Monday, October 31, 2022
HOW'S THIS FOR A HALLOWEEN TREAT - THE "SCARED SILLY" BOOK NOW HAS A PUBLISHER!!!
Thursday, October 27, 2022
SOME BIG 'SCARED SILLY' BOOK NEWS AHEAD THIS HALLOWEEN... AND A PERSONAL APPEARANCE, TOO!!!
Hello Scared Silly fans! As you know, I'm all about the lighter side of the spooky season (hey, after all I wrote the "Archie's Weird Mysteries" comic book series, contributed a chapter to a book about Vincent Price films about the scare comedies he made with Peter Lorre, did a commentary track for the restored "Haunted House" episode of the Abbott & Costello Show, and have spoken at theatrical screenings of vintage horror-comedy films).
If you're here, you also know that I've been writing a book called, "Scared Silly," a collection of my reviews of vintage films from Hollywood's golden age wherein comedians get mixed up in spooky situations (think Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, The Ghost Breakers, Arsenic & Old Lace, The Ghost & Mr. Chicken, etc.).
Well, this Halloween right here on my Scared Silly blog I'll be making a big announcement concerning my book, so you won't want to miss that! The post will go live at midnight on Monday (right after Sunday ends) right here at scaredsillybypaulcastiglia.blogspot.com
Additionally, I'm going to be joining my pal Denny Daniel of the Museum of Interesting Things again for his annual Halloween Secret Speakeasy event, also called Scared Silly! It takes place on Monday, Halloween night 2022 starting at 8PM and I'll be attending virtually via Zoom. You have the choice of attending live in person at Denny's Prince Street loft, or virtuallly via Zoom as well.
It will be a fun evening of Denny showing 16mm clips from classic films, both straight-up horror films and horror-comedies, with commentary from me. As always, Denny will also demonstrate some antique inventions and present ephemera related to monsters and movies. It's going to be a super fun time suitable for the whole family!
You can click here for more details and to order tickets, and I'll also have a limited supply of FREE VIP passes available (whether you choose to go in-person or just tune in virtually) if you reach out to me at scaredsillybypaulcastiglia@gmail.com
Hope to see you all on Monday... it promises to be a "Goodnight!"
Thursday, October 20, 2022
THIS SUNDAY, THERE'S TONS OF SILENT LAUGHS, AND SOME UNEXPECTED SCARES, TOO!
Hello Scared Silly fans! Hope you're enjoying the spooky season.
I’ve written about my friends Ben Model and Steve Massa before. They are the co-hosts of the SILENT COMEDY WATCH PARTY, a brilliant hour and a half streaming show of silent comedy films accompanied live on the piano by Ben, with historical background from Steve.
For the past couple of years, when they were doing weekly shows, Ben and Steve would feature silent scare comedies toward the end of October. Now that they are doing the show once a month, they need to pace their offerings. They've been trying to get Thomas Reeder on the show for a while and since his Century Comedies book "Time is Money" recently came out (you can order it by clicking here), they finally were able to arrange it.
So, technically this Sunday's episode doesn't have the usual outright spooky stuff for Halloween, but it does have the following scares: one Buster Brown short called BUSTER'S BUST-UP where he and Pete the Pup (of Our Gang/Little Rascals fame) confront a fear of heights high atop the girders of a construction site, and a Baby Peggy short called CIRCUS CLOWNS and well, we all are scared of clowns!!! (I kid - with respect to non-scary clowns past and present like the Fleischer Brothers' Koko and the sublime Bill Irwin, and the many others who prove not all clowns are scary)
Oh, and you just might recognize something brought up in the "cabin fever" recommendations segment. :)
The SILENT COMEDY WATCH PARTY streams live this Sunday, October 23rd, 2022 at 3PM EST on YouTube. After the livestream, the show will be archived for viewing any time. It's available all over the world, so check your local timezones for your area. Click here or below to tune in!
And speaking of classic scare comedies, be sure to come back to the SCARED SILLY blog on Halloween for a very special announcement about the book... yes, it's finally happening! See you then.
In the meantime, here's some comical silent scares from 1908 courtesy of Spanish filmmaker Segundo de Chomón working out of France... ENJOY!
