SMILEAGE GUARANTEED HAL ROACH BOOK ON SALE NOW!

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Richard M Roberts
Godfather
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Re: SMILEAGE GUARANTEED HAL ROACH BOOK ON SALE NOW!

Postby Richard M Roberts » Wed Jul 31, 2013 12:19 pm

Mike Paradise wrote:However, I doubt that she would have euphoric recall about about "Pappy Parrott" being a bookie rather than a banker. *Note to RMR: As you can see, I am upping the stakes by using a dead language in the discussion. Take that, Roberts.

Mike Paradise



I am so wounded. Well, this gives you the subject of your first book: PAPPY PARROTT, THE REAL STORY, scintillating groundbreaking reading I'm sure it will be.


RICHARD M ROBERTS ("she just did the definitive cinematic study of Gummo Marx")

Jim Roots
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Re: SMILEAGE GUARANTEED HAL ROACH BOOK ON SALE NOW!

Postby Jim Roots » Fri Aug 02, 2013 8:47 am

Mike Paradise wrote:However, I doubt that she would have euphoric recall about about "Pappy Parrott" being a bookie rather than a banker.


You're wrong about that. Having a bookie for your ancestor is far more titillating and exciting than having a banker for your ancestor. As long as both of them are dead and didn't leave you any money, at least, so you don't have to deal with them in life anymore and your opinion is not influenced by lucre (filthy or clean).

Put it this way: which ancestor would you be more apt to brag about, Al Capone or Elliot Ness?

Jim
(grandson of a banker)
When you're surrounded by vultures, playing dead is not a good strategy.

Gary Johnson
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Re: SMILEAGE GUARANTEED HAL ROACH BOOK ON SALE NOW!

Postby Gary Johnson » Sat Aug 03, 2013 2:16 pm

I think I'll break into this discussion on Family Ties by singing some praise over Mr. Robert's book.

First off, it is a rather large book. And quite thick too. I wouldn't recommend using the book to kill flies as the force from the blow may well spread the flying vermin's carcass throughout the house. Like triggering an IED. However, the book sits nicely on a coffee table -- taking up a lot of space to impress visitors that you read alot. And I have found it is very handy for resting one's feet atop it, should your horizontal incline be less than desired. Many of you gout-ridden patients know what I speak of.

But I have found that the best use of this book is by opening it up and reading it. The text is amusing but informative. The still's throughout are generously over-abundant. The Roach studio filmography alone, which takes up half of the book and was compiled by those erstwhile researchers messrs Rob Farr and Joe Moore, makes this a must-have as a reference source. And throughout there is the familar voice of the author himself, describing the films he deems important to describe while hopscotching about the history of this fabled studio. The book veers from the familiar Roach faces (Chase and Pollard) to the less so (Arthur Stone anyone??....), but even when the subject is well-known new info can come to light. Most books and articles about Mabel Normand speak of RAGGEDY ROSE and THE NICKEL-HOPPER as the two films she made at Roach before she up and died. But she also made three other shorts which rarely get mentioned. Here they get mentioned.

The Roach story is a simple one to tell. An ambitious young man gets a hankering to entering the motion picture industry back when one didn't need an MBA to do so. His goal was to be a top independent producer of feature film dramas. Instead, he happened to develop an unerring ability at hiring top comedy talent -- both in front of and behind the camera. Roberts shines a light on Roach's lesser known series which have not been the subjects of countless books and articles before. We read of Roach's penchant of delaying release dates on troubled series (which confused film historians to no end about when they were actually made) and of his constant early troubles at supplying enough product to fullfill his Pathe contract as the persnickery exhibitors would routinely reject product. How he ever got his studio out of the Teens financially intact is beyond me.

And like all good authors Roberts has his axes to grind and uses this forum to right some wrongs. One is to shine a light on performers that he feels have been too long neglected. Veteran supporting player Mark Jones is given a boost in these pages; as are the films of Max Davidson. While hardly a neglected name, Charley Chase is front and center throughout this book, as he well should be. Chase's handprints appear throughout the book as the architect of the Roach style and so his rather abrupt dismisal by the Boss in the mid-Thirties is looked upon by the author as a rather callous act; similar to the firing of loyal employee Snub Pollard a decade earlier. But Roach was always first and foremost a businessman, and he is treated even-handedly within these pages as the creator of some of the greatest comedy to have come out of the Hollywood studio system.

And this book is a fine achievement at filling in those holes of what took place at the Fun Factory.

Richard M Roberts
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Re: SMILEAGE GUARANTEED HAL ROACH BOOK ON SALE NOW!

