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00:00:00 [Music]
00:00:14 In 1900, when these films were made along New York's 5th Avenue,
00:00:19 two newly born inventions were just beginning to shape and expand our lives.
00:00:23 The automobile and the motion picture.
00:00:26 [Music]
00:00:33 We are traveling up turn-of-the-century Broadway,
00:00:36 a street already world famous for its swank restaurants,
00:00:39 legitimate theaters, and electric lights.
00:00:43 The first movie houses were not to be found here, but on the side streets.
00:00:47 The lowly Nickelodeon catered to the common man,
00:00:50 and from the beginning, comedy was king.
00:00:54 As one showman pointed out, "You can get an onion to make you cry,
00:00:58 but nobody has discovered a vegetable to make you laugh."
00:01:02 Films had to be hand-cranked by the weary projectionist.
00:01:06 In this early French comedy, someone steals into the Paris Conservatory
00:01:11 and makes the great master clock run fast,
00:01:14 which speeds up time everywhere in the city.
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00:03:22 What a difference two decades made.
00:03:24 This is Fifth Avenue in the 1920s.
00:03:27 The automobile had driven the horse from the streets to the racetrack.
00:03:32 And this is Broadway in evolution through the roaring '20s,
00:03:36 as it might have been viewed if we were riding H.G. Wells' time machine.
00:03:41 It's 1920. Marion Davies is playing at the Globe.
00:03:45 Stage attractions still dominate the Great White Way,
00:03:48 like Cinderella on Broadway at the Winter Garden.
00:03:51 1921, midnight photo plays and Chalmers underwear.
00:03:57 1923, the cast of the Ziegfeld Follies includes Fanny Bryce,
00:04:02 Bert Wheeler, and Paul Whiteman.
00:04:04 In 1924, Broadway offers on stage the Marx Brothers, Fred Astaire and Will Rogers.
00:04:12 1925, on screen Lon Chaney is in The Phantom of the Opera.
00:04:18 In 1926, Mae West makes headlines when her show is closed and she is sentenced to jail.
00:04:25 The moving sign above the Capitol Theater in the distance
00:04:28 claims Eric Von Stroheim's production The Merry Widow, starring Mae Murray and John Gilbert.
00:04:36 At the Astor, the big parade is in its second year.
00:04:42 As 1926 ends, Beauget, starring Ronald Coleman, is at the Criterion.
00:04:48 In 1927, the Criterion features old iron sides with Wallace Beery and Charles Farrell.
00:04:55 Also in 1927, signs for the Student Prince and for Cecil B. DeMille's King of Kings light up the Broadway sky.
00:05:03 1928, white shadows in the South Seas, Lost in the Arctic,
00:05:12 and a contest to find new kids for Our Gang comedies.
00:05:16 1929, silent films and the prosperous '20s bow out together.
00:05:22 The lights of Broadway take on a special glow before the Depression dims them and World War II blacks them out.
00:05:29 The sign for the part-talkie Noah's Ark combines electric bulbs and clouds of steam in a display stretching almost a block.
00:05:37 Movie theaters had progressed from shabby Nickelodeon to shining palace.
00:05:45 The old hand-cranked projectionist was only a memory.
00:05:50 Through these early movie years, Oliver Hardy, first of our four clowns,
00:05:55 played a part in the growth of silent comedy from rough beginnings to what many today consider a lost art.
00:06:01 Here he supports Billy West, whose impersonation of Charlie Chaplin was so exact, it was uncanny.
00:06:07 The girl is Leatrice Joy.
00:06:14 Enter a sissy. He's Billy Quirk, the film comedy pioneer, once leading man to Mary Pickford.
00:06:22 [sad music]
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00:07:09 Oliver falls for Leatrice and invites her to the barber's ball,
00:07:15 where trouble develops at once and Billy West proves that when his body's in action,
00:07:20 it's almost impossible to tell him apart from Charlie Chaplin's little friend.
00:07:25 The police arrive. They're looking for a Bay Rum addict with a mustache.
00:07:37 [sad music]
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00:08:10 In the hobo, Charlie, I mean Billy, has just collected a big reward.
