So You Want to Be in Pictures

Fully deserving its prestigious Hollywood award nomination, this is an entertaining little gem with lots of pizazz and some delightful surprises. Outstandingly funny scenes include an hilarious shoot (and re-shoot) of a WW1 trench scene with Australian comedian Clyde Cook as an optimistic non-com and the hapless McDoakes as a Boyer/Colman messenger — all under the beady eye of Ralph Sanford's delightfully irascible Anguish; a lost McDoakes guided and re-guided by equally perplexed Jack Carson; assistant director Chandler rejoicing in a McDoakes-sent opportunity: "I'm going to be a director!"

Ace comic O'Hanlon has a dual role, playing both McDoakes and himself playing McDoakes! Oddly, Richard L. Bare who does play himself in one or more other entries in the series, has turned down that opportunity here. In real life, Bare's a youngish, six-foot Rock Hudson lookalike, but here he's impersonated by veteran actor (over 500 movies!), Jack Mower.

Of the McDoakes shorts I have seen thus far, I thought this one especially good. This time around Joe is an aspiring actor who practices being an actor by listening to records of Ronald Colman and Charles Boyer impersonations ("If I were king," and "Hedy, Hedy come with me to the Casbah"). Joe gets a call from the studio telling him he has a small part (one line) in a World War I drama. Arriving at the studio he first asks Jack Carter for directions and then asks the actor who plays McDoakes, George O'Hanlon. A number of young Warner's contract players are introduced and they wave at the camera. After meeting the director (named Anguish) Joe delivers his one line - first in a crummy Boyer accent and then in a crummy Coleman accent. The director storms out and the assistant director takes over and after 88 takes he shows Anguish the final takes. How the assistant director handles Joe and his one line was hilarious - worth watching the whole short just for that. The final scene was also good. This McDoakes entertains from beginning to end.

"So You Want to Be in Pictures" is one of the very best Joe McDoakes shorts...perhaps the best. It begins with Joe working hard to be an actor via a recorded correspondence course. It teaches him the important lessons of trying to sound like Charles Boyer or Ronald Colman--something all good actors need to do! While working on this lesson, he gets a phone call....it's the studio and he's got a part in a picture!

The next day, Joe appears at the studio...and the laughs started in earnest. You see a variety of Warner Brothers actors playing themselves, such as Jack Carson, Ronald Reagan and Alexis Smith. But my favorite is when George O'Hanlon (the guy who plays McDoakes) sees Joe and comments about him! In other words, you see O'Hanlon playing Joe AND at the same time another O'Hanlon playing himself! You also later see the same thing when the pair are working on a Joe McDoakes short together! This is a silly and fun film...with much to recommend it.

***Nominated for an Academy Award, Best Short film, 1947. Should have won.

This is hysterical and a precious time capsule, featuring many Warner Brothers movie stars. Total running time, 11 glorious minutes!

Producer and director Richard L. Bare definitely hit his stride with the Joe McDoakes series by this time. He began the project as an experiment in documentary film-making while teaching at USC, Warner Brothers loved his comedy material and the series ran for ten years.

Joe (played by George O'Hanlon) is your typical everyday guy, a jack of all trades and a master of none. Period.

Today's Plan: Crash Hollywood? Joe takes a correspondence course, listening to recordings of how to SOUND like an actor, like the very French Charles Boyer. He manages to get a break, landing a small part in a WWI adventure, filmed at Warner Brothers -- where the series was produced.

Interesting to see a real studio at work, though Joe messes it all up, auditioning take after take for flabbertgasted director Anthony Anguish (as opposed to Anthony Adverse?), played by Ralph Sanford.

Bottom line, the whole acting thing is a disaster, and laugh out loud funny thanks to George O'Hanlon. In a genuine gag appearance, O'Hanlon even gets to meet himself!

Guest stars playing themselves are Frederic March, Ronald Reagan, Joan Leslie, Wayne Morris, Robert Hutton, Alexis Smith and Janis Paige, who passed in 2025. Comedian Jack Carson has a funny bit giving directions. Silent film stars Clyde Cook has a bit part as does Franklyn Farnum at Hollywood's Brown Derby restaurant.

A gem from start to finish, and it goes by FAST. Remastered on Warner Brothers dvd box set, featuring all the prize episodes. Thanks to TCM for running these oldies all over again.

This is my fourth Joe McDoakes short that I've seen and so far the funniest one. In this one, Joe takes voice lessons from a record impersonating Charles Boyer and Ronald Colman. When he goes to Warner Bros. Studio (the company behind this series, incidentally), he asks Jack Carson for directions which gets both confused. Then he encounters actor George O'Hanlon (who's also McDoakes) who speaks in his more normal voice that's not too far from his later Geroge Jetson and gets to the set where he automatically upsets the director. I'll stop there and just say how funny I found the whole thing and was fascinated by the movie star cameos provided near the end. The final scene was especially a hoot so on that note, go to YouTube if you want to watch So You Want to Be in Picutres!