Olsen and Johnson's TV show. I can only imagine how hard it was to try and pull THIS off every week!
There are so many gags in the first 12 minutes of the show that the director and cameramen are rarely (if ever) on the right performer at the right time to catch the action.
What a mess...I believe the guy selling the eggs is Erza Stone...who was also the director of this show. Maybe he should have tried to direct it instead? The midget coming out of the steam box is George Brasno. Olsen & Johnson did a later tribute show with Milton Berle in 1956 that recreated the Hellzapoppin' mayhem much better (and was actually staged for TV cameras.) The 1941 film version has a some good sight gags and great comedy support by Shemp Howard and Hugh Herbert.
ReplyDeleteThe Hellzapoppin' show was later restaged for a World's Fair production in NY starring Soupy Sales in the late 60's, and again for Broadway in the later 70's starring Jerry Lewis (it closed out of town).
-Greg
Hellzapoppin' seems to me to be a perfect hook to hang an edition of the Big Apple Circus on, but the last time they tried something like that (Happy On) it didn't quite gell.
ReplyDeleteStill, it's worth another try!
~P
Anyone know who the tramp clown is? He almost looks a bit like Paul Jerome to me?
ReplyDeleteSandy