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Holiday Shorts

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 1:04 pm
by Joe Migliore
On Thanksgiving, I will be showing "Jus Passin' Through" and "The Courtship Of Miles Sandwich" to my guests, both of course, included on "Becoming Charley Chase". (This will doubtless be their first exposure to Thanksgiving comedy beyond "Planes, Trains, & Automobiles".) My question, and this is really the only place it could get answered, is this: Are there other silent comedies dealing with, or taking place at Thanksgiving? While I'm posting this query, I may as well extend that to include Christmas. (I'd like to extend my program beyond "Good Cheer" and "Big Business".) If any come to mind, I'd be grateful for the info.

Thank you, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Joe Migliore

Re: Holiday Shorts

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 1:51 pm
by Richard M Roberts
Joe Migliore wrote:On Thanksgiving, I will be showing "Jus Passin' Through" and "The Courtship Of Miles Sandwich" to my guests, both of course, included on "Becoming Charley Chase". (This will doubtless be their first exposure to Thanksgiving comedy beyond "Planes, Trains, & Automobiles".) My question, and this is really the only place it could get answered, is this: Are there other silent comedies dealing with, or taking place at Thanksgiving? While I'm posting this query, I may as well extend that to include Christmas. (I'd like to extend my program beyond "Good Cheer" and "Big Business".) If any come to mind, I'd be grateful for the info.

Thank you, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Joe Migliore


Thanksgiving comedies are indeed scarce (as are Thanksgiving tunes, apart from Gene Autry's "Guffy the Goofy Gobbler"), but two other Christmas shorts that always work are Charley Chase's THERE AIN'T NO SANTA CLAUS (1926) and the Edgar Kennedy RKO short POISONED IVORY (1936).

I guess you could use Max Davidson's PASS THE GRAVY(1928) for Thanksgiving, although it's a chicken, not a turkey, or the Keystone short A BIRDS A BIRD (1915) with Chester Conklin.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

Re: Holiday Shorts

Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 12:15 pm
by Joe Migliore
Richard M. Roberts wrote
I guess you could use Max Davidson's PASS THE GRAVY(1928) for Thanksgiving, although it's a chicken, not a turkey, or the Keystone short A BIRDS A BIRD (1915) with Chester Conklin.



Thank you, Richard. I just watched PASS THE GRAVY, and it works fine. (Once they're at the table, it's exactly like Thanksgiving dinner.) I also had an epiphany: I think I'll close with Jean Shepherd's THE STAR-CROSSED ROMANCE OF JOSEPHINE COSNOWSKI. (Though obviously not silent, I think it's relative obscurity warrants inclusion in the program...especially when the prequel, A CHRISTMAS STORY will soon be airing continuously.) I may bridge the hour silence to the hour of sound with Groucho buying Manhattan from the Indians in THE STORY OF MANKIND. (Again, not exactly Thanksgiving, but you work with what you've got.)

Thanks for the Christmas titles, too. It's impressive how many times Chase's name pops up when we're looking for reliably good comedies.

Joe Migliore

Re: Holiday Shorts

Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2013 11:54 am
by Joe Migliore
I guess we can add WON BY A FOWL (1917) to the list of Thanksgiving shorts.