Bring Back the Short Subject - Part One

Quick - what film won the award for Best Short Film at the 2000 Academy Awards? Chances are, you don't know. That's okay, I don't know either. Short films are not shown in theaters any more. But there was a time when the short film was part of every moviegoer's experience. In fact, the very first films ever to be shown to the public were short films – some only seconds long. The short film flourished in the teens, twenties and thirties. In the forties and fifties, the economics of the movie business forced a virtual end to the short film format, but here at Black and White Movies, they are never forgotten.

Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton were masters of the short subject, Laurel and Hardy are best remembered for their short subjects of the sound era, and even as late as the fifties, the Three Stooges were keeping the format alive with their slapstick films for Columbia Studios.

Charlie Chaplin turned the short subject into an art form with his comedies for Mutual Studios in the late teens. There are many Chaplin fans that feel his work in these shorts, such as The Rink, Easy Street and my favorite, The Immigrant, is Chaplin at his best. In these films, he experimented, refining and reinventing his famous Little Tramp character. His Mutual short subjects, along with several he did later for First National, paved the way for his classic features like THE KID, THE GOLD RUSH, CITY LIGHTS and MODERN TIMES.

Buster Keaton came to the movies accidentally. A favorite in vaudeville, he was invited by famous film comedian Fatty Arbuckle to come down and be in the latest Arbuckle production, The Butcher Boy. After contributing to the film, Keaton took the camera apart. Once he had figured out the exact mechanics of film, he put the camera back together and decided to remain in films. After a short apprenticeship with Arbuckle, he struck out on his own in shorts, including One Week, The Electric House and Playhouse. Like Chaplin’s, Keaton’s work done in these inventive films helped Keaton develop his style and lead to his own series of amazing features, such as SHERLOCK, JR., THE NAVIGATOR and THE GENERAL.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy started out working separately in films. In the late twenties, at the Hal Roach Studios, they teamed together, forming the most beloved comedy team of all time. They did some outstanding work in the silent era, but they are most remembered for their short films of the sound era (who can ever forget Ollie berating Stan with “Here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into!”)

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