Goodbye 2010!!!!

Signing off for a few days but just wanted to wish all my readers a happy and healthy New Year!! See you back in 2011 for some more new on the El Brendel front as well as Sexy Time Saturday and other stuff!!

here's "Father Time" El Brendel being told to BEAT IT by "Baby New Year" Marjorie White

Happy Holidays from G.M.T.G.O.D.!!

Just a quick note to wish everyone a happy, healthy, and safe Xmas holiday weekend! I will be back next week with a new update, so until then followers...........

El signing his name to other stars Christmas cards. Wonder where THOSE are now!

NO "Sunny Side Up" restoration on TCM

I just started watching "Sunny Side Up" on TCM and can say without reservation this is NOT the restoration by MoMA and Film Foundation. It does look better than the VHS copy that has been circulating for years, but this is probably an older master Fox pulled out of mothballs for this "premier". BOO!

El kicks TCM's ass Tueday night!!!!

Yes, kiddies, this Tuesday night, December 21st, at 8:00PM (EST), Turner Classic Movies will make the television premier of the new restoration by the Museum of Modern Art and The Film Foundation of 1929's "Sunny Side Up"! This film was one of El Brendel's breakthrough talkie roles and made him one of the most popular comedy stars of the early 30's, it also happens to be one of my personal favorites. Everyone should catch it if not for the wonderful leading roles by Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, but for the AMAZING "Turn on the Heat" dance sequence. I could go on and on about this film (an I will in the future!), but check it out for yourself and enjoy! Here are some scenes from the movie to whet your appetite:


****UPDATE: OMG, if ANYONE can record this on DVD for me I would be much appreciative, my TV where I record died last night and it looks like we won't be getting a new one before Tuesday. HELP!!****

W.B. issues 2 Brendel Tech shorts on Tuesday!

I just got the word from Ron Hutchinson over at the Vitaphone Project, coming this Tuesday from the Warner Archive series will be the first issue of the restored 3-strip Technicolor shorts El released for Warners in 1935. "What? No Men" and "Okay, Jose" will be part of a 6 disc set of Vitaphone shorts showcasing a treasure trove of the early 1 & 2 reelers made by stars of vaudeville for the sound-on-disk system.

I got word a couple years back that although long thought lost, the original 3-strip elements for "What? No Men" had been located and were currently being restored. I had no idea if we would ever see the finished work, but it appears we will be!! It is also not known until I see it, if this version of "What? No Men" will be the edited or complete version, as the film was censored for "INDECENCY" and "TENDS TO CORRUPT MORALS" in 1934 before it's final release in 1935.

El & Phil Regan in a scene from "What? No Men"

Julian Rivero & El (before he got into the drag get up) in "Okay, Jose"

CONTENTS OF THE SET:

Disc One

Vitaphone Pioneers
Stars of Broadway, Vaudeville and Nightclubs (1926-1931) -13 shorts

THE HOWARD BROTHERS in “BETWEEN ACTS AT OPERA” 10-5-1926 Howard Bros. #349
GUS ARNHEIM and HIS COCOANUT GROVE ORCHESTRA June,1928 Gus Arnheim #2584
TAL HENRY AND HIS NORTH CAROLINIANS April,1929 Tal Henry #732
RHYTHMS June,1929 Leo Reisman and his Hotel Brunswick Orchestra #770
THE OPRY HOUSE August, 1929 The Mound City Blue Blowers #834
RED NICHOLS AND HIS FIVE PENNIES December, 1929 Red Nichols #870
LEW FIELDS IN ”23...SKIDOO” June, 1930 Lew Fields #1017
FASHION'S MIRROR October, 1930 Jack Thompson & Barbara Newberry #1045
HENRY SANTREY & HIS SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE January, 1931 Henry Santrey #1128
OPENING NIGHT January ,1931 Dorothy Sands, Peggy Shannon #1138
ONE WAY OUT January, 1931 Thelma White #1153
JACK BUCHANAN WITH THE GLEE QUARTET February, 1930 Jack Buchanan #3816
BUBBLES with the Vitaphone Kiddies 1930 The Gumm Sisters (w/Judy Garland) #3898


Disc Two

Vitaphone Varieties
Music and Comedy Diversions (1931-35) -6 Shorts

THE GRAND DAME May, 1931 Patsy Kelly #1203
NINE O'CLOCK FOLKS June, 1931 Roy Fant, The Mound City Blue Blowers #1220
HOT NEWS MARGIE November, 1931 Marjorie Beebe #1290
THE MILD WEST 11-18-1933 Janet Reade #1582 - 83
ROOFTOPS OF MANHATTAN 11-16-1935 Gil Lamb #1893 - 94
THE DUNCAN SISTERS IN "SURPRISE" 7-27-1935 Duncan Sisters #1915 - 16

