Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey
Lately I've been getting interested in a rather forgotten comedy duo-Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey. In the photo above, Wheeler is the one on the left, and Woolsey is the cigar holding, glasses wearing, fast talking one. In the last week or so I've been able to see three films from them thanks to our friends at Turner Classic Movies. They are "Cracked Nuts" from 1931, "Kentucky Kernals" from 1934, and "The Nitwits" from 1935. I ended up discovering them almost by accident. In taking a look at films that would be on Turner Classic Movies in the coming days, I stumbled across on that was from 1931 (this is obviously "Cracked Nuts"). It was a one and a half star comedy, only an hour and five minutes long, and the description read "Two American idiots fight over who will be the ruler of a mythical kingdom won in a crap game." Now if that doesn't get one intrigued, I don't know what does.
I didn't know that the two stars of the film, which actually happened to be very funny, had worked together before, or even worked together several years later. The movie was about Wendell Graham (Wheeler), who wants to impress the aunt of the girl that he wants to marry. And so, to gain favor, he does what anyone would do. Decides to try and become the ruler of a small kingdom. The kingdom already had a king, one by the name of Zander Ulysses Parkhurst (and this is where Woolsey comes into the picture). So to finally become king once and for all, Wendell plans an attack using a bomb-comedy galore. Boris Karloff appeared in the movie briefly, not too long before he really hit it big in "Frankenstein."
Upon further research I learned quite a bit about the two. Wheeler and Woolsey worked for RKO Studios between 1929 and 1937, making a total of twenty-one feature films. "Cracked Nuts" isn't very well known today-but neither are the duo-but it was remade two years later into a more popular film "Duck Soup." I will admit that "Duck Soup" is funnier, but so are the Marx Brothers. But Wheeler and Woolsey are quite funny themselves-even if their films relate to formula. I've only seen three of them, but its easy to see what it is. Instead of going the more traditional fat and skinny routine-Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, etc-the two of them are physically similar. Wheeler is usually the romantic lead-mixing his comedy with a little bit of song and dance ("Kentucky Kernals" contains a rather extended musical sequence, where everyone sings a verse of the song, including Spanky McFarland.) It makes sense as he is trained from vaudeville, complete with having an act with his wife Margaret Grae. This routine contained an act in the vein of Charlie Chaplin. Woolsey on the other hand is the more detached character-thin like a pencil with a very oval face, this glasses wearing, cigar smoking character was fast with words, and it was the moments when only the two of them were on the camera that really got me laughing. He has a visual appearance like Harold Lloyd and a verbal ability like Groucho Marx. These films, and not only these but also Abott/Costello, Laurel Hardy, Marx Brothers, and even the silent comedians of the past (maybe Chaplin excluded from this example), were usually about the various gags and comedy sketches as opposed to actual plot, which is normally as loose as can be. I exclude Chaplin from this because he often made actual movies with layered stories and dimensional characters. His talking films "The Great Dictator" and "Limelight" are very funny, but also make you think-the latter is almost heartbreaking.
But am I making you want to check out anything about Wheeler and Woolsey at all? Maybe not, but at least I'm doing my part to get the word out-even if three people read this and become interested it is a start. Turner Classic Movies rarely shows their work, and I stumbled, by accident once again, onto a double feature the channel did yesterday-"Kentucky Kernals" and "The Nitwits." The first film-which I said includes Spanky McFarland as the third main character-is about a pair a magicians that end up being in charge of watching a child-Spanky Milford. They go into the South after Spanky inherits a fortune, falling right in the middle of a family feud between the Milfords and the Wakefields. And of course, Wheeler falls for a Wakefield. "The Nitwits" had a surprising amount of plot in it-focusing on a pair a cigar store workers who ended up getting involved in a musician producer's murder-and this is where I became acquainted with Woolsey's trademark "Whoa Oh!!!" noise. What does fascinate me about these last two films-and probably a reason why Turner Classic Movies decided to play them-were that they were directed by George Stevens. Stevens went on to direct "I Remember Mama," which I really love, and other goodies like "A Place in the Sun" and "Giant," the latter of which I was lucky enough to see on the big screen in the summer of 2005 at Film Forum.
I read that after 1935 Wheeler and Woolsey began to fall, like all great comedians eventually do-Keaton falling after joining with MGM and not listening to the advice of Chaplin who told him to go independent, or Lloyd falling once talking pictures came into focus. They were still funny, but nothing beat the good old days. After 1935 the last few films became rather bland-I haven't seen them, but they are not highly regarded-it seems like "The Nitwits" was the last real popular Wheeler and Woolsey film. Sadly Woolsey died in 1938 after having kidney disease, or the pair may have continued. Wheeler didn't following Stan Laurel, who refused to work after Hardy passed away, and continued working until his death in 1968.