00:08:14 It looks like he's also won the girl from young Oliver Hardy, here minus mustache.
00:08:20 [sad music]
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00:08:36 As every moviegoer of 1917 expected, the romantic tables are turned
00:08:41 so that Billy can give us a typical Charlie Chaplin pathos ending.
00:08:46 [sad music]
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00:09:06 Ten years later in No Man's Law, an offbeat Hal Roach western of 1927,
00:09:12 Oliver Hardy plays the grubby villain Sharky Nye.
00:09:15 The girl he's leering at is lovely Barbara Kent.
00:09:19 The other prong of this triangle is the girl's guardian stallion, Rex the Wonder Horse.
00:09:24 [sad music]
00:09:27 Running through the woods, Barbara Kent will remind some moviegoers of Hedy Lamarr in Ecstasy,
00:09:33 made a decade after this.
00:09:35 But don't be concerned, Barbara's wearing a flesh-colored bathing suit.
00:09:39 This is still a family picture.
00:09:42 [sad music]
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00:09:51 [children singing]
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00:10:12 [horse neighing]
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00:10:21 [horse neighing]
00:10:24 [horse neighing]
00:10:28 Barbara orders Rex to let Hardy alone. She shouldn't have.
00:10:32 After a few kicks for good measure, the sensitive stallion retires to the upper ridges,
00:10:38 leaving unprotected our waif of the wasteland.
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00:10:57 [woman screaming]
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00:11:02 [woman screaming]
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00:11:11 [slam]
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00:11:19 [horse neighing]
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00:11:28 [woman screaming]
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00:12:31 Hardy retreats. Rex forecloses the mortgage.
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00:13:03 The second of our four clowns is Stan Laurel.
00:13:06 Before teaming with Oliver Hardy and perfecting the character of Oliver's beloved dim-witted friend,
00:13:13 Stan played brash go-getters like this patent medicine salesman and bird impersonator.
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00:14:08 On a corner nearby, Happy Harry, yesterday's playboy in need of refreshment.
00:14:14 Watch those elevator shoes.
00:14:17 [music]
00:14:20 Harry is beset by a government agent in this bygone age of prohibition.
00:14:26 [music]
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00:15:01 The warden discovers he has visitors in the carpet.
00:15:05 [music]
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00:15:09 It's worse than mice or moths. It's tunneling convict Oliver Hardy.
00:15:14 [music]
00:15:17 And his burrowing cellmate, Stan Laurel.
00:15:20 This cow-roach comedy, the second hundred years, was the first official Laurel and Hardy release.
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00:15:54 The masterful Oliver Hardy, signs mean nothing.
00:15:59 But he demonstrates that to be a successful Christmas tree salesman in sunny California, you have to be both persistent and hard-headed.
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00:16:30 Mistaken for visiting royalty, Laurel and Hardy register in style.
00:16:36 Actually, Stanley and Oliver, who were always starting new jobs, are reporting as doormen from the bottom of the labor barrel.
00:16:44 [music]
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00:16:57 (upbeat music)
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00:17:30 - Quickly reduced to their proper station,
00:17:44 Stan and Ollie become involved in a monetary crisis.
00:17:47 (upbeat music)
00:17:56 Oliver Hardy versus the law.
00:17:59 (upbeat music)
00:18:02 (train whistle blowing)
00:18:06 (upbeat music)
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00:18:18 Oliver has a terrible time getting skittish
00:18:39 Scotch nephew Stanley fitted for a pair of pants.
00:18:42 Really?
00:18:46 (upbeat music)
00:18:48 (train whistle blowing)
00:18:56 (upbeat music)
00:18:59 (train whistle blowing)
00:19:13 (upbeat music)
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00:19:31 (train whistle blowing)
00:19:41 (upbeat music)
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00:19:54 Oliver vows he'll get those measurements
00:20:16 no matter what the consequences.
00:20:17 (upbeat music)
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00:20:22 The consequences.
00:20:40 (upbeat music)
00:20:43 Betrayed.
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00:21:23 Laurel and Hardy, two tires on shore leave.
00:21:41 And shipwreck.
00:21:43 (upbeat music)
00:21:45 (upbeat music)
00:21:48 The gum machine won't work.
