Time is Money! the Century, Rainbow, and Stern Brothers Comedies of Julius and Abe Stern by Thomas Reeder

Author:Thomas Reeder
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BearManor Media
Published: 2021-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Lawrence “Snookums” McKeen’s little sister, Merry Mae McKeen, with Jerry, Pete’s second-rate replacement as Tige. From Sam Newfield’s Teacher’s Pest. Courtesy of Robert James Kiss.

The Dancing Fools (September 21, 1927) was the first of the “Mike and Ike” shorts to be released, wherein Mike (King) and Ike (Dorety) take their girls—one fat and one lean—to a tough cabaret and take part in a “roughest dance” contest; Mike and his chubby partner are the winners. “This is one of the initial starts in the ‘Mike and Ike’ series, and if the rest continue of a grade with this, exhibitors may well book the whole series now,” wrote Film Daily. “Charles King and Charles Dorety are pretty much as two peas in a pod in playing the title roles, and besides, manage to squeeze a lot of deft comics into every situation.”14

Given that Mike and Ike were on the make in most of the series’ entries, the Sterns made sure to cast them with a number of attractive actresses. Among these were Ethlyne Clair, Thelma Daniels, Marjorie Marcel, Dolores May, Charlotte Dawn, Marie Woods, Marny Elwyn, Doris Eaton, and Jean Doree. Doree was signed to a contract based on the strength of her performances in three of the “Let George Do It” army and navy comedies, The Disordered Orderly (November 9, 1927), On Deck, and On Furlough (July 27, 1927);15 her first “Mike and Ike” was No Blondes Allowed (March 21, 1928).

The series’ primary director, Francis Corby (1893-1960), was an experienced and respected cameraman long before he turned to direction. A member of the American Society of Cinematographers, early work behind the camera included films for Universal and the Sterns at Century, as well as director Robert Hill’s feature The Brand of Courage, entries in the Star Comedy series, and others. By later 1922 he had gone to work in Fred Fishback’s unit for Jack White’s Mermaid Comedies, where he received a real education in short comedy construction. Corby lensed films starring Cliff Bowes, such as Plus and Minus and The Limit (both 1923), and others starring Lige Conley, which included Air Pockets and Neck and Neck (both 1924).

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