Friday, October 7, 2022
THIS OCTOBER, TAKE IN THE LIGHTER SIDE OF HALLOWEEN WITH CARTOON FUN THAT’S SPOOKY, AND A FAMILY THAT’S CREEPY AND KOOKY!
Hello, Scared Silly fans! It’s that time again where we dig in more than ever into the silly side of horror! I’m sure if you’re reading this you have a go-to horror-comedy film you’re planning to revisit at home. I’m here to let you know that if you’re in California, New York, or New Jersey, there are some fantastic, fun-filled, spooktacular events that will get the whole family laughing.
It all starts in California this Saturday, October 8th at the fabled New Beverly Cinema. Animation historian extraordinaire Jerry Beck will once again bring a special program of “Saturday Morning Cartoons” to the big screen! As Jerry says, “It's Creepy, It's Kooky, It's 35mm Technicolor cartoons on the big screen... our annual Halloween Show!” It’s 105 minutes of animated classics that are sure to scare you silly! The delightful, dastardly fun starts at 10AM PST and you can order tickets when you click here.
Another animation historian, educator, and restorationist we love here at Scared Silly is Tommy Jose Stathes. Tommy if offering east coast folks multiple chances for you to see classic animated cartoons on the kooky, spooky side, also projected on the big screen! Here he is to give you more details:
1. Cartoon Carnival #105: Spooks in Store, Sunday 10/23 at 3pm and 6pm, Happening at Rubulad in Bushwick, Brooklyn!
For Cartoon Carnival #105, we're hosting *two entirely unique* programs of creepy, spooky animated oddities and curiosities in celebration of the Halloween season. This scary selection features many Cartoon Carnival mainstays...from silent era superstars Felix the Cat and Koko the Clown, to later Golden Age favorites such as Betty Boop, Popeye and many others. Each film program contains approximately 90 minutes of cartoons, plus an intermission. Click here to order tickets.
2. Saturday Afternoon Cartoons: A Haunted Halloween, Saturday, 10/29 at 1:40pm at Metrograph, 7 Ludlow Street, Manhattan
This month's Saturday Afternoon Cartoons offers a selection of early cartoon films featuring—you guessed it—creepy and spooky scenarios to get viewers ready for All Hallows' Eve. Enjoy all sorts of animated skeletons, ghosts, ghouls, phantoms, spirits, and other assorted tricks or treats! Spanning the 1920s through the '50s, this assortment showcases classic characters such as Betty Boop, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Farmer Alfalfa, Flip the Frog, and others. 60 min. film program will be followed by a live Q&A session. Click here to order tickets.”
I can personally attest to the fact that Tommy’s shows are often sold-out, packed houses… because I’ve been to a few and been shut out of others! Definitely don’t rest on ordering tickets because space is limited.
Oh, and while you're at it, read more about Tommy and his vital work at his Cartoons on Film and Cartoon Carnival sites, and if you're able, please consider donating to his Cartoon Carnival Pandemic recovery fund here.
As if all that weren’t enough, how about some creepy and kooky fun starring the famed family of New Yorker cartoons, and various live-action and animated TV shows and movies? We’re talking about The Addams Family, of course, of course (wait, that’s somebody else’s theme song)! But humorously, the town of Westfield loves to celebrate its own writer-cartoonist, Charles Addams and his macabre brood. And that’s just what they’ll do at the 5th annual AddamsFest! My friend Ron MacCloskey is a co-founder of the event, and he knows his way around horror, silly or otherwise. So, what are you waiting for? “Snap” to it and order your tickets now by clicking here!
…and speaking of Ron having a way with monsters, he co-wrote and produced one heck of a documentary about one heck of a monster man: BORIS KARLOFF, THE MAN BEHIND THE MONSTER from Shout Factory! I’ve seen it, and I can tell you it’s a wonderful homage to our favorite Uncle Boris. The best news is, it’s about to be released everywhere for streaming, DVD, and blu-ray on October 18, 2022. If you consider yourself a Boris fan, you don’t want to miss it! Now, here’s a little behind-the-scenes look into how Ron came to chronicle Karloff’s legacy of brilliance. ENJOY!
Wednesday, September 28, 2022
SOME BIG SCARED SILLY BOOK NEWS... AND HILARIOUSLY SPOOKY STOOGES ANTICS... AHEAD!!!
