The Bailiffs

This was the first screen appearance of Flanagan and Allen on the screen.This was one of two shorts that they made for Gaumont British.This was obviously made at the time they were appearing at the London Palladium,hence the acknowledgment at the beginning.The writer is Fred Karno,whose shows help her launch the careers of Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel.It gives us a good idea of the type of act they were doing at the time.They made a number of records of their act and many of the jokes are the same.Much of the humour comes from puns and ballrooms.Now this may no longer be particularly funny but it is of great interest if you are interested in music hall and the work of the duo.

Never did see what was funny with the Crazy Gang and these two confirmed why. Consisted mostly of Flanagan using the wrong word (not even decent puns) to describe something. It wasn't funny the first time he did it and after the tenth (?) or whatever it was, it became annoying. They may have been half decent harmony singers (Flanagan's Dad's Army song was good that he recorded just before he died) but as for being funny? No.

No wonder music hall died.