00:22:02 Neither will Thelma and Ruby.
00:22:04 The mere damsels in distress always bring out
00:22:07 the devil may care romantic side of Stanley and Oliver.
00:22:11 (upbeat music)
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00:23:13 Pick them up, says Stanley.
00:23:37 Put them in here.
00:23:38 (upbeat music)
00:23:41 Enter shopkeeper Charlie Hall.
00:23:54 Laurel and Hardy's eternal opponent.
00:23:57 (upbeat music)
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00:24:03 Just cleaning things up, explains Oliver.
00:24:14 (upbeat music)
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00:24:21 Thelma commands, go help your shipmate.
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00:25:33 This 1928 Hal Roach comedy, Their Purple Moment,
00:25:57 was dedicated to husbands who hold out
00:25:59 part of their pay envelope on their wives
00:26:02 and live to tell about it.
00:26:04 (upbeat music)
00:26:06 Stanley hides his loot in a portrait of Uncle Sneed,
00:26:11 a natural place to store money.
00:26:13 Because he couldn't take it with him,
00:26:16 Uncle Sneed wouldn't go.
00:26:17 (upbeat music)
00:26:20 Guests arrive, friend Oliver and Mrs. Hardy.
00:26:28 (upbeat music)
00:26:30 Mrs. Laurel replaces Stan's money with cigar coupons,
00:26:50 the trading stamps of their day.
00:26:52 (upbeat music)
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00:26:57 Hardy's wife is a bloodhound.
00:27:11 The most money he gets to keep is five cents car fare,
00:27:14 and he has to show the transfer.
00:27:17 But Laurel explains he's a weasel
00:27:19 with a hiding place even a wife couldn't find.
00:27:23 (upbeat music)
00:27:25 Oliver, the financial advisor,
00:27:29 has one-way pockets marked out.
00:27:32 Naturally, he knows just the way to spend Stanley's savings.
00:27:35 The town gossip.
00:27:39 (upbeat music)
00:27:42 Fine day for mischief, observes Mrs. Fisheye.
00:27:52 Let's go, says Oliver.
00:27:53 (upbeat music)
00:28:19 Two guys who couldn't pay the bill are expelled from Eden,
00:28:23 the Cafe Eden, that is.
00:28:25 They're followed by the girlfriends
00:28:27 they left with a check, Kay DeLeese and Anita Garvin,
00:28:30 a pair of roving debutantes.
00:28:32 (upbeat music)
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00:28:37 Oliver solves it all.
00:29:04 They'll assume responsibility.
00:29:06 The age of chivalry lives on,
00:29:08 down to the last dollar Stanley thinks he has.
00:29:12 (upbeat music)
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00:30:22 Cigar coupons.
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00:30:42 Put it on the check, says Stanley.
00:30:59 (upbeat music)
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00:31:04 A taxi driver joins the party.
00:31:15 The girls, who believe in instant transportation,
00:31:18 left him outside with a clock running.
00:31:20 In 1928, there wasn't a man living
00:31:24 who could lift the stuff you could buy
00:31:26 with the amount on that meter.
00:31:28 Sit down, have a steak, says good time Oliver.
00:31:32 (upbeat music)
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00:31:59 Oliver suggests a fast exit, the tippy toe route.
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00:32:51 Wait till this number's over, requests Hardy.
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00:33:40 From a nightmare to grim reality,
00:33:43 from a skirmish to Armageddon, here come the wise.
00:33:47 (upbeat music)
00:33:50 The head waiter, played by Tiny Sanford, is back.
00:34:00 This time he'll either see green or red.
00:34:03 (upbeat music)
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00:34:51 At this moment of crisis, Oliver announces he has an idea.
00:35:02 (upbeat music)
00:35:05 Tell them your idea, Ollie, says Stanley.
00:35:18 We were heading for the bowling alley, explains Oliver,
00:35:21 when Stanley dragged me to this den of vice.
00:35:24 No one has replaced Laurel and Hardy,
00:35:28 just as no one has replaced Chaplin or Keaton or Fields.
00:35:32 Good comedians have many imitators.
00:35:36 The great clowns stand alone.
