Talkies Learn To Laugh In Two Reels Or Less, The

2617.THE TALKIES LEARN TO LAUGH IN TWO REELS OR LESS (1929-1935-USA).
1. A NIGHT IN A DORMITORY (1929-USA). With GINGER ROGERS. Here is a rarity, and a welcome one it is: a tune-filled mini-musical featuring one of the earliest screen appearances of star-to-be Ginger Rogers. The film opens in a girls dormitory where a bevy of singing and dancing coeds lament that they are locked in for the night. Because of their curfew, they “never get a chance to play.” For them it is “early to bed, early to rise. How on earth can we get wise? -and you know that they are not referring to book learning. However, as you will see, not all of the girls live by the rules!
2. UPPERCUT O’BRIEN (1929-USA). With HARRY GRIBBON, ANDY CLYDE. Supervised by MACK SENNETT. Andy Clyde is most amusing as a hopelessly inept fight trainer whose boxer manages to get knocked out even before entering the ring! Harry Gribbon plays that pugilist: Uppercut O’Brien, who quits the fight game to become a lent show huckster. Harry and Andy meet again and the result is (quite literally) a near laugh-riot.
3. ONE QUIET NIGHT (1931-USA). With WALTER CATLETT, DOROTHY GRANGER. Directed by ROSCOE ARBUCKLE under the pseudonym WILLIAM GOODRICH. Helen and Jimmy are young lovers who wish to secure her father’s permission to wed. Her old man just so happens to have a horrible case of the hiccups, which is inexplicably aggravated every time he sees Jimmy. The laughs (as well as the scares) come one after the other as the old man takes a rest cure in a haunted house!
4. EXCUSE MY GLOVES (1935-USA). With JACK DOYLE, TED HUSING, GRANTLAND RICE. Big bands, Irish ballads and boxing seamlessly blend in this sparkling musical short. The setting is a nightspot called “The Sport Club.” The emcee is famed sportscaster Ted Musing, who promises “a championship program of song, dance and melody.” Don’t miss the singing “X Sisters” imitating roosters, dogs, horns, and a saw, all while harmonizing “Rex and His Sound Effects.” A highlight is the impressive pugilistic display by “new ring idol” Jack Doyle, the “Irish heavyweight champion” whose singing voice proves to be as potent as his fists!
58 minutes total. Comedy