SilentComedyMafia.com

OK, so I don't show up for months and then when I do I am asking the following:

I am trying to think of a silent comedy with penguins in it...I feel like I remember one that has the comedian walking around and he is being followed by a penguin........ Are there penguins in Yukon Jake...I am at work so I can check when I get home but I thought someone might know off the top of their head.....Brent is their a penguin listing in the back index of your book : )

Those attending Cinefest in Syracuse, New York next week can enjoy a comedy starring real penguins. The Paramount "Topper" series short PARDON US PENGUINS (7-25-52) is playing on Sunday, March 28. It's part of a three-short tribute to writer-producer-director-editor Justin Herman.

Here's a description of the wacky penguin antics we can expect:
"A pair of penguins get loose from a circus lot, and investigate city streets, hop in and out of traffic, go for a swim in a private swimming pool, try for goldfish from an unguarded bowl, squabble over a fish, and are finally caught." (From "The Exhibitor", August 27, 1952, page 3357). And to think, they do it all in just one reel!

Dino Everett wrote:OK, so I don't show up for months and then when I do I am asking the following:

I am trying to think of a silent comedy with penguins in it...I feel like I remember one that has the comedian walking around and he is being followed by a penguin........ Are there penguins in Yukon Jake...I am at work so I can check when I get home but I thought someone might know off the top of their head.....Brent is their a penguin listing in the back index of your book : )

Dino, I didn't include any penguins in my index, only a few specific dogs, cats, lions, elephants and horses!

I don't remember penguins in YUKON JAKE. There was a Monty Banks comedy in nitrate at UCLA which partially involves arctic locations (there is a great mask shot where he walks from a milder clime into the arctic), but I don't remember the title offhand (though it may be in my notes somewhere)--perhaps Richard does. Anyway, I don't remember whether that might have penguins. I don't think Harry Langdon's SKY BOY has penguins. I'm trying to remember any other polar comedies.

When I think of comedians and penguins, my first thought is to Bob Hope in MY FAVORITE BLONDE with his vaudeville partner Percy the roller skating penguin. Also QUICK BEFORE IT MELTS, but neither of those are silent.

I think that Monty Banks is still unidentified, but man ....is that shot a cool one...I really love that one...

Hi guys
Is that the Monty Banks where he's been fighting with his neighbor Tiny Sanford and they end up camping at the same site - except where Tiny is camping on the left of the screen is warm and where Monty's tent is on the right is freezing? There's a bit where somebody throws a bucket of water and it freezes in midair as it passes the center of the frame. If it's that film MoMA has a print of it too and it's still unidentified there as well. I've looked for trade magazines items or reviews but haven't found anything with that plot.

Steve

Steve Massa wrote:Hi guys
Is that the Monty Banks where he's been fighting with his neighbor Tiny Sanford and they end up camping at the same site - except where Tiny is camping on the left of the screen is warm and where Monty's tent is on the right is freezing? There's a bit where somebody throws a bucket of water and it freezes in midair as it passes the center of the frame. If it's that film MoMA has a print of it too and it's still unidentified there as well. I've looked for trade magazines items or reviews but haven't found anything with that plot.

Steve

We had it narrowed down to one of the two Apollo-distributed comedies, COLD RECEPTION or A QUIET VACATION, but I don't think we ever figured out for sure which of those two it is.

RICHARD M ROBERTS