Postby Richard M Roberts » Sat Aug 03, 2013 3:06 pm

Ahem, hey Johnson, thanks for the nice words, but I worked on that filmography just as much as Messr's Moore and Farr did (kinda like,why all THREE of our names are attached to it), and Linda Shah actually did a load of editorial work on it she didn't want credit for (but deserves nevertheless). Linda actually went through the whole thing and fixed the continuity, i.e. put everything in the same sequential order, which believe me, was a job. She also had a big hand in the indexing.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

Gary Johnson
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Re: SMILEAGE GUARANTEED HAL ROACH BOOK ON SALE NOW!

Postby Gary Johnson » Mon Aug 05, 2013 2:44 pm

I knew all that.
I just wanted to goad you to tell everyone.

Richard M Roberts
Godfather
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Re: SMILEAGE GUARANTEED HAL ROACH BOOK ON SALE NOW!

Postby Richard M Roberts » Mon Aug 05, 2013 2:54 pm

Gary Johnson wrote:I knew all that.
I just wanted to goad you to tell everyone.



Never a good idea Johnson, usually goads me into doing something you won't like or expect.


RICHARD M ROBERTS (recalling that Johnson was thrown off of that other minor silent comedy newsgroup before he was)

Joe Migliore
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Re: SMILEAGE GUARANTEED HAL ROACH BOOK ON SALE NOW!

Postby Joe Migliore » Tue Aug 06, 2013 12:36 am

Gary Johnson wrote:
like all good authors Roberts has his axes to grind and uses this forum to right some wrongs. One is to shine a light on performers that he feels have been too long neglected. Veteran supporting player Mark Jones is given a boost in these pages; as are the films of Max Davidson. While hardly a neglected name, Charley Chase is front and center throughout this book, as he well should be. Chase's handprints appear throughout the book as the architect of the Roach style and so his rather abrupt dismisal by the Boss in the mid-Thirties is looked upon by the author as a rather callous act; similar to the firing of loyal employee Snub Pollard a decade earlier. But Roach was always first and foremost a businessman, and he is treated even-handedly within these pages as the creator of some of the greatest comedy to have come out of the Hollywood studio system.


Gary, if you feel inclined to do so, and can forgive my presumption, you should stick that last paragraph up on Amazon. I can't think of another book that covers that ground, and your review reflects that.

Of course you're free to ignore my sage advice, but then you'll be just exactly like everyone else, you non-conformist.

Pasquale Ventura
Posts: 169
Joined: Sat Jun 01, 2013 7:52 pm

Re: SMILEAGE GUARANTEED HAL ROACH BOOK ON SALE NOW!

Postby Pasquale Ventura » Sun Sep 01, 2013 7:43 pm

Got my copy yesterday. Saturday I went to the Cinecon dealers rooms and no sooner turned the corner and came face to face with the author himself, Richard M. Roberts who just happened to have a batch of his books for sale. Lucky me, meeting Richard and buying an autographed copy.

The book is everything every one is saying it is, fantastic. A terrific addition to my bookshelf of silent comedy reading. Just thumbing through it, you can put it down there;s so much to read. If you don't have Smileage Gauranteed yet, by all means get it or add it to your Christmas or birthday wish list.

It's was a pleasure meeting Richard, a really cool guy and fun to talk silent comedy with.

Pasquale Ventura

Richard M Roberts
Godfather
Posts: 2890
Joined: Sun May 31, 2009 6:30 pm

Re: SMILEAGE GUARANTEED HAL ROACH BOOK ON SALE NOW!

Postby Richard M Roberts » Mon Sep 02, 2013 2:13 am

Pasquale Ventura wrote:Got my copy yesterday. Saturday I went to the Cinecon dealers rooms and no sooner turned the corner and came face to face with the author himself, Richard M. Roberts who just happened to have a batch of his books for sale. Lucky me, meeting Richard and buying an autographed copy.

The book is everything every one is saying it is, fantastic. A terrific addition to my bookshelf of silent comedy reading. Just thumbing through it, you can put it down there's so much to read. If you don't have Smileage Gauranteed yet, by all means get it or add it to your Christmas or birthday wish list.

It's was a pleasure meeting Richard, a really cool guy and fun to talk silent comedy with.

Pasquale Ventura



I deny it completely, I was not at Cinecon! It was some other tall guy with a Hal Roach book. I'm actually in Omaha, Nebraska as I type this.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

Pasquale Ventura
Posts: 169
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Re: SMILEAGE GUARANTEED HAL ROACH BOOK ON SALE NOW!

Postby Pasquale Ventura » Mon Sep 02, 2013 1:45 pm

Must have your evil twin brother!


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