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00:36:55 Our third clown is Charlie Chase,
00:37:13 the original good time Charlie,
00:37:15 whose elk's tooth had a cavity.
00:37:18 Lindbergh had just flown the Atlantic.
00:37:20 Lucky Lindy referred to himself and his plane as we,
00:37:25 and the term became a household word.
00:37:27 So Charlie made a comedy called Us,
00:37:30 in which he tried to get up courage to take his first flight.
00:37:33 (upbeat music)
00:37:37 Says the little old lady, it's great.
00:37:50 Tomorrow I'll try wing walking.
00:37:51 (upbeat music)
00:38:19 Says mother, flying soothes her better than a cradle.
00:38:23 (upbeat music)
00:38:26 (crying)
00:38:48 (upbeat music)
00:38:51 Says granddad, it sure beats goat land.
00:39:04 Charlie cries, nothing can stop me this time.
00:39:15 Made in 1927, this film is a memento
00:39:17 of a time not so long ago,
00:39:19 when dusty cow pastures were transformed into airports.
00:39:23 Planes were made of piano wire, canvas and plywood,
00:39:27 and a five minute flight was one of life's great adventures.
00:39:30 (upbeat music)
00:39:35 (gunshot)
00:39:37 No refunds, yells the one man ground crew.
00:39:48 Get in there and fly.
00:39:49 We've got customers waiting for that coat.
00:39:51 (upbeat music)
00:39:55 (gunshots)
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00:40:03 (gunshots)
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00:40:12 Another daring rescue ruined by lack of danger.
00:40:38 (upbeat music)
00:40:40 The girl he thought he saved is an aviatrix,
00:40:49 and Charlie's going up at last.
00:40:51 (upbeat music)
00:40:53 (gunshots)
00:41:06 (upbeat music)
00:41:09 (gunshots)
00:41:28 (upbeat music)
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00:41:39 (siren blaring)
00:42:01 (siren blaring)
00:42:04 (gunshots)
00:42:14 Charlie Chase's life was one long embarrassing moment.
00:42:26 (upbeat music)
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00:42:31 (siren blaring)
00:42:49 In What Price Goofy,
00:42:57 a takeoff on the title of the then current stage hit,
00:43:00 What Price Glory,
00:43:01 Charlie has been asked to put up a certain Professor Boggs
00:43:04 as house guest.
00:43:06 He has no idea Professor Boggs is a beautiful woman
00:43:09 with May Murray type, bee stung lips.
00:43:12 Another visitor, Noah Young,
00:43:16 a burglar so busy as crowbars suffering from mental fatigue.
00:43:20 Butler Lucian Littlefield announces the professors
00:43:24 in the guest room upstairs.
00:43:27 Unsuspecting Charlie,
00:43:28 who thinks all professors are old fogies,
00:43:31 decides it's time to dress for dinner.
00:43:33 En route home, Charlie's wife.
00:43:35 (upbeat music)
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00:45:00 Mrs. Chase arrives.
00:45:21 Her sunny disposition resembles that of a hyena
00:45:23 with a sore nose.
00:45:24 (upbeat music)
00:45:28 Charlie admits the little woman.
00:45:30 While she's accusing him of stepping out,
00:45:33 Noah's stepping in.
00:45:34 (upbeat music)
00:45:37 Chase calls the professor to dinner.
00:45:44 In his Cal Roach comedies,
00:45:45 poor Charlie was always innocent,
00:45:47 but he got caught anyway.
00:45:49 (upbeat music)
00:45:52 Buddy the terrier is such a bad watchdog,
00:45:54 he won't even watch.
00:45:56 Hungry for culture, Noah stole a cap and gown
00:45:59 before tackling the silverware.
00:46:01 (upbeat music)
00:46:03 The professor misinterprets Charlie's pleading for silence
00:46:06 as some kind of attack.
00:46:08 - Help!
00:46:09 (upbeat music)
00:46:11 Help!
00:46:12 (upbeat music)
00:46:15 Help!
00:46:17 (upbeat music)
00:46:20 (upbeat music)
00:46:22 - Who, me?
00:46:36 I'm just taking out the laundry.
