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Spurred by the upcoming cablecast of six of Langdon's 8 Hal Roach shorts, a friend and I are collaborating on a Langdon career overview for online - and possibly printed - publication. Between us we're combing trade publications and other materials at the Herrick library and elsewhere, as well as durned near every online newspaper site known to man (or woman).

So, to the collector mafiosi, we humbly ask: would it be possible to obtain viewing copies (if any exist) of:

The two Roach shorts not scheduled for TCM;
"A Soldier's Plaything;"
"See America Thirst;"
"Tired Feet;"
"Tied For Life;"
"Trimmed in Furs;"
The five Paramount shorts?

This is strictly for research purposes so stuff like time code, logos, etc., are not an issue. We're hoping for something better than 17th-generation VHS/Beta transfers, but beggars can't be choosers.

Anyone who can help, please reply to MikeH0714@yahoo.com.

Thanks, Michael

Harry langdon is not in TRIMMED IN FURS, that is an erroneous credit.

The five Paramount shorts are not currently known to survive.

The first two Roach comedies are not known to currently have soundtracks, and are not in general distribution (though I have seen mute prints of both of them).

RICHARD M ROBERTS

Thank you, Richard. I was going by my 1972 copy of Maltin's THE GREAT MOVIE SHORTS (coincidentally the first film book I ever owned).

Is there some behind-the-scenes intrigue behind the missing Paramounts? Of all the pre-Columbia Langdon talkies, theoretically they should be the most ubiquitous, given the sale of all live-action Paramount shorts to U.M.& M. TV in December 1955. Had the masters deteriorated by then, did the negatives revert to Gillstrom and/or Langdon at some contractual timeframe, or is there some other reason?

Finally, thank you to everyone that responded. I deeply appreciate your assistance and generocity. At this point, it looks like the only loose end is "See America Thirst." For what it's worth (which may not be much), it was reviewed on imdb.com, so hopefully that means a copy is circulating somewhere.

Michael

And let me throw a related question onto Michael's. In 1933-34, Paramount released some interesting two reel comedies. Besides the Langdon films, Arvid Gillstrom produced two each with Bing Crosby and Leon Errol. Phil Ryan produced another group directed by Del Lord starring an impressive group of character actors (Walter Catlett, Eugene Pallette, Chic Sale, Franklin Pangborn). Echoing Michael's question, did any of these end up in the UM&M / National Telefilm package?

Frank

Bing Crosby's "Please" was shown at Syracuse several years ago, leading one to hope that the other Paramount shorts survived somewhere and are just waiting to be discovered. Maybe Arvid Gillstrom buried them in the Mohave desert before he died.

So does that mean that Gillstrom took the Sennett unit under his wings
for Crosby's last two shorts or was Mac a worker for hire by then?

Gary J.

Michael J Hayde wrote:Thank you, Richard. I was going by my 1972 copy of Maltin's THE GREAT MOVIE SHORTS (coincidentally the first film book I ever owned).

Is there some behind-the-scenes intrigue behind the missing Paramounts? Of all the pre-Columbia Langdon talkies, theoretically they should be the most ubiquitous, given the sale of all live-action Paramount shorts to U.M.& M. TV in December 1955. Had the masters deteriorated by then, did the negatives revert to Gillstrom and/or Langdon at some contractual timeframe, or is there some other reason?

Finally, thank you to everyone that responded. I deeply appreciate your assistance and generocity. At this point, it looks like the only loose end is "See America Thirst." For what it's worth (which may not be much), it was reviewed on imdb.com, so hopefully that means a copy is circulating somewhere.

Michael

The Arvid Gillstrom Paramounts were not in the UM an M package, they had indeed reverted back to Gillstrom an then ended up in some other private hands. Ed Watz searched for them for years, and as I recall, found that the materials were stored somewhere on the East Coast , but had vanished by the time he figured out where. They were technically the same series as the Gillstrom Educationals, but of course had a different distributor.

Some of the Phil Ryan Paramount shorts were in the UM and M package, but apparently not all, but others have survived from other sources.

SEE AMERICA THIRST was shown at Slapsticon (my print), but has never been available on video.

RICHARD M ROBERTS