You read that right - there will be some very big Scared Silly book news to announce soon! But until it's all been sorted out and the time is right, I can only give you this teaser for now. Thankfully, though, the Stooges are here to keep you preoccupied (and poke-eyed, too)!
At last count, the Stooges were the most prolific of horror-comedy practitioners, having gone to the scared antics well more than any others in a plethora of shorts and features. I direct you to this wonderful Monster Kids Online article from a few years back that tracks all the funnymen's encounters with ghouls that go bump in the fright.
Well, Me-TV, dedicated propagators of Stooge mayhem each weekend, have not one but two spooky-themed episodes on tap for the Halloween season.
It all starts this Saturday, October 1st at 6PM with "Spooky Stooges Part 1," a full hour of classic shorts including, WE WANT OUR MUMMY, SPOOK LOUDER, and SCOTCHED IN SCOTLAND.
Then, on Saturday, October 29th at 6PM "Spooky Stooges Part 2" rolls in with TWO hours of scared silliness including, IDLE ROOMERS, IF A BODY MEETS A BODY, WHO DONE IT?, DOPEY DICKS, SPOOKS, and CREEPS.
What "Moe" could you ask for?! Be sure to mark your calendars and join in on all the Stoogeriffic fun!!!
To help whet your appetite, here is a compilation of snippets of the Stooges getting scared, including some culled from the shorts you'll see on Me-TV. Don't be a knucklehead, say "Soitenley!" to the Stooges this Halloween season!
Monday, July 18, 2022
HABEAS CORPUS (1928)
PLOT: A mad professor (Richard Carle) desires to prove his theory on the human brain but needs a specimen to experiment on. On cue, two vagabonds of questionable brain power (Laurel & Hardy) show up at the door requesting some toast. The professor offers more bread than that - $500 worth in fact! All Stan and Ollie need to do is rob a grave to procure a body for said experiments. Hapless at any task that inexplicably yet fortuitously comes their way, the boys are in “grave” danger indeed as they contend with the spooky cemetery, pesky bats, and a batty butler (Charley Rogers) who’s really an undercover detective (and would-be ghost!) in disguise!
REVIEW: Coming a full year and a week after their initial foray into scare comedies (Do Detectives Think), Laurel & Hardy (or more accurately, Laurel) decided to expand upon what had worked so well in that prior film. Habeas Corpus has them returning to the graveyard in full-tilt scaredy cat mode, and reportedly audiences were just as bowled-over by this scenario in extended length as they were when it was merely one scene in the earlier short.
Three years prior to Habeas, Laurel co-wrote and directed the short, Moonlight and Noses starring Clyde Cook and Noah Young. Nearly identical in plot to Habeas, Moonlight set Stan into motion to see how much farther he could take things in the remake. It’s a great example of what I call “Stan in transition” – he’s working not only through scare scenarios and gags, but he’s also developing his “Stanley” character further along. It seems he’d keep these gags in his head because he goes from reworking and refining Do Detectives Think’s gags in Habeas, to later taking bits from Habeas and evolving them further for The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case and beyond.
Habeas Corpus wasn’t just influenced by Do Detectives Think. There’s also a rather gruesome real-life historical influence on the film. A hundred years before Habeas’ release, notorious Scottish serial murderers Burke and Hare went on a rampage of grave robbing and killing. The reason: a shortage of scientific and medical research cadavers. Anatomist Robert Knox needed cadavers for his lectures, and much like the professor in Habeas, he was willing to pay for them, no questions asked. Unlike the professor in Habeas, he wasn’t locked up before the bodies were unearthed.
Before diving deeper into the film, I must also mention that Habeas Corpus is the first Laurel & Hardy film that can be called a “sound” film. It is a silent film in that there’s no dialogue other than the written title cards shown on screen, however, producer Hal Roach employed the Victor recording company (before they were acquired by RCA) to have an orchestra do a soundtrack recording just for this short. It also features some great synchronized sound effects. I refer you to the Laurel & Hardy Blogcast link at the end of this review for more information behind the recording from Laurel & Hardy historians-authors Patrick Vasey and Randy Skretvedt, and my own insights on how much Charles Gounoud’s classical piece, The Funeral March of the Marionettes (aka the Alfred Hitchcock Theme) sounds like an inverted, dissonant version of The Dance of the Cuckoos (aka the Laurel & Hardy Theme).
