story line. In the scene where Mondrake goes with Barney to meet his date Barbara, Ginger comes down the stairs and they go out!!

Lona Andre was given a picture credit but she was completely under-used

• she had about 2 lines in the film. Likewise George Burns and Gracie Allen only had a scene - they looked like they were included as an after thought!!!!

6 out of 10.