00:46:38 (upbeat music)
00:46:40 (yells)
00:46:45 (upbeat music)
00:46:48 (upbeat music)
00:46:51 - In Fluttering Hearts,
00:46:55 Charlie Chase makes a clothes store dummy come alive.
00:46:59 Oliver Hardy is the tipsy victim who couldn't
00:47:01 and shouldn't believe his eyes.
00:47:04 (upbeat music)
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00:47:53 (yells)
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00:48:09 (yells)
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00:48:43 (upbeat music)
00:48:46 The bugs are bad this year, observes Oliver.
00:48:52 (upbeat music)
00:48:55 On movie night, Charlie's daughter,
00:49:06 played by Edith Fellows, comes down with a hiccups.
00:49:09 Old medicine man Charlie attempts to scare them away.
00:49:13 (upbeat music)
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00:49:41 (upbeat music)
00:49:43 (yells)
00:49:54 (upbeat music)
00:50:01 Darn hiccups, that means no movie tonight.
00:50:10 The horror is instantaneous.
00:50:12 (upbeat music)
00:50:14 More hiccups, Charlie, the good Samaritan,
00:50:37 decides he'll use the same scare technique
00:50:40 to cure the cashier too.
00:50:42 (upbeat music)
00:50:45 (yells)
00:50:49 (upbeat music)
00:50:52 In family group, Charlie, wife and baby,
00:50:59 pose for a portrait.
00:51:01 Charlie's pea shooting son is on the window seat.
00:51:04 The photographer is Edgar Kennedy.
00:51:06 (upbeat music)
00:51:09 Without a balloon in the picture,
00:51:32 Edgar's camera won't work.
00:51:34 (upbeat music)
00:51:37 (upbeat music)
00:51:40 (gunshot)
00:51:42 (upbeat music)
00:51:45 (gunshot)
00:51:58 (upbeat music)
00:52:07 (upbeat music)
00:52:10 Nothing could stop Charlie Chase
00:52:31 in his everlasting journey from bad to worse.
00:52:34 He buys all the balloons just in time
00:52:37 for a California windstorm.
00:52:39 (upbeat music)
00:52:42 (upbeat music)
00:52:45 What's holding him up?
00:53:06 Wonders Gertrude Astor is Charlie's wife.
00:53:08 Look.
00:53:09 (upbeat music)
00:53:13 Goodness, moans Mrs. Chase.
00:53:15 This never would have happened
00:53:16 if he'd eaten a heavy breakfast.
00:53:18 (upbeat music)
00:53:21 (upbeat music)
00:53:25 (upbeat music)
00:53:27 (upbeat music)
00:53:30 (upbeat music)
00:53:32 (upbeat music)
00:53:51 (upbeat music)
00:53:54 (gunshot)
00:54:02 (upbeat music)
00:54:04 (gunshot)
00:54:06 (upbeat music)
00:54:09 Viola Richard's car runs wild in Limousine Love,
00:54:19 and Charlie Chase misadventure in depth.
00:54:22 (upbeat music)
00:54:25 Viola's unhurt, but her flaming youth got all damp.
00:54:29 She spots an empty limousine.
00:54:32 Cars of the 20s with shades and cut glass vases
00:54:36 made perfect dressing rooms.
00:54:38 In today's models, you'd have a hard time dressing a midget.
00:54:42 (upbeat music)
00:54:45 Meanwhile, Charlie, the limousine's owner,
00:54:48 discovers gas trucks don't sell retail.
00:54:51 There's adventure minus dressing ahead for Charlie,
00:54:55 a bridegroom to be already late for his wedding.
00:54:59 (upbeat music)
00:55:02 (tires screeching)
00:55:06 (upbeat music)
00:55:17 (tires screeching)
00:55:20 Charlie discovers he had gasoline all the time.
00:55:26 Remember when cars carried spare gas on their running boards?
00:55:30 Remember when cars had running boards?
00:55:33 (upbeat music)
00:55:36 (tires screeching)
00:55:39 (upbeat music)
00:55:46 There go Viola's clothes, every stitch.
00:55:50 (upbeat music)
00:55:53 Viola through the speaker.
00:56:03 Quick, catch my clothing, out the window.
