He hung on longer than most of the vaudevillians, mostly because the other comedians remembered how well he had done in that type of comedy and still found it funny. They had him on. He didn't do the poor sap routine quite as well as they others.
It mostly doesn't translate, but you can see something of what was considered comedy for most of the movie public in those days. Movies were in theaters, far more common in cities, where they went through quicker rotation. And cities still had a large number of immigrants, mostly European, who came from similar comic styles but didn't speak the language that well.
He had a bit part in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" for those who follow those things.
I remember Ben Blue from "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World". My father, who must have known of him from his heyday, pointed him out to me.
ReplyDeleteWRT the humor, I doubt that most people now would find the geysering car-radiator scene funny, simply because they have no experience of such things.