Here's a fun link - the Stanford theater in Palo Alto, California is
now a "revival house" showing classic films, but back in the '30s, '40s
and '50s, it showed then-current releases, which of course are now
considered classics. At this link, you can see what they showed
year-by-year. For classic comedy fans, there are some interesting
pairings (like a 1930s Laurel & Hardy short shown with an early Olsen &
Johnson feature) and folks like Clark & McCullough, the Marx Brothers,
the Bowery Boys, Abbott & Costello and others are all well-represented.
And plenty of Stan & Ollie, of course (both shorts and features, into
their 1940s output)! Interesting to note films that were re-released
over the years as well (for example, the animated feature "Hoppity Goes
to Town" playing a good 10 years...

Oh, and I'm remiss in not mentioning Charley Chase, the Boy Friends,
and other Roach films can also be found on the link...

I went through year-by-year and found all the Laurel & Hardy
screenings. Some interesting pairings here. For features, if the
Laurel & Hardy film is mentioned first, that means it was the top half
of a double bill. If it's mentioned second, then it was the bottom
half of the bill. Interesting to note the boys had slipped into bottom
half billing during the later Roach years - I had thought that only
started happening with the Roach films. Also of note are those films
that were re-released and shown as matinees. This particular theater
was very fond of the boys - I saw several listings for the Marx
Brothers, Wheeler & Woolsey, W.C. Fields, Bob Hope (with & without
Bing), Abbott & Costello, the Bowery Boys (in all their incarnations),
Jerry Lewis (with and without Dean) and others in the...

CORRECTION!!! I WROTE:

Interesting to note the boys had slipped into bottom
half billing during the later Roach years - I had thought that only
started happening with the Roach films.

I MEANT TO WRITE:

Interesting to note the boys had slipped into bottom
half billing during the later Roach years - I had thought that only
started happening with the '40s films.

On 1 Jan 2007 16:59:40 -0800, paul.castiglia@verizon.net wrote:

| I went through year-by-year and found all the Laurel & Hardy
| screenings. Some interesting pairings here. For features, if the
| Laurel & Hardy film is mentioned first, that means it was the top half...

On Mon, 01 Jan 2007 22:28:55 -0500, I wrote:

| I didn't check all that many, but it seems L&H films are often listed second
| when they have a shorter running time than the top billed film. Each top billed
| L&H film I checked on has a longer running time than the second billed film.
|
| Wonder if running time might have determined the place in billing rather than
| popularity or perceived quality? That's just a guess since I really didn't
| compare enough times to say it's definitely the case.

That's it! Curiosity got the better of me, so I checked them all. Most of the
L&H films were actually "shorts" that were shown in addition to feature films.
The one and a half departures from this both actually favor films with L&H:
Hollywood Party is tied with its running mate at 70 minutes, but is listed first
(June 16, 1934); The Flying Deuces is listed first, but it's a minute shorter
than the second billed Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President (January 10,
1940).

One title that had me confused for a bit was Hot Spot (December 4, 1941). It
turned out that was the working title for I Wake Up Screaming. Maybe theatre
management reverted to the working title because they felt the real title was a
little too provocative?

I'm surprised there's no Three Stooges shorts at all mentioned.

On 3 Jan 2007 03:53:28 -0800, "robfarr53@yahoo.com" yahoo.com> wrote:

| What I find interesting from looking at old movie theater ads is how
| quickly even the best movies came and went. You had just 2-3 days to
| catch your favorites and then they might be gone for years.

People tended to go to movies more often back then. With admission prices of
25¢ for adults and 9¢ for kids plus only 10¢ for a box of popcorn, theatres made
money and stars were paid nice salaries. Of course, no actor became a
multi-millionaire from a single film. And there were at least as many deserving
of that then as there are now — probably more.

Larc

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Larc wrote:

I didn't point out which were shorts, making the assumption most here
would know. And when you think about it, the Laurel & Hardy shorts
were among the only shorts being made that had a prominence about them
in how they were handled - it has often been said that all an exhibitor
had to do was have a sign up in front of his theater of either Chaplin,
Mickey Mouse or Laurel & Hardy and that would lure people in, moreso
than whatever the main feature was.

locoboymakesgood wrote:

This theater ran Stooges shorts on plenty of dates; just not on the
same bill as Laurel & Hardy films. If you go through their site
archives year-by-year, you'll see "3 Stooges short" listed in a few
spots.