Final recap of the SEE YOU IN THE ‘FALL’ BLOGATHON

Posted by Movie Movie Blog Blog on September 23, 2015

Happy first day of autumn! but unhappy last day of blogathon! However, we had some terrific entries devoted to favorite moments in TV and movie physical comedy, so let’s complete the list with our

Here are recaps from the previous days of the blogathon:

Day 1 recap * Day 2 recap * Day 3 recap

And here are the entries for our fourth and final day! (Click on each individual blog’s name to be linked to the blog entry.)

Reel Distracted brings us M. Hulot again trying to make sense of modern life, in Jacques Tati’s Playtime.

Wolffian Classic Movies Digest gives us Charlie Chaplin and Jackie Coogan in the classic comedy-drama The Kid.

In the Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood examines what happens when a wife (Doris Day) must deal with misbegotten news from her hypochondriac husband (Rock Hudson) in Send Me No Flowers.

What happens when a monster-smash comedy team meets up with monsters who like to smash things? Critica Retro finds out in her study of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.

And finally, Once Upon a Screen takes a close look at Laurel & Hardy delivering a piano (and lots of laughs) in their Oscar-winning short subject The Music Box.

My heartfelt and feverish thanks goes out to all of the bloggers who contributed their time and talents to making this blogathon such a success, and to the many readers who lapped it up — we couldn’t have done it without any and all of you!

Now that we’re finished, maybe it’s time for a drink…

Day 3 recap of the SEE YOU IN THE ‘FALL’ BLOGATHON

Posted by Movie Movie Blog Blog on September 22, 2015

Well, there were only three submissions today. Happily, we can report a drop only in quantity, not in quality, as we present the

(To read any of the Day 3 entries that you missed, just click on the appropriate blog’s name to get linked to it.)

Silver Screenings takes a look at Laurel & Hardy’s Foreign Legion misadventures in The Flying Deuces.

Silent-ology adores a good love story — even if it’s just Buster Keaton courting Roscoe Arbuckle in drag, in Good Night, Nurse!

And forgive me for stealing my own spotlight, but I just had to honor the 71st anniversary of the release of the short subject Gents Without Cents, in which The Three Stooges showed us just how slowly they turned.

And if you missed the first two days of our blogathon, here are links to our previous recaps:

Day 1 recap * Day 2 recap

Now, then…keep us bookmarked, because we still have one day left in this blogathon tribute to physical comedy. And as for those eight blog entrants who haven’t yet submitted their entries: Don’t try to hide from us…we know where to look!

SEE YOU IN THE ‘FALL’ BLOGATHON – Day 2 Recap

Posted by Movie Movie Blog Blog on September 21, 2015

The hits (and pops and splats) just keep on coming! Here’s the tally for our

(If you missed any of the following blogathon entries, click on the blog titles to go to them.)

Caftan Woman finds laughs in the “setting up for rehearsal” scene of Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys.

How Sweet It Was provides the entertaining backstory of the most famous ottoman in TV sitcom history, from “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”

And lastly but hardly leastly, Way Too Damn Lazy to Write a Blog offers a round-up of barely adequate dining etiquette, as demonstrated in a century of movie and TV entertainment.

Don’t worry, there’s plenty more to come in our blogathon! We’ll continue to provide end-of-the-day recaps as well (Click here to read the recap for Day 1 [Sunday] if you missed it), so keep checking back with us through Wed., Sept. 23. Trust us, it’s worth the trip!

Day 1 recap of the SEE YOU IN THE ‘FALL’ BLOGATHON

Posted by Movie Movie Blog Blog on September 21, 2015

The autumnal equinox is still a few days away, but the autumble equinox has just begun. Welcome to the Day 1 recap of our tribute to physical comedy, the See You in the ‘Fall Blogathon! If the descriptions below whet your appetite, just click on each of the blogs’ names for terrific tributes to long and loud laughs!

BNoirDetour gives a shot-by-shot analysis of Keenan Wynn and Whit Bissell offering brief comic relief in the otherwise heated film noir Shack Out on 101.

Nitrate Glow discusses the chase scene of Buster Keaton’s amazing silent comedy Sherlock Jr.

Girls Do Film details M. Hulot’s befuddlement with modern life in Jacques Tati’s Mon Oncle.

Movies Silently explains just why grown man Lupino Lane is dressed up like a bratty kid in the silent short comedy Naughty Boy.

Love Letters to Old Hollywood shows the lengths to which Jerry Lewis will go to get a laugh in his acclaimed comedy The Nutty Professor.

Barbra Streisand takes Ryan O’Neal on the ride of his life, in Moon in Gemini‘s critique of the chase scene in Peter Bogdanovich’s screwball-comedy homage What’s Up, Doc?

