Another bumper show at the Colston Halls, mixing old and new as Buster, Stan, Ollie and Harold were preceded by Rory and Roy (who channelled Max)…
It was inauguration day in the US and multi-cultural
Bristol was a good place to be - a city that knows its Tricky from its Trump. Cometh
the hour cometh the multi-man as Rory Bremner provided pitch-perfect presidential
pretence; a much-needed humorous
antidote to a western leadership that cannot even be bothered to count let
alone spell-check.
Against the depressingly historic events in Washington
DC, it was good to be reminded of the importance of comedy in providing relief
and perspective.
First up was Buster Keaton’s The High Sign (1921) – actually his first solo short but delayed in
favour of One Week, which he thought
was stronger. It probably is but The High
Sign is still a belter with a stone face caught up in a ludicrous plan to
both kill and protect August Nickelnurser, the town miser who owns the Blinking
Buzzards gang $10,000.
Buster manages to convince both the gang boss, the unfeasibly
tall Joe Roberts, and August and his daughter (Bartine Burkett) that he is a dead
shot thanks to the use of a hungry hound to create the impression he’s hitting all
the targets in the funfair. It’s a tough commission but somehow Buster managers
to get the job half done with the aid of an hilarious chase through August’s
escape-routed house.
Of the films we saw, this was the favourite of my student
daughter and her pal: Buster remains the coolest fool!
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| Dorothy Coburn and Oliver Hardy take a nap |
Next we had Laurel and Hardy being offered a bonus to
complete a new house on time in The
Finishing Touch (1928). Homeowner Sam Lufkin obviously has more money than
sense as this pair don’t look capable of working either faster or smarter. It’s
the usual elegant disaster from the boys all given extra spice by the impatient
promptings of a petite-yet-fearsome nurse (Dorothy Coburn), who runs a hospital
nearby and asks them to keep the noise down.
Naturally there’s a cop on hand - Ed Kennedy – to keep a
watchful eye and to make sure they’re both quick and quiet. Predictably, they
manage neither but there’s no finer sight in silent of Ollie falling hard and
Stan convincing himself and the World that it’s none of his fault.
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| Roy Hudd in Max Miller style quiet suit... |
Now then, the phrase “National Treasure” is often
over-used but there are few more deserving of that epithet than Roy Hudd, a man
whose illustrious career has always run in hand with preserving our music hall
past. He is President of the Max Miller Appreciation Society and has kept The Cheeky
Chappie’s legacy alive through his one-man shows and even playing him in a
Doctor Who audio story (Pier Pressure).
Dressed in an outrageous Miller-esque silky suit, Roy
proceeded to bring the house down with material now more sepia than blue but
still showed why timing and stage-craft are so important to stand-up and
slapstick alike.
"They don't
make 'em anymore, duck!"
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| Harold's inspiration: Lester Laurel in The College Hero |
Now for the main event and the screening of Harold
Lloyd’s The Freshman (1925), accompanied
by the 25-piece Bristol Ensemble orchestra, conducted by Guenter Buchwald and
playing composer Carl Davis’s lovely score.
This was Lloyd’s biggest hit of the twenties and whilst
some, like me, might prefer say Speedy,
this film is an undoubted classic of structure and style as Harold is put through
humiliation after humiliation until it seems he can sink no lower but just as
redemption seems beyond him, well… what do you expect?
Lloyd produced and his team of writers - John Grey, Sam Taylor,
Tim Whelan, and Ted Wilde – along with directors Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam
Taylor – worked out this narrative arc with slide-rule precision and it was one
that would only really work with Harold’s particular persona. Of the big three
(or four), Lloyd was perhaps the closest to the common man of the jazz age:
perpetually optimistic and ambitious, he has the go-getting intensity of the
classic American and his relentless spirit sees him through.
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| The new arrival: keen to impress! |
Chaplin is of an earlier time as is Buster and both are
somehow more “primal” blue-collar personas. Lloyd is on the up and here he’s
off to conquer Tate University at all costs! His idol is The College Hero (James
Anderson) and he pins a photograph from the College magazine, the Tattler… he
devours the literature and is very impressed with a film about a college hero
who has a signature shuffle he dances before extending his hand in welcome to
every new acquaintance.
Harold’s living a fantasy of college life at a time when
only the privileged few would attend (the World’s turning again…) but it was obviously
an inspiration as dozens of similar films were to follow after The Freshman’s success.
Harold’s initial experience is cringe worthy and the
College Cad (Brooks Benedict) repeatedly lines him up and plays him for the
fall. Harry borrows a line from his film hero and asks them to call him Speedy
as he starts to bribe his way to friendship through buying ice cream and soda
for all.
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| Jobyna Ralston |
He hosts the "Fall Frolic" dance in an attempt
to secure his popularity but his tailor (Joseph Harrington) has to be on hand
as he has not completed proper stitching for his dress suit… it’s very funny
but the humiliating conclusion is all to inevitable.
Only the daughter of the hostel manager, Peggy (the
excellent Jobyna Ralston) see him for who he is and loves him for it. She tells
the momentarily crestfallen Harry to be himself but he still thinks he has a
chance if he can only get to play in the big football game…
The final set piece is perfectly timed and you’re shifting in your seat well before Harry gets his chance…He does succeed in an all-American way but he only because he just won’t give up: ever!!
When all artifice is stripped away that is perhaps the
quality that Lloyd most represents: energy and resilience for an audience
struggling in their own lives. We’ve never needed him more…and I'm now not meeting anyone new without doing the college shuffle!
A super time was had by all and once again I was mightily
impressed by Bristol and its comedy commitment – the Colston Hall was pretty
much sold out and this festival just gets bigger and better.
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| Rory and the band take a bow! |
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