The Golden Age of Comedy

BY THE TIME that this first celluloid primer on the screen clowns of the Silent Screen hit the movie houses, the movies had been talking for about thirty years. It was 1957 and the USA was enjoying probably the most prosperous of times ever. We all had the marvels of Televisioon, right in our own living rooms.

SO WHY, YOU may ask, just why were we invited to our local neighborhood movie shows to view a 79 minute compilation of what was now considered obsolete, old hat, passé? All of us kids were familiar with "Old Time Movies" from their being screened on the various TV stations around the country. Names such as: Snub Pollard, Harry Langdon, Bobby Vernon and even the Mickey McGuire Series (starring a young Joe Yule, Jr.*) were all known to us.

BEING AN OBVIOUSLY Silent Film buff, Producer/Writer/Director Robert Youngson, set out to pay proper tribute and respect to both the Art Form and to those Men & Women who made it what it was. THE GOLDEN AGE OF COMEDY was his first installment.

THE CRAZY QUILT of a movie is made up of a multitude of clips taken from shorts featuring a array of actors' finest work. Getting high billing were names like: Will Rogers, Carole Lombard, Jean Harlow, Ben Turpin, Harry Langdon, Charley Chase, Billy Bevan and Andy Clyde. Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy were given a Lion's share of the screen time; Mr. Youngson obviously being a buff.

WE REMEMBER SEEING the "coming attractions" at a Saturday Matinée, and the kids all enthusiastically cheered for Laurel & Hardy when they were mentioned. Once again, they were familiarized to us through the miracle of the Television Tube.

WE DID PAY our two bits to see it and very much enjoyed the samplings of clips from so many movies with so many unknown names. The narration was very informative, the music was both appropriate and acted as a very fine instrument for amplifying the visuals before us.

UPON FURTHER CONSIDERATION, all these decades later, we now have noticed something about THE GOLDEN AGE OF COMEDY that very well may not be readily observed before. Although what we saw was great in its own right, where were the big stars? THERE IS OBVIOUSLY omissions of what has been called the "Big Three" of the Silent Screen Clowns; those being: Charlie Chaplin, Bjuster Keaton and Harold Lloyd.

ALTHOUGH THIS WAS most likely done deliberately, we believe that there was no malice involved.

FIRST OF ALL, availability of films would be the prime moving force here. If they ain't out there, no one can get them. The accessible films must also have a price tag on their licensing that is within budget.(That makes two reasons).

THIRD WE BELIEVE that time constraints would not allow the proper attention to be given to the major Stars. A compilation such as this is, after all, an anthology; as well as being a sort of overview or survey, if you will.

LASTLY, THIS MID to late fifties was only a few, short years removed from that era of hearings by the House Committee on Un-American Activities and the staunch Anti-Communist sentiments of the day. It was in 1952 that the now very prosperous Mr. Charles Chaplin refused to fill out a declaration for American Officials; opting to stay in Europe, rather than returning to the U.S.

MOST OF THESE shortcomings were remedied in the very next Youngson production, WHEN COMEDY WAS KING; which prominently displayed works by Keaton and Chaplin. Harold Lloyd was still absent, tough. Owning the rights to most of his major films, he opted for a compilation of his own, HAROLD LLOYD'S WLORLD OF COMEDY (1962).

From the age of the Pie Fight comes this marvellous compilation by Robert Youngson.Watching it you can judge how much sheer joie - de vivre has been lost with the so - called "sophistication "of movie comedy in the ensuing decades.And where are the geniuses to rival Mr Chaplin and Mr Keaton?Who,today,is as universally loved as Mr Laurel and Mr Hardy whose masterwork "Big Business" is featured here? Feel free to laugh uproariously....."For Ghosts may be listening." "The Golden Age of Comedy" used to be a staple of Christmas Day TV. Sitting there watching it with a mince pie and a glass of port must be the nearest thing to paradise this side of the Elysian Fields.

This film was a lot of fun to watch--with some wonderful clips of Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chase and others. What a lot of fun stuff! However, there is a BIG, BIG problem with the film. Nowhere in it do you see clips of Chaplin, Keaton or Lloyd--the three biggest film comedians of the 1920s. This is akin to a documentary about the 1960s without mentioning Vietnam or The Beatles! It's obvious that Robert Youngson just didn't have access to these other clips or he simply slapped them together without considering this. In his next film, WHEN COMEDY WAS KING, you DO get to see clips of Chaplin and Keaton--but, unbelievably, there is no Harold Lloyd! Well, if you JUST watch the film for its entertainment value, it's great. If you watch it for a historical overview, it is sadly incomplete and gives a false impression of the era.

In 1957 Robert Youngson directed The Golden Age of Comedy which is a documentary with clips from the silent movies with our favorite comedians.You can see Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy as jail birds who escape and they have to prove that they are painters.And in one clip Laurel and Hardy are having problems with cars and especially with the ones who are driving them.And who could forget the legendary pie throwing scene.The baby face Harry Langdon, offers lots of funny moments in the train.Billy Bevan and Mack Sennett's Cameo dog are hilarious.There are also clips from actors such as Will Rogers, Carole Lombard, Jean Harlow and the cross eyed Ben Turpin.For true silent comedy lovers it is impossible to get bored with The Golden Age of Comedy.Watch these golden clips from the silent era and have fun!

This well-meant but misleading compilation celebrates the glory days of silent film comedy, for the most part through mediocre excerpts from the Max Sennett and Hal Roach Studios, which even at their peak could never match the sophistication of a Chaplin, Lloyd, or Keaton two-reeler. The repertory of Sennett and Roach gags rarely extended beyond mild parody, primitive slapstick, and artificial trick effects, giving an entirely false but lasting impression of silent comedy as nothing but frantic pratfalls and pie fights. The exception here is Laurel and Hardy, whose deliberate methods of wreaking mayhem overturned the time honored formula of fast and furious chases. Happily, the film gives them extra attention, but the majority of footage is devoted to second-rate clowns like Billy Bevan and cross-eyed Ben Turpin. Even the great Harry Langdon is represented only in a clip from a minor Sennett short which gives little indication of his unique talents, and the enthusiastic voice-over narration underlines his lackluster antics with forced wit and too many puns.