CineMaven offers a double feature of the no-holds-barred finale of Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles, and blind Mr. Muckle’s disastrous tour of W.C. Fields’ store in It’s a Gift.

British situation comedy gets its due, as Serendipitous Anachronisms chronicles the price that one woman pays for “Keeping Up Appearances.”

And lastly, your faithful correspondent shows Steve Martin gathering comedy on the fly, in his unique magical act “The Great Flydini.”

And the fun is far from over! We still have three days left in this bungling blogathon, so keep checking back for more great entries. We’ll post another recap after all of Monday’s entries have been submitted!

Steve Martin as “The Great Flydini”

Posted by Movie Movie Blog Blog on September 19, 2015

The following is my first of two entries in my See You in the ‘Fall’ Blogathon, taking place at this blog from Sept. 20-23, 2015. Click on the above banner, and read entertaining entries from a variety of blogs about priceless moments of physical comedy from TV and movies!

A comedian pulls objects out of the zippered “private” section of his pants. Does anything sound tackier? In the, er, gifted hands of Steve Martin, it turns into a breathtakingly brilliant six minutes of silent comedy right up there with Chaplin and Keaton.

Amazingly, I can’t find one article in that vast virtual encyclopedia known as the Internet that tells anything about the history of this “act.” At the time that Martin was performing it (at a magic club in L.A. and, as you can see if you look hard enough on the Web, on TV in England), I remember reading a piece about it, I think in The New Yorker. It sounded weird but tantalizing, and I figured I’d probably never be lucky enough to see a performance of it.

But in the final month of Johnny Carson’s tenure as host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” Carson — I suspect — coerced Martin into doing the act on his show as a personal favor (the two of them were friends off-stage). And so, happily, we have a recording of it.

What this recording proves above all is that Martin was born far off in the wrong era. When television made it big in the 1950’s, veteran stage performers complained that in vaudeville, you could make a career out of one routine, but once you performed that routine one time on TV, it was dead after that. If Steve Martin could have conceived “The Great Flydini” when vaudeville was thriving, it’s likely he could have made a career solely out of that one act.

Stripping the routine to its essentials, the act still amazes. Even when you figure out how Martin actually gets the objects to emerge from his fly (I won’t spoil the fun here), you’re left to wonder: How does he work all of that stuff in his pants, while still maintaining his comic timing? It’s uncanny.

So sit back and marvel at Steve Martin as “The Great Flydini.” One word of warning: Carson introduces Martin anonymously as just another magic act, and then Martin spends the first 30 seconds or so milking the audience’s shock that it’s Steve Martin in front of them. So you’re led to believe that it’s just going to be Steve Martin doing another of his put-ons at the expense of his captive audience. Don’t believe it for a second. He has thought out every moment of this act, to our everlasting delight.

(If you liked this blog entry, click here to read my second blog entry about the Three Stooges short subject Gents Without Cents.)

The SEE YOU IN THE ‘FALL’ BLOGATHON is here!

Posted by Movie Movie Blog Blog on September 19, 2015

The autumn of 2015 is on its way, and with it comes our See You in the ‘Fall’ Blogathon! Over the course of Sept. 20-23 will come, from a variety of terrific blogs, a wide range of blog entries about some very memorable moments of physical comedy as seen on television or at the movies. Join us to enjoy these entries for the next few days!

If you are one of the blog entrants, please go to the “Comments” section below, and leave the name and URL of both your blog and your individual entry. Readers, keep checking back over the next few days as we post these entries; this blog will also do a daily review of the day’s posted entries for each day of the blogathon. Here are the entrants — click on their blog-entry names to be taken to each individual blog:

Movie Movie Blog Blog – Steve Martin as “The Great Flydini” and The Three Stooges in Gents Without Cents (1944)

BNoir Detour – Keenan Wynn’s flipper scene in Shack Out on 101 (1955)

Silver Screenings – Laurel & Hardy in The Flying Deuces (1939)

Nitrateglow – The chase scene in Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr. (1924)

In the Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood – Doris Day and Rock Hudson in Send Me No Flowers (1964)

Girls Do Film – Jacques Tati’s Mon Oncle (1958)

Movies Silently – Lupino Lane in Naughty Boy (1927)

Love Letters to Old Hollywood – Jerry Lewis in The Nutty Professor (1963)

Critica Retro – Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

Moon in Gemini – The chase scene in Peter Bogdanovich’s What’s Up, Doc? (1972)

Wolffian Classic Movies Digest – Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid (1921)

Caftan Woman – The “setting up for rehearsal” scene in The Sunshine Boys (1975)

Once Upon a Screen – Laurel & Hardy on the stairs in The Music Box (1932)

How Sweet It Was – Dick Van Dyke and the ottoman on “The Dick Van Dyke Show”

Reel Distracted – Jacques Tati’s Playtime (1967)

CineMaven – Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles (1974) and the “Mr. Muckle” scene in W.C. Fields’ It’s a Gift (1934)

Serendipitous Anachronisms – The British sitcom “Keeping Up Appearances” (1990-1995)

Silent-ology – Roscoe Arbuckle and Buster Keaton’s flirting scene in Good Night, Nurse! (1918)

Old Hollywood Films – Harold Lloyd in Safety Last (1923)

Way Too Damn Lazy to Write a Blog – Dining do’s and don’ts in silent film comedy

All’s well that ends well for “MOVIES THAT HAVEN’T AGED WELL”!

