The other day here, I mentioned a Red Skelton movie called A Southern Yankee, which was made in 1948. My buddy Tom Galloway suggested I mention to you that it's on Turner Classic Movies this evening as part of their Slapstick Festival. On my set (it may be different on yours), it starts at 11 PM following The Bank Dick with W.C. Fields and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. I don't think Mr. Fields, Mssrs. Abbott and Costello or Mr. Skelton were in any movies that were much better than those.
Another great of comedy was represented in A Southern Yankee. At the time, Buster Keaton was out of favor with audiences…or maybe just the folks who then ran studios. He was also out of money so he worked as an uncredited gagman on a lot of movies, this one included. You don't sense the Keaton mind in many of the others but you sure do in this one.
As I wrote here, I once had the chance to hang out with Red Skelton once or twice a week for a while. I kept peppering him with questions about his work and he kept telling me dirty jokes — often the same dirty jokes, each time I encountered him. At the time, Buster Keaton's features were just becoming available to me for viewing at local film fests so I asked Skelton over and over about Keaton. Over and over, Skelton would say something like, "Oh, great comedian but a very sad little man. Oh, so this nun runs into two sailors on shore leave…"
In other words, I didn't get a lot out of them about working with Keaton. But I did hear the story about the parrot in the whorehouse four times, including twice in one encounter.
Anyway, those are three fine comedies there…and the Skelton one is followed by The Inspector General, one of Danny Kaye's better efforts. Then comes Always Leave Them Laughing, which starred Milton Berle and Bert Lahr. This is not one of anyone's better efforts but it does have some nice scenes with Lahr. I wrote about this movie here.
Speaking of Keaton: When he was at his best, he was the best…and on Saturday evening, TCM is running what I think is the best film he ever made and one of the best anyone ever made. It's The General and like most comedies, it's a lot better when you're sharing the experience with a live audience. If you can only watch it on your home TV with a friend or two or even alone…well, you'll enjoy it but try some time to catch it on a big screen with a big audience. Even better.