Western Wednesdays: Silly Billies (1936)

Posted on October 18, 2023 by Geno Cuddy

SYNOPSIS:
The citizens of LittleTown are preparing to head off to California in search of gold, lead by Hank Bewley [Harry Woods]. Meanwhile, headed to LittleTown are Roy Banks [Bert Wheeler], assistant to dentist Dr. Philip “Painless” Pennington [Robert Woolsey] and school teacher Mary Blake [Dorothy Lee].

Once Pennington and crew arrive to LittleTown they meet up with crooked real estate magnate John Little [Richard Alexander] who promptly squeezes Pennington dry of five hundred dollars for one of the buildings in town. The trio engage in a drinking party to celebrate the success of the sale and Pennington and Banks proceed to get heavily plastered. At the same time, Blake is offered and accepts a proposition to teach on the trail west.

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Wheeler and Woolsey: The Pre-Code Funnymen

Posted on April 13, 2020 by Phil Hall

Few comics took full advantage of the loose standards of Pre-Code Hollywood with more gusto than the team of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey. In this episode of “The Online Movie Show,” film historian and podcaster Geno Cuddy offers insight on the duo’s saucy on-screen antics and classic routines.

The episode can be heard here.

The Bootleg Files: So This is Africa

Posted on January 25, 2019 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 670: “So This is Africa” (1933 comedy starring Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: No perceived commercial value.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely at this time.

It is a common misconception that the Pre-Code Hollywood era was a period when almost anything was possible on the screen. And while the implementation of the 1934 establishment of the Production Code Administration brought a heavy-handed degree of censorship to film production, there was plenty of censorship going on at both a national, state and city level.
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