Posted by Movie Movie Blog Blog on August 31, 2015

Thanks to everyone who participated in the “MOVIES THAT HAVEN’T AGED WELL BLOGATHON”! We received some excellent entries from bloggers who took a second look at movies they had previously enjoyed and now found them wanting. Here’s a recap of the entries:

Movie Movie Blog Blog – His Girl Friday (1940)

BNoirDetour – A Clockwork Orange (1971 – WARNING: Review includes NSFW images)

Old Hollywood Films – Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Serendipitous Anachronisms – Rent (2005)

Almost Ginger – The Carry On film series (1958-1978)

Don’t forget that there’s still time to sign up for our “SEE YOU IN THE ‘FALL’ BLOGATHON”! If you have a favorite TV scene, film scene, or complete movie involving physical comedy, honor it in the blogathon from Sept. 20-23, 2015. Click on the banner below for more information and to sign up!

Sunday Housekeeping

Posted by Movie Movie Blog Blog on August 30, 2015

Just a few notes for my six-score-and-three faithful followers:

I can’t resist promoting my new blog that promotes my new Live Tweet on Twitter. I have just begun doing a Live Tweet at Twitter.com on Saturdays at 12 noon EST. Each week is devoted to one or two B-movie gangster films where you can join the Tweet and comment on the movie while it’s playing. The Twitter page for the group is at https://twitter.com/BMovieBoss. (If you follow along on the movie, use the hashtag #GangstersAllHere.) If you want to keep updated on the movie of the week, visit the blog at http://thegangstersallhere.wordpress.com. (You can also find our movie update at the sidebar on the right-hand side of this blog, as you can see.)

Only two days left for the “Movies That Haven’t Aged Well” Blogathon! The blogathon is wide open until Aug. 31, and we’ve already received some terrific entries. If you’ve found that you loved a movie when you were younger, only to revisit it and find that it wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be, write about it on your blog, and link it to our blogathon here.

If you have a favorite scene or movie of physical comedy from TV or the movies, don’t forget to ring in the season of autumn by joining our “See You in the ‘Fall'” Blogathon! Click here to learn more about and sign up for the blogathon, which runs Sept. 20-23.

My continued thanks to all of the readers and followers of this blog. For about 45 years, I’ve been soaking up movies and wondering what I’d ever do with all of my “knowledge.” This has been a very fun way to share it!

Only one month left until the “SEE YOU IN THE FALL” BLOGATHON!

Posted by Movie Movie Blog Blog on August 22, 2015

Autumn is only a month away, and with that comes our SEE YOU IN THE ‘FALL’ BLOGATHON! Have you decided which physical-comedy scene or movie you’re going to immortalize in blog history? Pick your favorite now, and let us know your choice! Click here for more information, and hurry up…time’s a-wastin’!

Announcing the “SEE YOU IN THE ‘FALL’ BLOGATHON”!

Posted by Movie Movie Blog Blog on August 2, 2015

Are you a fan of old-school physical comedy? When it comes to long laughs, do you prefer prankish pratfalls and slapstick sight gags to befouled bodily functions?

If so, join us and ring in autumn by celebrating your favorite pratfall with the SEE YOU IN THE ‘FALL’ BLOGATHON!!

BLOGATHON RULES:

1. Write a blog entry about your favorite moment of visual-media entertainment related to physical comedy.

(a) Your moment can be related to TV or movies.

(b) It can be but doesn’t have to be an entire movie or TV episode. It can be anything from a silent-era short subject to a modern-day feature film to a variety-show-related or Monty Python TV sketch, as long as it involves physical comedy.

2. Post the entry on your blog.

3. Go below to the “Comments” section for this blogathon, and post the URL for both your blog and your blogathon entry.

4. Grab one of the banners below, post it on your website, and link it back to the URL for this blogathon.

5. The blogathon will run from Sun., Sept. 20 through Wed., Sept. 23 (the first day of autumn), 2015. Once you have posted your URLs during that time frame, I will link my blogathon back to your blog and your ‘thon entry.

Have fun with your blog…and try not to slip up! Here’s the blog line-up so far. [If you are reading this blog entry after Sept. 19, 2015, click here for an updated list of links to the blogs listed below.]

Movie Movie Blog Blog – Steve Martin as “The Great Flydini”