Musings On 20th Century Pop Culture by Psychotronic Paul
How the blog somehow missed the centenary of the birth of wacky, imaginative and marvelously goofy comedian Milton Supman, known professionally as Soupy Sales , back on January 8, we'll never know! Oh well, at least Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog remembered our pals Dick Van Dyke and Mel Brooks, both of whom lived to see that 100th birthday. Let's rectify that grevious error of overlooking the…
Today's hat tip goes to one of a favorite comedian and wordsmiths from my misspent youth, a TV producer who was also a lyricist, musician, satirist and prolific recording artist, the great Allan Sherman (1924-1973). Here, Allan Sherman is the guest on The Mike Douglas Show, a very popular 1960's - early 1970s daytime TV variety program. Allan goes international with British pop group Herman's…
In a few weeks (on August 28), a new movie based on Warner Brothers Animation and desert dwellers Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner hits movie theaters. While well aware that Warner Brothers Animation and Road Runner stalwarts Chuck Jones, Mike Maltese, Lloyd Vaughan, Ken Harris, Phil Monroe and Ben Washam are long gone, this trailer looks pretty darn good. Nonetheless, the Coyote vs. ACME…
This blog has recently profiled 1920's and 1930's comics Harry Sweet, Lloyd Hamilton, Joe Rock's Three Fat Guys a.k.a. Ton Of Fun series and such Columbia Shorts Department stalwarts as The Three Stooges, Andy Clyde, Leon Errol and Harry Langdon in search of laughs. Now we travel across the pond and leap several decades later to 1980's and 1990's with French & Saunders and The Vicar Of Dibley .…
Today we conclude an extended focus on Jules White's Columbia Shorts Department with a tribute to director Edward Bernds . Finishing this extended plunge into the slapstick of The Shorts Department, the spotlight shines on the guy who cranked out numerous Three Stooges shorts in the latter 1940's and early 1950's, longtime Columbia Studio soundman Edward Bernds . Chicago-born Edward Bernds was a…
Last week's post on rubber-legged slapstick master Leon Errol and silver screen humor essential Mel Brooks, as well as the previous one on The Three Stooges, has profoundly immersed this blog in the pratfall-packed world of physical comedy. We've been heavily into Slapstickland, both silents and talkies, for the past three months. And many moons ago, back in 2013 (which now feels like 1913), wrote…
On the comedy beat from Broadway to vaudeville to movies, thinking of two terrific icons of silver screen humor, both of whom crack us up, only every time. One is star of stage, screen, Ziegfeld Follies , etc. Leon Errol , born in Sydney, Australia on July 3, 1881. Here's Leon with Lou Costello in The Noose Hangs High (1948) . The other is Mel Brooks , because the gang here somehow missed the…
Needing laughs big time today, along with guffaws, chortles, chuckles, giggles and howls, so slapstick scenarios involving funny fat guys falling down sound FANTASTIC! Thankfully, film historians, authors and silent movie experts have posted a bunch of pratfall-packed Ton Of Fun 2-reelers from the late 1920's on YouTube. These slapstick flicks star the rousing and rotund trio of Kewpie Ross ,…
Today we tip a battered top hat worn by a boisterous and three sheets to the wind Ted Healy to the great Moe Howard, ace of slapstick! After a decade performing in vaudeville and stage and films as part of the popular knockabout act Ted Healy & His Stooges, Moe succeeded Ted as "the head stooge" when the team and Healy parted ways and The Three Stooges began starring in short subjects for Columbia…
Thinking, as we do often, of movie comedians who successfully transitioned from silents to talkies. Some studios and funmakers did better than others. Mack Sennett had his problems adapting to the new medium but did employ the likes of Harry Gribbon , Vernon Dent and Andy Clyde - and a couple of years later, the brilliant W.C. Fields. Next: comediennes in early talkies, led by the following…
We're not kidding - June 8 indeed is National Name Your Poison Day. Charlie Chaplin kicks off Name Your Poison Day with this boozy bit from PAY DAY. Here, a bon vivant version of Charlie celebrates with fellow inebriate Roscoe Arbuckle in the 1914 Keystone comedy THE ROUNDERS. Charlie plays both a bamboozled bon vivant and a rowdy ruffian in a filmed version of the Fred Karno troupe "Mumming…
We continue reeling in no uncertain terms from bad news from last week. Our friend Dorothy Bradley , President Emeritus of the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, always friendly and always on hand at Niles' Edison Theater, passed at 80. Missed writing a post last weekend due to grief over Dorothy's passing. This is an incalculable loss to the historian and film preservation communities, Niles, CA -…
Memorial Day Weekend is here. 2026 still looks like this. So that means it's time to cheer up by watching lots of vintage WW2-era cartoons on Memorial Day Weekend. A good way to celebrate Memorial Day a few days early is with the World War II version of Popeye. In particular, we're big fans of the early Famous Studios Popeyes and Noveltoons directed by Dan Gordon! And Private Snafu. . . Snafu's…
