Kickin' the Crown Around

In the 1930s, Bobby Clark and Paul McCullough were a big comedy team on stage. Their humor was very lowbrow but the jokes came at lightning speed--such like Olsen and Johnson. However, despite their success, they weren't quite so successful in films. While they made about three dozen comedy shorts, their careers were cut short when McCullough had a nervous breakdown and subsequently killed himself! A fine end to a comedy duo! If you're looking for their films, a few of them are available for free download from archive.org and there's one on YouTube--but most seem to be missing or at least unavailable at this time.

"Kickin' The Crown Around" is set in the fictional monarchy of Jugo- Jaggon. In this bizarro kingdom, salami has been outlawed and there is a big underground smuggling movement. So, the king calls for his two new diplomats, Clark & McCullough, to find out who is behind all this illegal salami. The trail leads to Disputin (a goofy Raspitin- like bearded weirdo) and the Queen!

This one is non-stop goofiness--the sort of thing kids and Marx Brothers fans would probably like. While most of the jokes were pretty bad, there was a certain fun and likability to the zaniness and it left me wanting more. Well worth seeing as the team mock the stupidity of Prohibition.

In this small Ruritanian nation the 18,000 amendment to their constitution has outlawed salami. Any cold cut over a 4% garlic content is deemed to be bad for you. But there's a smuggling operation of illegal salami going on in his country and King Ferdinand Munier has hired Bobby Clark and Paul McCullough to be his Untouchables and seek out and destroy the import of illegal salami.

But that's hard to do with Queen Leni Stengel having a taste for the stuff. She and her shadowy counselor Disputin with appropriate long black beard played by Francis McDonald are the ones ultimately behind the great salami import racket thumbing their nose at the Prohibition of salami.

When this very funny short subject came out America was finally getting rid of the biggest insanity we ever attempted as a country as Prohibition was finally repealed. Kickin' The Crown Around is a wonderful satire on our own national embarrassment in trying to legislate morality.

And that final scene when the illegal salami is found. Bobby Clark's last line is priceless.