[Movie + Child Actor = Box Office Bonanza]!

[Stanley Doble]

The way George Burns put it, "the problem is there is no place to be bad anymore". He himself put in 17 years in small time vaudeville doing 3 or 4 shows a day, six days a week without discovering his true comedy talent. Then he met Gracie.

Most of the comedy stars of the twenties through the fifties either developed their skills in vaudeville or live theater, or learned from someone who did. There is nothing like feedback from a live audience.

 

[EmergencyIan]

Enjoy..............

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...&mid=F156F7A26507D8E01D12F156F7A26507D8E01D12

Weezer: Stymie, where do you ever get such ideas? Stymie: "Boy, I'm full of ideas when I'm hungry." Dorothy: "Aww, I knew ham and eggs couldn't talk." Stymie: "Well, they sayin' hello to me stomach riiight now!"

Too funny! (And, that's just the tip of the iceberg in this short)

- Ian

 

[HudsonHawk]

My favorite Stymie episode is one where the gang is after Stymie for stealing a pie, and then he begs around for food and then tries to peel an artichoke...

Cook: Have you got any money?
Stymie: No sir.
Cook: Then how do you expect to eat?
Stymie: We don't expect to, we just want to.

Lady: How about an artichoke, are you a vegetarian?
Stymie: No ma'am, I'm a Methodist

Stymie: It may have choked Artie, but it ain't gonna choke Stymie.


Great lines in that one.

 

[EmergencyIan]

My favorite Stymie episode is one where the gang is after Stymie for stealing a pie, and then he begs around for food and then tries to peel an artichoke...

Cook: Have you got any money?
Stymie: No sir.
Cook: Then how do you expect to eat?
Stymie: We don't expect to, we just want to.

Lady: How about an artichoke, are you a vegetarian?
Stymie: No ma'am, I'm a Methodist

Stymie: It may have choked Artie, but it ain't gonna choke Stymie.


Great lines in that one.

That's hilarious.

- Ian

 

[LizzieMaine]

And the best part of it is, he really knew how to sell those lines -- you didn't have any sense that he was repeating something he'd been taught to say. It's very rare for a child actor to be able to do that, especially one less than ten years old.

 

[rjb1]

"Cook: Have you got any money?
Stymie: No sir.
Cook: Then how do you expect to eat?
Stymie: We don't expect to, we just want to."

I think those are the best lines from any "Our Gang" comedy. For those not familiar with the setup, Stymie and Spanky crawl up on the stools of a lunch stand and proceed to order "fried chicken and biscuits and apple pie and ice cream and chocolate cake and..."
That's when the cook asks his questions. Stymie delivers his responses just perfectly in timing and tone.

I think someone could write a "self-help" book based on "The Stymie Principle" - being able to distinguish between what you want to happen and what you expect to happen.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Of all the kids who ever appeared in the Gang, Stymie was without doubt portrayed as the smartest. Spanky was kind of a wiseguy as a little kid, but when he got older he was just a pompous blowhard. Alfalfa was always a vainglorious idiot. Jackie Cooper was a moonstruck calf, Wheezer was a wormy little manipulator, Tommy/Butch was an incipient thug. Of all the kids, only Stymie really knew how the world worked, and how to make it work to his advantage. He may have been the most subversive character on the 1930's screen.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Of all the kids who ever appeared in the Gang, Stymie was without doubt portrayed as the smartest. Spanky was kind of a wiseguy as a little kid, but when he got older he was just a pompous blowhard. Alfalfa was always a vainglorious idiot. Jackie Cooper was a moonstruck calf, Wheezer was a wormy little manipulator, Tommy/Butch was an incipient thug. Of all the kids, only Stymie really knew how the world worked, and how to make it work to his advantage. He may have been the most subversive character on the 1930's screen.

He was also President of the Ancient and Honery Order of Wood Chucks Club, Inc. So he had that going for him as well.

 

[LizzieMaine]

High sign!

 

[EmergencyIan]

And the best part of it is, he really knew how to sell those lines -- you didn't have any sense that he was repeating something he'd been taught to say. It's very rare for a child actor to be able to do that, especially one less than ten years old.

That's exactly it! I couldn't have articulated it, but you're absolutely right.

- Ian

 

[31 Model A]

A child actress you don't hear much about anymore is Jane Withers -- she was never an above-the-title star, but she was probably the best bratty little sister on the screen during the late thirties.

I always considered her a role model, especially after she grew up to be Josephine the Plumber. I think of her often when I'm unstopping a drain at work.

Came across this, thought of you:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-193...45177?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item1e917779d9