I wish that Turner Classic Movies would show more Wheeler and Woolsey comedies, but for those out there that want to give them a look, there are three that you can find on DVD. Netflix members, take notes.
Dixiana (1930)
Half Shot at Sunrise (1930)
Hook, Line and Sinker (1930)
And samples of Wheeler and Woolsey can be found online through youtube, by clicking here.
I didn't know that the two stars of the film, which actually happened to be very funny, had worked together before, or even worked together several years later. The movie was about Wendell Graham (Wheeler), who wants to impress the aunt of the girl that he wants to marry. And so, to gain favor, he does what anyone would do. Decides to try and become the ruler of a small kingdom. The kingdom already had a king, one by the name of Zander Ulysses Parkhurst (and this is where Woolsey comes into the picture). So to finally become king once and for all, Wendell plans an attack using a bomb-comedy galore. Boris Karloff appeared in the movie briefly, not too long before he really hit it big in "Frankenstein."
Upon further research I learned quite a bit about the two. Wheeler and Woolsey worked for RKO Studios between 1929 and 1937, making a total of twenty-one feature films. "Cracked Nuts" isn't very well known today-but neither are the duo-but it was remade two years later into a more popular film "Duck Soup." I will admit that "Duck Soup" is funnier, but so are the Marx Brothers. But Wheeler and Woolsey are quite funny themselves-even if their films relate to formula. I've only seen three of them, but its easy to see what it is. Instead of going the more traditional fat and skinny routine-Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, etc-the two of them are physically similar. Wheeler is usually the romantic lead-mixing his comedy with a little bit of song and dance ("Kentucky Kernals" contains a rather extended musical sequence, where everyone sings a verse of the song, including Spanky McFarland.) It makes sense as he is trained from vaudeville, complete with having an act with his wife Margaret Grae. This routine contained an act in the vein of Charlie Chaplin. Woolsey on the other hand is the more detached character-thin like a pencil with a very oval face, this glasses wearing, cigar smoking character was fast with words, and it was the moments when only the two of them were on the camera that really got me laughing. He has a visual appearance like Harold Lloyd and a verbal ability like Groucho Marx. These films, and not only these but also Abott/Costello, Laurel Hardy, Marx Brothers, and even the silent comedians of the past (maybe Chaplin excluded from this example), were usually about the various gags and comedy sketches as opposed to actual plot, which is normally as loose as can be. I exclude Chaplin from this because he often made actual movies with layered stories and dimensional characters. His talking films "The Great Dictator" and "Limelight" are very funny, but also make you think-the latter is almost heartbreaking.
But am I making you want to check out anything about Wheeler and Woolsey at all? Maybe not, but at least I'm doing my part to get the word out-even if three people read this and become interested it is a start. Turner Classic Movies rarely shows their work, and I stumbled, by accident once again, onto a double feature the channel did yesterday-"Kentucky Kernals" and "The Nitwits." The first film-which I said includes Spanky McFarland as the third main character-is about a pair a magicians that end up being in charge of watching a child-Spanky Milford. They go into the South after Spanky inherits a fortune, falling right in the middle of a family feud between the Milfords and the Wakefields. And of course, Wheeler falls for a Wakefield. "The Nitwits" had a surprising amount of plot in it-focusing on a pair a cigar store workers who ended up getting involved in a musician producer's murder-and this is where I became acquainted with Woolsey's trademark "Whoa Oh!!!" noise. What does fascinate me about these last two films-and probably a reason why Turner Classic Movies decided to play them-were that they were directed by George Stevens. Stevens went on to direct "I Remember Mama," which I really love, and other goodies like "A Place in the Sun" and "Giant," the latter of which I was lucky enough to see on the big screen in the summer of 2005 at Film Forum.
I read that after 1935 Wheeler and Woolsey began to fall, like all great comedians eventually do-Keaton falling after joining with MGM and not listening to the advice of Chaplin who told him to go independent, or Lloyd falling once talking pictures came into focus. They were still funny, but nothing beat the good old days. After 1935 the last few films became rather bland-I haven't seen them, but they are not highly regarded-it seems like "The Nitwits" was the last real popular Wheeler and Woolsey film. Sadly Woolsey died in 1938 after having kidney disease, or the pair may have continued. Wheeler didn't following Stan Laurel, who refused to work after Hardy passed away, and continued working until his death in 1968.
I wish that Turner Classic Movies would show more Wheeler and Woolsey comedies, but for those out there that want to give them a look, there are three that you can find on DVD. Netflix members, take notes.
Dixiana (1930)
Half Shot at Sunrise (1930)
Hook, Line and Sinker (1930)
And samples of Wheeler and Woolsey can be found online through youtube, by clicking here.
"Cracked Nuts" from 1931-*** of ****
"Kentucky Kernals" from 1934-*** of ****
"The Nitwits" from 1935-*** of ****
posted by Eric at
2:42 PM
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