As the gang here in the Hudson Valley wishes we could take a Star Trek teleportation device - used or new - directly to the San Francisco Bay Area to enjoy the annual Charlie Chaplin Days event presented by the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum this weekend, we doff our Max Linder top hat to a lesser known but marvelous silent movie comedian, the great Poodles Hanneford (1891-1967) . We'll start…
Obscure or lesser known movie comedians, anyone? Here's one of our favorites: Harry Sweet (1901-1933). Harry Sweet was an uber-goofball slapstick artiste and writer-director-star in the 1920s and early 1930's. Harry Sweet , gifted physical comedian and acrobat, starred in zany short subjects for Mack Sennett, Joe Rock, Century Comedies and most memorably RKO Radio Pictures. Here he is with comedy…
Photo by Tommy Lau Classic movie aficionados lucky enough to both be within a close distance of San Francisco and have some dough-re-me on hand to spend will get quite the treat when the San Francisco Silent Film Festival hits the Castro Theatre from May 6-10. Returning to the big screen from 100+ years ago ready to rock the house - silent movies at their operatic best, accompanied quite literally…
This weekend, we pay tribute to pioneering animation producer and director Walter Lantz (1899-1994) . Posted a Lantz cartune-filled salute to Walt and Woody back in December 2024, but dang it, that ISN'T ENOUGH! Do we LOVE Woody (both the woodpecker and San Francisco Giants curveballing LHP Kirk "Woody" Reuter), Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Andy Panda, Buzz Buzzard, Chilly Willy, and the excellent…
As fate would have it, the month of April is notable for birthdays of outstanding comedians and comediennes from silent movies. Born between April 16 and April 20: Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) , Wanda Wiley (1902-1987) , Fay Tincher (1884-1983) and that "glasses guy," Harold Lloyd (1893-1971) . That guy responsible for the first 20th century British Invasion and the international popularity of both…
Today we salute the innovative producer, director and animator Norman McLaren . A splendid post from Scotland.com adds: Norman McLaren (1914–1987) was a pioneering Scottish-Canadian animator, director, and producer renowned for his innovative work at the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). A pioneer in hand-drawn, abstract, and pixilation animation, he won an Oscar for Neighbours (1952) and a…
Here at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog, today's holiday means Easter movies, rabbit-laden cartoons and TV show clips. Kicking off the compendium of rabbit-packed Easter cartoons, here's the Easter egg-filled and downright rabbit-infested Silly Symphony Funny Little Bunnies . The unequalled gold standard of Easter cartoons , not surprisingly, stars the Oscar-winning rabbit, Bugs Bunny. That…
Today we spotlight the post-WW2 UK heroes of comedy: the British invasion that preceded the Rickenbacker-brandishing lads from Liverpool, beginning with The Goon Show And Beyond The Fringe And Peter Cook and Dudley Moore In over 200 radio shows and a few TV and film appearances, The Goons - Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe - for all practical purposes threw out the comedy playbook…
Today, March 21, is World Puppetry Day . While this blog has not posted specifically about puppetry before, we've covered stop-motion animated films many times. The January 27, 2024 post Stop-Motion Saturday was devoted to a slew of puppetmaster/filmmakers, including Wladislaw Starewicz , Joop Geesink and George Pal . Of course, World Puppetry Day invariably gets me thinking of the following tune!…
Alas, we're unlike the superlative guitarist Johnny Winter , still alive and well on March 14, 2026. Yes, the ragtag gang here is indeed Still Alive And Well during the raging and continuing dumpster fire that is the year of our lord 2026. Actually, it's more like the year of our Screaming Lord Sutch . Indeed, laughs are getting harder and harder to find these days - and that brings us to Billy…
Staggering through March 2026 and noting that this year continues painfully and unrelentingly resembling the following. . . Asking if anything can get one's mind off the dumpster fire even momentarily, the answer to that question remains an emphatic NO, although the next best thing is to celebrate NATIONAL FLAPJACK DAY! That means it's flapjack time , starting with Mickey Mouse pancakes. Even…
Today we pay homage to one of the great comic actors and Broadway legends, Zero Mostel , the gifted, versatile character actor, comedian and star of stage and screen, born on this day in 1915. Just in case one has not seen the larger-than-life actor in awhile, here's a reminder. . . Zero is still celebrated for his musical comedy mojo on Broadway in Fiddler On The Roof. As well as his stage and…