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Well, I wasn't sure where to categorize this, but since I just got the DVD of HYPNOTIZED, I figured this would be the place.

I don't know a lot about Moran & Mack (The Two Black Crows), but I know that Mack considered Moran an easily replaceable hired hand. In HYPNOTIZED, the top-billed team (and it's Moran who technically gets top billing) share a total of 18 seconds of screen time. And get a load of the dialogue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zWzhg-_MyI

Moran: "What's goin' on here?"
Mack: "Can't you see I'm in and you're out?"
Moran: "Well I thought I was the hot stuff around here."
Marjorie Beebe: "You was, but now you ain't."
Mack: "No, I'm the hot stuff now."

Is it just me, or is that the biggest "f___ you" between two members of a comedy team in the annals of cinematic history? It's as if TOWED IN A HOLE started with Stan Laurel saying to Oliver Hardy: "Y'know, I've got a swell idea...I've decided to eliminate the middleman...you!" or Costello saying to Abbott: "Who's on first? I am. Beat it." I guess one Black Crow was plenty...

Now I doubt that HYPNOTIZED would have been any better if there was any actual teamwork in the film...overall, it's a pretty weak piece of work, with Charlie Murray doing all the heavy lifting...although Charles Mack is not without a certain charm. Plus it has the typical late-Sennett touches of animated mice and a lion on the loose. And Marjorie Beebe in blackface takes it into a whole other realm.

Anyway, has anybody else seen any other Moran & Mack work?

Chris

Hi Chris -- Besides HYPNOTIZED I've seen three of their Educational shorts - HOT HOOFS, A PAIR OF SOCKS, and AS THE CROW'S FLY (a title I can't find listed anywhere). In fact I stirred up a bit of controversy when I included HOT HOOFS in a series of late silent and early sound comedies at the Museum of the Moving Image in 1990. Even then I was looking for "Cruel and Unusual" subjects.

At least Moran gets the last word.

And a fat lot of good it did him!

My understanding is that both Moran & Mack, along with Sennett, were in a car accident that killed Mack. All I can picture is the scene from The Sopranos, where Tony Soprano holds Christopher's nose closed.

Steve, is AS THE CROW'S FLY otherwise known as THE TWO BLACK CROWS IN AFRICA?

Chris

The information that I have on AS THE CROWS FLY, the team's first release for Educational, is as follows:

As the Crows Fly. Credited cast, Moran & Mack, The Two Black Crows [Charles Mack, George Moran?], Bud Jamison, Iris Lancaster, Lynton Brent; Director, Harry J. Edwards; Story, dialogue, Ernest Pagano, Jack Townley; Sound, Fred Law; Photography, Dwight Warren; (Released 2/5/33; © same).

I believe Al Christie acted as uncredited producer / production manager. Produced and copyrighted by Educational Films Corporation of America. Filmed at Educational Studios, 7250 Santa Monica Blvd, Hollywood, California. Released by Fox Film Corporation. Presented by E.W. Hammons. Sound by RCA Photophone.

TWO BLACK CROWS IN AFRICA was released a month later.

Frank