Billy Gilbert & Co. at Nitrate Film Interest Group
Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 8:11 pm
Frames from some 16mm footage with Billy Gilbert and three other blokes, the one with the largest part after Gilbert being a dialect comic named Gene Schuler, have been posted by the Nitrate Film Interest Group:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nfig/22574495769/
This was screened at Cinefest in Syracuse about eight years ago, along with a similar item with the same cast, with the four of them playing poker. Neither piece was identified (they were called "Billy Gilbert Mysteries"), but I think a 1931 ad for Ciné Art non-theatrical films reveals what they are:
http://ia801704.us.archive.org/BookRead ... t_0266.jp2
If I recall correctly the film posted by the NFIG ends with the comics disappearing one by one, consumed by a off-screen lion, which indicates to me that this one would be THE CAT'S MEOW, and the poker entry THE ROYAL FLUSH, and I'm surmising both were adapted from vaudeville sketches in 1930 or 1931 for or by Ciné Art to sell in 16mm. Anyone have an opinion? Or know who might have devised and shot these? (I'm guessing Gilbert had a hand in that.)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nfig/22574495769/
This was screened at Cinefest in Syracuse about eight years ago, along with a similar item with the same cast, with the four of them playing poker. Neither piece was identified (they were called "Billy Gilbert Mysteries"), but I think a 1931 ad for Ciné Art non-theatrical films reveals what they are:
http://ia801704.us.archive.org/BookRead ... t_0266.jp2
If I recall correctly the film posted by the NFIG ends with the comics disappearing one by one, consumed by a off-screen lion, which indicates to me that this one would be THE CAT'S MEOW, and the poker entry THE ROYAL FLUSH, and I'm surmising both were adapted from vaudeville sketches in 1930 or 1931 for or by Ciné Art to sell in 16mm. Anyone have an opinion? Or know who might have devised and shot these? (I'm guessing Gilbert had a hand in that.)