The intro of the boys in this short is great. We get Ollie’s pomposity firsthand… literally, as it’s just a shot of Laurel & Hardy’s hands! Of course, Ollie brushes away Stan’s hand so he can knock first, maintaining his character’s “me before you” mindset which would manifest itself in the pair’s talkies whenever Ollie introduced he and Stan thusly: “I’m Mr. Hardy… and this is my friend, Mr. Laurel.”
A lot of the stock Laurel & Hardy personality traits show up in this short right from the beginning as they talk to the professor. Much of it has to do with facial expressions and body language, especially with Hardy. You get that wonderful Hardy combo of embarrassment, followed by the false awkward acceptance of something odd, and culminating in Ollie’s sideways glance over to Stan indicating, “are you kidding me?!”
As for that professor, we know he’s not all there not only because his various askew facial expressions and dialogue tip it in, but also due to the fact anyone willing to pay L&H $500 to do anything has to be nuts. Some of the professor’s eccentric nuances include putting cigarette ashes in his pocket and pouring water into it, too (the type of thing that would later become more of a Stan “white magic” thing to do), and doing a quirky little salsa dance which the music and sound effects on the synchronized soundtrack really puts over.
On the way to the graveyard, Stan questions the professor’s sanity and Ollie replies that he’s just as sane as the two of them! It’s interesting that Stan is questioning the professor’s sanity at all however Ollie’s response is a very Hardy-like answer as he falsely fancies himself both an authority and intelligent. This bit could very well be the genesis in Stan’s mind of the “hand-twist” motion to indicate someone is a little “cracked” or “eccentric” or “twisted in the head” which of course became a staple for Laurel & Hardy showing up again in various films like Wrong Again, Dirty Work, and The Big Noise.
Speaking of The Big Noise, it takes one of its key sight gags from Habeas Corpus: Stan and Ollie can’t make out the address atop the street sign, so Ollie climbs up to read it, only to find it says, “wet paint”… and now he has a black and white suit! It’s a classic bit as they make their way to the graveyard, and of course, it’s the main passage in the graveyard that provides most of the laughs here, including the following scare comedy bits:
• Ollie offers to stay outside the graveyard to “protect” Stan while he’s in there digging. It’s one of those things that ended up in a lot of other comedians’ films, where there’d be a straight man or a bossy member of a two- or three-man team (like the Three Stooges’ Moe or Bud from Abbott & Costello) keeping themselves out of the action under the guise of “helping” the patsy characters.
• There’s a handclap bit where Stan claps and he hears a clap in return (provided by the phony butler/real detective). This is a riff on a music hall/vaudeville stage staple where a comic would call something out and there’d be a voice parroting it in echo, however by the third time there’d be a different answer from the disembodied, echoing voice, startling the comic. Again, this ultimately turned up a lot with the Three Stooges, Abbott & Costello and others. One note to make is this routine in Habeas comes over best if you’re watching the version with the original synchronized soundtrack.
• Stan & Ollie hilariously tangle with various critters. Ollie is scared by a black cat zooming by, Stan accidentally places a lantern on a turtle's back and believes the light is moving on its own (a variation of the “moving candle” stage bit that later became a big part of Abbott & Costello’s act), and a bat bedevils Stan… a sequence that must have stuck in his mind when he went to work expanding on the mayhem a bat can cause in The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case!
• That old, dusty stand-by, a man under a sheet being mistaken for a ghost is pulled out of the closet, although in 1928 those sheets were a bit more fresh!
Of course, not all the bits here are of the “scared” variety. The film gets in some stock Laurel & Hardy sight gags and slapstick, too. For a brief moment, they do the “mixed-up hats” routine (though curiously it’s very brief here, as opposed to Do Detectives Think), Ollie falls... and sinks!... into the perennially deep puddle he would in countless films (perhaps most notably in Way Out West), and then there’s a whole set-piece where Ollie is trying to boost Stan over the cemetery walls after the gates are locked shut. It’s an extended bit and audiences are split on whether it goes on too long or whether the laughter is sustained (I’m in the latter camp – and it’s always a great experience if you can watch it with an audience).
