Ay Tank Ay Go

El Brendel was a Swedish dialect comic who was fairly popular during his lifetime but who is mostly forgotten today. Unlike some other forgotten comedians who produced shorts for Columbia in the 1930s and '40s (Charley Chase, Harry Langdon, and Andy Clyde come to mind), it's far easier for me to see (based on the evidence of this short subject, anyway) why he's forgotten than why he was popular in the first place. His indifferent dialect is the only tool he relies on for laughs, and it doesn't work. Apart from that, his delivery is wooden and doesn't seem bothered to milk a single situation for comic potential.

The short itself seems to want to rely pretty heavily on the joke of "country people are stupid, dirty, and feud a lot." Quite apart from the fact that that's potentially a little insulting to country people, there's only so far the joke goes. Any other gags are pretty routine and humdrum. The "action" sequence at the end, with El's character and his sweetheart running around inside a cow costume, is so awkwardly filmed, with laughably bad cutaway shots and back projection, that it's ridiculous.

It's probably supposed to be funny that there's a "Swede" out in the country and involved in the feud, but it just comes off as something that makes no sense. This was Brendel's first Columbia short. He would go on to keep making them well into the forties. Maybe he's better in other settings, but judging from "Ay Tank Ay Go" I can't understand why a second was commissioned. The other Columbia shorts I have seen from the same era have all been funnier, more competent, and more creative.

A feud between the Carsons and Beagles sets us up for this "We wanted a Romeo & Juliet story, but failed miserably" romance. Ole is member of the Carsons who loves Mary Lou Beagle, but the families feudin' will give a whole new interpretation to a shotgun wedding. The Carson clan has their own girl for Ole to marry, but she has a face that can stop a clock. Ole & Mary Lou sneak off to elope but they're caught which starts a feud and the only way for the lovebirds to escape is to disguise themselves in a cow outfit, which doesn't sit too well with a bull. No surprise that Columbia decided to do only one more short w/ Brendel (The Super Snooper) before parting ways for four years. Many of the gags lose their hilarity before the take ends and there is none of the imagination seen here available in Columbia's other shorts of the same era. Only real funny gags may be Ole combing his cowlick and the baby's participation in the feud. Watch only if you must. Rating, 2.

El Brendel was an actor whose shtick was to sound like a Swede. He was, in fact, born in Philadelphia and was not even one bit Scandinavian. His career took him to some full-length films...where he was a character actor. Only recently did I learn that he also made quite a few short comedies for Columbia and they have been, for the most part, amazingly unfunny viewing. But I am at heart a film masochist and am willing to try a few more before giving up completely...which might happen soon!

In "Ay Tank Ay Go" he plays another Swede, named Oley (NOT Ollie like it says on IMDB). Why Olie is out in hillbilly country, I have no idea....but he is. There, even more inexplicably, two women have fallen for him! Why even one would fall for the pipsqueak, I have no idea! Regardless, he's in love with Mary Lou but her father hates him. And, the other woman loves him but he only wants Mary Lou! Will it all work out...and do I even care?

Well, Brendel has kept his record consistent....barely a laugh to this one.