00:56:05 I'll explain later.
00:56:07 (upbeat music)
00:56:10 (upbeat music)
00:56:13 (upbeat music)
00:56:15 (upbeat music)
00:56:18 (record scratches)
00:56:27 (upbeat music)
00:56:30 (upbeat music)
00:56:45 That's all there is, there isn't any more.
00:56:49 A bride at the church, a naked woman in the car,
00:56:54 and along hobbles Edgar Kennedy,
00:56:56 the most persistent hitchhiker west of Upper Sandusky.
00:57:00 You can have a lift, says Charlie, but not in the backseat.
00:57:03 Not in the backseat.
00:57:05 (upbeat music)
00:57:07 Charlie explains about his cargo in the rear,
00:57:12 and Edgar smiles knowingly.
00:57:14 He belongs to that great fraternity of men
00:57:17 who have been around a bit themselves.
00:57:20 (upbeat music)
00:57:22 Up roars a cop looking for contraband booze,
00:57:27 flooding the land in these days of prohibition.
00:57:30 Charlie has the guilty look of someone hauling bathtub gin.
00:57:34 (upbeat music)
00:57:36 Pull over, orders the policeman.
00:57:38 The presence of an arm of authority
00:57:40 quickly transforms experienced Edgar
00:57:43 from passenger to innocent bystander.
00:57:46 (upbeat music)
00:57:49 Okay, brother, let's see what's inside, commands the law.
00:57:53 No, no, pleads poor Charlie.
00:57:55 Yes, yes, says the cop.
00:57:59 (upbeat music)
00:58:01 (upbeat music)
00:58:04 (upbeat music)
00:58:32 It's all right, chum, I'm only looking for rum runners.
00:58:35 (upbeat music)
00:58:37 Bootleggers, they were everywhere.
00:58:54 (upbeat music)
00:58:56 Edgar suggests they circle his hotel,
00:59:00 and he'll pick up some clothing.
00:59:02 But wouldn't you know it, Edgar's hotel is just the place
00:59:05 they're holding Charlie's wedding.
00:59:07 (upbeat music)
00:59:09 I can't stop the car, yells Charlie.
00:59:26 It's the pickup.
00:59:27 (upbeat music)
00:59:29 The best man volunteers.
00:59:31 I'll stop it.
00:59:32 Charlie has to share his secret.
00:59:34 The males of the 20s were not as yet fully domesticated.
00:59:38 They stuck together.
00:59:40 (upbeat music)
00:59:41 We can't stop, there's something wrong with her body.
00:59:44 (upbeat music)
00:59:47 Her motor's racing, she needs to be greased.
00:59:55 (upbeat music)
00:59:58 (upbeat music)
01:00:01 The case is hopeless, it's the naked truth.
01:00:07 That's enough of that, says the father of the bride.
01:00:10 I'll stop it.
01:00:11 (upbeat music)
01:00:14 Now Charlie has to tell all the dear old dad.
01:00:24 It happens to the best of us, says father.
01:00:26 You should have seen what used to go on in my Stanley steamer.
01:00:30 (upbeat music)
01:00:33 There's no stopping her now, she's stripped.
01:00:39 (upbeat music)
01:00:41 When at 30, something's gumming up her wedding.
01:00:44 Never underestimate the power of a woman.
01:00:47 (upbeat music)
01:00:51 (upbeat music)
01:00:53 The determined to be bride kills the switch.
01:01:01 (bell ringing)
01:01:03 My, my, says Charlie.
01:01:04 Now, why didn't we think of that?
01:01:06 (bell ringing)
01:01:08 (bell ringing)
01:01:11 One, two, up.
01:01:27 (upbeat music)
01:01:30 (upbeat music)
01:01:32 (upbeat music)
01:01:35 (upbeat music)
01:02:03 What's going on here, asks the bride.
01:02:05 Oh, this is our lodge ceremony,
01:02:07 explains quick thinking Charlie.
01:02:09 (upbeat music)
01:02:12 (upbeat music)
01:02:23 (upbeat music)
01:02:25 (upbeat music)
01:02:28 (upbeat music)
01:02:30 (upbeat music)
01:02:58 (upbeat music)
01:03:01 My goodness, cries mother,
01:03:17 don't tell me you'd marry that leaping bedsheet.