The wall-scaling bit is bookended by two wonderful character moments. First, there’s Stan’s look of “self-satisfaction” on his face with an added head nod for emphasis – he’s thrilled the cemetery gates are locked and he doesn’t have to go back in! Ollie of course insists Stan goes back in and is determined to boost Stan over the wall as mentioned above. Ultimately realizing the effort is futile, Ollie resorts to his oft-repeated adage that if he wants something done right, he'll have to do it himself. So what happens when he attempts to scale the wall? He ends up running right through it!
Speaking of Ollie the bulldozer, I’m always awed and astounded by displays of his strength. In Habeas we get to see Stan balanced on Ollie’s back and even standing up on it as he tries to get over the cemetery wall. In Wrong Again Ollie bears the weight of not only a piano on his back, but a piano that a horse is standing atop it! And in Blockheads there’s the wonderful scene of Ollie carrying Stan in his arms because he mistakenly thinks Stan has lost a leg while simultaneously bending down to pick up the hat that he’s dropped. What a trooper!
When all is said and done, Habeas Corpus is a hallmark Laurel & Hardy short. If it just had one of the following things going for it, it would be considered so, but it actually has all three of these, in no order of preference: 1.) Laurel expanding on how to do a Laurel & Hardy scare comedy for the length of an entire film, as opposed to just a bit. 2.) Laurel further developing his Stanley character including how he would act when scared. 3.) The first-ever attempt to add sound to a Laurel & Hardy film, via the Victor company’s synchronized music and sound effects recording on disc. Of course, the main reason you should check it out: it’s funny, and therefore you’ll be scared silly!
SPOTTED IN THE CAST: The main supporting players of course are Richard Carle as the professor and Charley Rodgers as the detective-disguised-as-a-butler. Carle had a distinguished career as a stage actor and director, and ended up with copious credits in every genre of film. That includes not only more Laurel & Hardy films, but also films with Wheeler & Woolsey, W.C. Fields, and Abbott & Costello!
Charley Rogers went on to be joined at the hip with Laurel & Hardy, not just acting in dozens and dozens of their films, but more significantly directing several and becoming one of Stan’s trusted stable of co-writers, too. In front of the camera, he also appeared alongside such film comedy stalwarts as Harry Langdon, Shemp Howard, Andy Clyde, and the daffy duo of Thelma Todd & Patsy Kelly. One of his most beloved appearances among Laurel & Hardy fans is as Simple Simon the Pie Man in Babes in Toyland (aka March of the Wooden Soldiers).
While Chester A. Bachman as one of the policemen seems to have a resume primarily made up of Laurel & Hardy films, it’s Leo Sulkman (the detective on the telephone) who really got around in the world of film comedy, mixing it up with funnymen including the Marx Brothers, Wheeler & Woolsey, Harry Langdon, Charley Chase, Ben Turpin, Clyde Cook, Billy Bevan, and more. Most notably for Scared Silly fans, he’s in One Spooky Night, a silent horror-comedy short that as of this writing appears to be a lost film.
HABEAS REDUX: I can’t conclude a review of this short without mentioning its title got a cute little ribbing in a later Laurel & Hardy movie, my favorite of the final group of films they did. The 1940s 20th Century Fox feature, The Big Noise not only contains the above-mentioned reprise of the “wet paint” gag, but also features a delightful bit of verbal nonsense between Stan and Ollie where Ollie insists, “Habeas Corpus is a town in Texas.” It’s followed by a knowing glance to the audience, as if Ollie is asking us, “get it?” Indeed we do!
If you missed my interview on Patrick Vasey’s essential Laurel & Hardy Blogcast where we discussed all things Habeas Corpus, here’s a handy YouTube link of the episode… ENJOY!
Tuesday, July 5, 2022
CORPUS DELICIOUS
As a special bonus, Patrick also spoke with foremost Laurel & Hardy authority Randy Skretvedt to delve into the film's original "sound-on-disc" soundtrack of synchronized music and sound effects accompanyining the short's original 1928 release.
If you want to listen to the podcast interviews straight from Patrick's site, simply click here. You'll also find options on Patrick's site to listen through Spotify, Anchor, Apple Podcasts/iTunes, and Google Podcasts.
Now, here's a brief "comparison video" comparing an upgraded print to a previous one, and highlighting key gags from the film. Enjoy, and stay tuned for my formal written review of Habeas Corpus, coming soon!
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