Disc Three

Vitaphone presents Movie Memories, Celebrities & Novelties
Holywood/Personalities/Nostalgia (1931-34)– 11 shorts

THRILLS OF YESTERDAY 10-17-1931 Silent-era Serials #1261
MOVIE ALBUM #1 3-5-1932 Old Silent Days #1326
INKLINGS 4-8-1933 Lowell Thomas #1368
MOVIE ALBUM #2 6-4-1932 Old Silent Days #1388
NICKELETTE 9-24-1932 Nickelodeon #1399
MOVIE MEMORIES #1 12-30-1933 Old Silent Days #1517
A PENNY A PEEP 6-30-1934 Nickelodeon Memories #1518
THE CAMERA SPEAKS, THE 8-11-1934 Billy Bitzer #1600
HOLLYWOOD NEWS REEL 6-24-1934 Warner Bros. Stars # 6170
MOVIE MEMORIES #2 10-27-1934 Old Silent Days # 6493
TRIP THROUGH A HOLLYWOOD STUDIO, A 12/7/1934 WB Stars # 6616

Disc Four

Vitaphone Singin’ and Swingin’
Musical delights from the worlds Broadway, Radio, Nightclubs & Vaudeville
(1933-39)-11 shorts

HARRY WARREN, AMERICA’S FOREMOST COMPOSER 11-18-1933 Harry Warren #1544
BARBER SHOP BLUES 9-30-1933 Claude Hopkins #1551
PHIL SPITALNY & HIS ORCH-A BIG CITY FANTASY 4-14-1934 Phil Spitalny #1635
MIRRORS 9-8-1934 Freddie Rich & His Orchestra #1689
PHIL SPITALNY & HIS MUSICAL QUEENS 10-6-1934 Phil Spitalny #1719
DON REDMAN & HIS ORCHESTRA 10-29-1934 Don Redman #1770
MR. & MRS. JESSE CRAWFORD AT HOME 4-15-1939 Jesse and Helen Crawford #B219
VAUDEVILLE REEL #1 10-13-1934 Herb Williams #1751
VAUDEVILLE REEL #2 10-29-1934 Carl Emmy, George and Olive Brasno #1761
VAUDEVILLE REEL #3 2-16-1935 Al Trahan #1778
VAUDEVILLE REEL #4 4-27-1935 Blossom Seeley and Benny Fields/ Pat Rooney Sr. #1791


Disc Five

Vitaphone in TECHNICOLOR!
TECHNICOLOR MUSICAL COMEDY 2-Reelers (1934-35) -6 Shorts

SERVICE WITH A SMILE 7-28-1934 Leon Errol #1700 - 01
GOOD MORNING EVE 9-22-1934 Leon Errol #1702 - 03
WHAT? NO MEN! 11-24-1934 El Brendel #1704 - 05
GYPSY SWEETHEART 3-30-1935 Wini Shaw #1708 - 09
OKAY, JOSE 12-7-1935 El Brendel #7071 - 72
CARNIVAL DAY 5-20-1935 Felix Knight #7143 - 44

Disc Six

Vitaphone in TECHNICOLOR!-
TECHNICOLOR MUSICAL COMEDY 2-Reelers (1935-39 -6 Shorts

KING OF THE ISLANDS 2-22-1936 Wini Shaw #7234 - 35
CHANGING OF THE GUARD 6-6-1936 Sybil Jason #7497 - 98
ECHO MOUNTAIN 8-29-1936 Fred Lawrence #7633 - 34
SUNDAY ROUND-UP, THE 7-10-1936 Dick Foran, Jane .Wyman #7661 - 62
ROMANCE ROAD 1-29-1938 Walter Cassell # 8179 - 80
OUT WHERE THE STARS BEGIN 4-13-1938 All Star Special #8663 - 64

For Stacia - El in drag for "Okay, Jose"

I am posting these three photos in response to Stacia's write-up on El's 1935 Vitaphone short "Okay, Jose" over at her WONDERFUL She Blogged By Night site. In the short, El is forced to dress as a woman to try and lure the bandito into police hands. As such, seeing El in drag is kinda creepy, but not as disturbing as these pics, made up by Warner Bothers, showing El in costume but his face has been airbrushed to give him a more "glamourous" look.

Brendel & Shemp

Here's a video I uploaded from El's stint over at Columbia Pictures making 2-reel comedy shorts. "Pick A Peck of Plumbers" (1944) was the only short El would make with Shemp Howard of Three Stooges fame. This Jules White directed short exhibits the same knock-about style being employed by other comedians on the lot at the time which included The Three Stooges, Harry Langdon, Hugh Herbert, Billy Gilbert, Andy Clyde, among others. As Columbia did for many of their 2 reelers, this is a remake of the 1934 short "Plumbing For Gold" starring George Sidney and Charlie Murray.

PAPOP from Louie Despres on Vimeo.