01:03:20 (upbeat music)
01:03:23 (upbeat music)
01:03:25 (upbeat music)
01:03:51 (upbeat music)
01:03:53 Off to his wedding goes Charlie Chase,
01:04:06 man of the roaring 20s,
01:04:08 a simpler, happier and long vanished moment of time.
01:04:12 Our fourth clown is Buster Keaton.
01:04:16 He and friend J. Roy Barnes
01:04:18 learned from lawyer Snits Edwards
01:04:20 that Buster is to inherit $7 million,
01:04:23 providing he is married by 7 p.m. on his 21st birthday.
01:04:28 And when is his 21st birthday?
01:04:32 That very day.
01:04:34 The long arm of coincidence often stretched out of its socket
01:04:38 in this era of movie making
01:04:40 when fun was more important than logic.
01:04:42 (upbeat music)
01:04:44 He's off to propose to Genevieve,
01:04:48 his sweetheart since childhood.
01:04:50 (upbeat music)
01:04:53 (upbeat music)
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01:05:07 (upbeat music)
01:05:20 (upbeat music)
01:05:34 (upbeat music)
01:05:37 (upbeat music)
01:05:47 Buster's girl Genevieve is thrilled at first,
01:06:02 but then he lets slip that business about 7 o'clock
01:06:05 and $7 million and the climate changes.
01:06:09 She's afraid he wants to marry her for his money.
01:06:13 (upbeat music)
01:06:16 (upbeat music)
01:06:32 (upbeat music)
01:06:34 (upbeat music)
01:06:46 Rejected by the girl he loves,
01:06:52 poor Buster decides it doesn't matter whom he marries.
01:06:56 He'll marry anyone who'll have him, even a golfette,
01:07:00 as long as it's before 7 o'clock.
01:07:03 (upbeat music)
01:07:05 (laughing)
01:07:16 (upbeat music)
01:07:21 (upbeat music)
01:07:24 (upbeat music)
01:07:38 (upbeat music)
01:07:40 Prodded by friend and lawyer, Buster proposes on.
01:07:56 (upbeat music)
01:07:59 (upbeat music)
01:08:02 (upbeat music)
01:08:22 (upbeat music)
01:08:24 (upbeat music)
01:08:32 (upbeat music)
01:08:40 (upbeat music)
01:08:50 (upbeat music)
01:08:53 Soothed by mother, Buster's girl writes him a note.
01:09:01 Translated from female into English, it reads, "Yes."
01:09:05 (upbeat music)
01:09:08 Mary doesn't trust the phone.
01:09:15 Anyway, in those days, proper girls didn't call boys.
01:09:19 Mary wasn't ladylike.
01:09:21 So she sends her message by pony express.
01:09:24 (upbeat music)
01:09:27 J. Roy Barnes has an idea.
01:09:32 "I'll get a bride," he says.
01:09:34 "Meet me at the Broad Street Church at five."
01:09:37 (upbeat music)
01:09:48 Too late.
01:09:49 (upbeat music)
01:09:52 (laughing)
01:10:06 An acceptance at last.
01:10:14 Is this movie over?
01:10:16 (upbeat music)
01:10:19 Too early.
01:10:29 (upbeat music)
01:10:32 "Even if you play grownup in my makeup and coat,"
01:10:37 says mother, "you're still only 12."
01:10:40 (upbeat music)
01:10:43 (laughing)
01:10:45 (upbeat music)
01:10:56 A proposal wheel to wheel.
01:11:02 (upbeat music)
01:11:05 (upbeat music)
01:11:07 (gun firing)
01:11:17 (upbeat music)
01:11:19 (upbeat music)
01:11:27 Barnes' big idea.
01:11:29 Give the story to the newspaper.
01:11:31 (upbeat music)
01:11:34 (upbeat music)
01:11:37 (upbeat music)
01:11:39 (upbeat music)
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01:12:57 "There," says Barnes, "I've done it.
01:13:13 "That should flush out a bride or two."
