Back in the days of theatrical short comedies, there was a very popular series of one-reelers starring George O'Hanlon as a luckless gent named Joe McDoakes. Mr. O'Hanlon is now probably best known as the voice of George Jetson, and before that, he was one of the busiest character actors in film and early television. And between 1942 and 1956, he made 63 Joe McDoakes shorts with titles like So You Want To Give Up Smoking and So You Want To Be A Detective. Whatever it was the title said you wanted to have happen, you could bet that Joe McDoakes would show you why he couldn't do it.
Now's your chance to own all of them…all 63 on six DVDs for forty bucks. It's part of the Warner Archive program whereby they sell plain vanilla DVDs (no fancy menus, no special features) of rarities from the vaults. Here's the link. I don't make anything off these but if you're a big Joe McDoakes fan, don't let that stop you. I have a hunch it'll be a long time before we see these get a fancier release.
Also of possible interest: Warner Archive has brought out a set of the last 52 Our Gang comedies — the ones made at MGM after the Hal Roach Studio sold the franchise. During the run, familiar faces like Spanky, Alfalfa and Darla exited the series as they outgrew it and new kids came along…to generally diminishing results. Still, there's some fun in these rarely-seen films…which also will probably not be available in any other way for a long time.