The Bootleg Files: Laugh-In

Posted on September 12, 2025 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 918: “Laugh-In” (short-lived 1977 reboot of the classic comedy show).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Legal issues are keeping it out of commercial re-release.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

In 1977, NBC offered its audience “Laugh-In,” a reboot of the classic 1968-73 comedy series “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.” George Schlatter, the producer on the original series, was brought back to helm this new effort. However, Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, the stars of the original production, were unaware this new series was being created – and considering that they owned a piece of that franchise, the lack of communication created more than just ill-will. Rowan & Martin sued Schlatter for using the original show’s format without their permission – the lawsuit was settled out of court in 1980.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Wideo Wabbit (1956)

Posted on September 10, 2025 by Phil Hall

Wideo Wabbit (1956)
Directed by Robert McKimson
Story by Tedd Pierce
Music by Carl Stalling
Animation by Ted Bonnicksen, Keith Darling, Russ Dyson, George Grandpré

Bugs Bunny answers a newspaper advertisement seeking a rabbit to appear on-camera at QTTV-TV. Bugs shows up and is hired, unaware that his job is to be the prey in Elmer Fudd’s television program “The Sportsman’s Hour,” sponsored by The French Fried Fresh Frozen Rabbit Company. Bugs narrowly avoids being shot by Elmer on live television and escapes through the corridors of the television studio, disguising himself as various small-screen personalities before turning tables on his predator by tricking Elmer to dress as a rabbit. Bugs then dresses up like Elmer and shoots the rabbit-suited Elmer on television.
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Sappy Bull Fighters (1959)

Posted on September 8, 2025 by Phil Hall

The final Three Stooges short to receive a theatrical release – although it was not the final short to be produced at the Columbia Pictures studio – “Sappy Bull Fighters” is a rehash of the 1942 “What’s the Matador?”, with the silly trio playing entertainers who get hired to perform a comedy bullfight during a lull in a genuine bullfighting tournament.
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The Bootleg Files – Portrait: A Man Whose Name Was John

Posted on September 5, 2025 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 917: “Portrait: A Man Whose Name Was John” (1973 television film starring Raymond Burr).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the proverbial cracks.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: It deserves one.

I have a huge regret in writing this particular column – I wish I wrote it years earlier. Indeed, the film “Portrait: A Man Whose Name Was John” was on my to-do list for the longest time, but I only now got around to it. And while I am angry with my self-inflicted delay, I am overjoyed to report this film is one of the finest to be featured in The Bootleg Files series.
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Every Bugs Bunny Ever: A Star is Bored (1956)

Posted on September 3, 2025 by Phil Hall

A Star is Bored (1956)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by Warren Foster
Animation by Art Davis, Virgil Ross, Gerry Chiniquy
Music by Milt Franklyn

Daffy Duck is the malcontented janitor at a movie studio where Bugs Bunny is the reigning screen star. Annoyed at the attention Bugs is receiving, Daffy marches into the office of the casting director to demand a crack at stardom. Daffy is cast as Bugs’ stunt double in an ongoing production and is dressed in a rabbit suit but soon discovers to his frustration he is being assigned the most dangerous stunts.
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The Mystery of Christopher Jones

Posted on September 1, 2025 by Phil Hall

A truly peculiar Hollywood mystery involved Christopher Jones, who became an overnight sensation in the mid-1960s but abruptly walked away from show business after five years in the spotlight. Michael Gregg Michaud, the film historian who documented the life of another troubled Hollywood star in the excellent 2010 book “Sal Mineo: A Biography,” does a brilliant job in excavating the complex story of Jones’ turbulent life in his new work “Christopher Jones – Wild in the Streets – A Biography.”
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The Bear That Wasn’t (1967)

Posted on September 1, 2025 by Phil Hall

Notable as the final animated short produced and released by MGM, this 1967 film is adapted from Frank Tashlin’s 1947 children’s book about a bear who awakens from hibernation to find a construction site was erected around his cave while he was sleeping. A construction foreman accosts the bear and demands to know why he’s not working, but when the bear identifies himself the foreman insists he is only “a silly man who needs a shave and wears a fur coat.” The bear insists he is not an employee, so he taken by the foreman up the corporate chain of command – to the general manager, the third vice president, the second vice president, the first vice president and the president – who all inform the astonished ursine interloper that he is “a silly man who needs a shave and wears a fur coat.” The bear is then taken to a zoo where the occupants in a cage of bears affirms the executives’ insistence that the bear is not a bear.
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