01:13:15 (upbeat music)
01:13:17 (upbeat music)
01:13:20 (upbeat music)
01:13:22 (upbeat music)
01:13:25 (upbeat music)
01:13:53 This comedy, "Seven Chances," was made in 1925.
01:13:57 Almost a half century later, Niagara Falls
01:14:01 and Reno still signify the ins and outs of marriage.
01:14:09 (upbeat music)
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01:15:18 (upbeat music)
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01:17:23 (upbeat music)
01:17:33 (upbeat music)
01:17:50 (upbeat music)
01:17:53 - The minister speaks.
01:17:58 Ladies, may I please have your attention?
01:18:01 You're evidently the victims of some practical joker.
01:18:06 I must ask you to leave the church as quickly
01:18:08 and as quietly as possible.
01:18:11 (upbeat music)
01:18:14 (upbeat music)
01:18:20 (upbeat music)
01:18:22 (sirens blaring)
01:18:48 (upbeat music)
01:18:50 Buster gets the message.
01:19:16 Genevieve is his.
01:19:18 Nothing stands between our hero and happiness
01:19:21 but time, space, and an unmarried mob.
01:19:25 (upbeat music)
01:19:44 Keaton loses his watch.
01:19:46 With that seven o'clock deadline looming ever nearer,
01:19:49 he has to know the time.
01:19:51 (upbeat music)
01:19:54 (upbeat music)
01:19:57 (upbeat music)
01:20:25 (upbeat music)
01:20:28 Upstairs, the life of somebody's party
01:20:39 awakens to the morning after.
01:20:41 (upbeat music)
01:20:54 45 minutes left.
01:20:56 (upbeat music)
01:21:00 (bell ringing)
01:21:02 (upbeat music)
01:21:11 (upbeat music)
01:21:28 (upbeat music)
01:21:55 (upbeat music)
01:22:24 (upbeat music)
01:22:27 (upbeat music)
01:22:34 Directions on the run.
01:22:46 Bring the minister to Genevieve's house.
01:22:48 I'll get there before seven if I can.
01:22:51 This film was directed, apparently a full gallop,
01:22:54 by Buster Keaton himself.
01:22:56 (upbeat music)
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01:29:50 (upbeat music)
01:29:52 - Follow me, directs the lead Amazon.
01:30:08 I know a shortcut.
01:30:09 We'll head him off at the pass.
01:30:11 (upbeat music)
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01:34:24 - Married in the nick of time.
01:34:33 Eternal happiness, love, wealth.
01:34:36 No worries, except keeping out of the way
01:34:40 of a few thousand disappointed brides.
01:34:43 (bell ringing)
01:34:47 (upbeat music)
01:34:52 (upbeat music)
01:34:54 (upbeat music)
01:34:57 (upbeat music)
01:35:12 (upbeat music)
01:35:15 - Did you pick out 18 year old Jean Harlow?
01:35:35 She was the woman who lost her dress
01:35:37 in Laurel and Hardy's Double Whoopie.
01:35:39 She continued to play small roles
01:35:41 in short features for two more years
01:35:43 before Howard Hughes cast her in Hell's Angels.
01:35:46 And finally, who was this guy Charlie Chase?
01:35:49 Well, he was a very talented fellow
01:35:51 from Baltimore, Maryland.
01:35:53 He starred in, produced, wrote, or directed
01:35:55 an amazing 155 films for HowlRoad Studios,
01:35:59 most of which were shorts.
01:36:01 And he also appeared with many of the top
01:36:03 comedy stars of the day, including Charlie Chaplin
01:36:05 and Laurel and Hardy, of course.
01:36:07 In the late '30s, he directed some of the early
01:36:10 famous pictures.
01:36:12 But success didn't make Charlie Chase very happy.
01:36:14 He was always a very heavy drinker
01:36:16 and he had an unhappy marriage
01:36:18 and that made it a lot worse.
01:36:20 And he was just 46 years old
01:36:22 when he died of a heart attack.
01:36:24 Now, I come from Baltimore and he was
01:36:26 one of our very big stars.
01:36:28 We were very proud of him.
01:36:30 He was a very talented man and his name
01:36:32 is remembered by movie buffs around the world.
01:36:34 Now watch this.