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Silent Comedy Shorts

Live Piano Accompaniment by Martin Marks
Screening on Film

After failing as a miner, a boxer, a lawyer and a songwriter, McCarey finally found something he was good at: making short comedy films as a director and supervisor for the great Hal Roach. McCarey worked primarily on films starring Charlie Chase and the team of Laurel and Hardy. Although not the first to pair Stan Laurel with Oliver Hardy (as is sometimes claimed), McCarey played an integral role both in making them a permanent team and in shaping their screen personae. Similarly, McCarey helped reposition Charley Chase from knockabout slapstick to the "comedy of embarrassment" for which he would become best-known: playing cuckolds, clueless businessmen, hapless fathers and the like.

PROGRAM

  • We Faw Down

    Directed by Leo McCarey.
    With Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy.
    US, 1928, 16mm, black & white, silent, 20 min.
  • Dog Shy

    Directed by Leo McCarey.
    With Charley Chase.
    US, 1926, 35mm, black & white, silent, 20 min.
  • Liberty

    Directed by Leo McCarey.
    With Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy.
    US, 1929, 16mm, black & white, silent, 20 min.
  • Big Business

    Directed by Leo McCarey.
    With Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy.
    US, 1929, 35mm, black & white, silent, 20 min.
  • Wrong Again

    Directed by Leo McCarey.
    With Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy.
    US, 1929, 16mm, black & white, silent, 20 min.

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