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The Bootleg Files: Spook to Me

BOOTLEG FILES 895: “Spook to Me” (1945 comedy short starring Andy Clyde and Dudley Dickerson).

LAST SEEN: On the Internet Archive.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the cracks.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

If any star of Hollywood’s Golden Age was in need of a revived public interest, it would be Andy Clyde. With a career spanning from the Mack Sennett silent comedies to the 1960s sitcoms, Clyde was a welcome presence both as a star and a supporting character – usually playing a doddering, slightly cranky but mostly endearing elderly chap.
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Western Wednesdays: The Devil’s Playground (1946)

SYNOPSIS:
Hopalong Cassidy [William Boyd] along with his saddlemates California Carlson [Andy Clyde] and Lucky Jenkins [Rand Brooks] discover Mrs. Evans [Elaine Riley] running away from their shack just outside of the canyon known as the Devil’s Playground. They board her for the night while Hoppy goes out to investigate. His trail leads him to the Devil’s Playground as well as shifty Judge Morton [Robert Elliott] and his gang. Morton claims that Evans is his daughter and that he has been attempting to locate her. They head back to the shack only to find Evans has escaped with Carlson’s clothes on her back.
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The Andy Clyde Columbia Comedies

Andy Clyde starred in the second-longest series of shorts at Columbia Pictures (after the Three Stooges), with nearly 80 productions from 1934 to 1956. On this episode of “The Online Movie Show,” film historian James L. Neibaur, author “The Andy Clyde Columbia Comedies,” discusses the funnyman’s celebrated output.

The episode can be heard here.