Cagney on the green
Alice asked about the "How I Play Golf" short film, and I was going to post this anyway. If you haven't seen it, you aren't missing any major gem, but there are a couple of cute moments amid the nerve-deadening golf advice. *g*
The short is total floof, but Cagney is oh-so-cute to watch. *g* He appears in his own person as one of a few stars who, along with pro golfer Bobby Jones, are waiting on a golf course for their tardy director's arrival. Jones decides to spend the time making practice shots, and his celebrity onlookers proceed to ask him some scripted questions about his technique--setting him up for the monumentally boring and woodenly-delivered golfing tips that unfortunately comprise the vast majority of the short.
Jimmy is bright and impish as the scene sets up, and later he gets to ask one question; but apparently his main function here is to act as a muzzle for Louise Fazenda! He spends most of the time sitting beside the loquacious giggler, intently listening to Jones--with his hand politely wrapped around Fazenda's mouth all the while. *g* (I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't say I'd mind that... ;) ) It's also amusing that another member of the peanut gallery is Donald Cook, who played the dour elder brother to Cagney in The Public Enemy a year earlier.
I don't know if this short has ever been included as a DVD extra somewhere, but the Golf Channel kept putting up a banner to proclaim that they have the How I Play Golf series on DVD "for the first time ever". Out of curiosity, I looked it up. To be specific, they're selling a gift set that includes two complete Bobby Jones short film series, a coffee-table book, and some other junk--for $150. Take heart, however: I'm absolutely certain I saw a different episode on TCM a while back, so it's possible that this one as well may turn up there now and then.
(An unrelated note that amused me, at least: I didn't quite trust the Golf Channel to air this particular one when they said they would, so I checked the earlier installments on Friday morning. Having watched a lot of what was on TCM Thursday, that messed with my head. Two of those shorts respectively featured Guy Kibbee--who TCM had honored with an all-day birthday tribute that day--and Walter Huston, who was spotlighted in Treasure of the Sierra Madre that night. A weird sort of cross-channel deja vu...)
While I'm posting, I'd also like to point out a small cosmetic change to the community. There is now a link to the community's tags list in the "Navigation" box on the sidebar. This should help anyone who wants to search for a particular entry or subject. When posting, by all means feel free to use those tags, or to create new ones as needed. (And if you're wondering where the link to Fighting Irishman went, there's a button farther down the sidebar now, just above the community icon. *g*)
The short is total floof, but Cagney is oh-so-cute to watch. *g* He appears in his own person as one of a few stars who, along with pro golfer Bobby Jones, are waiting on a golf course for their tardy director's arrival. Jones decides to spend the time making practice shots, and his celebrity onlookers proceed to ask him some scripted questions about his technique--setting him up for the monumentally boring and woodenly-delivered golfing tips that unfortunately comprise the vast majority of the short.
Jimmy is bright and impish as the scene sets up, and later he gets to ask one question; but apparently his main function here is to act as a muzzle for Louise Fazenda! He spends most of the time sitting beside the loquacious giggler, intently listening to Jones--with his hand politely wrapped around Fazenda's mouth all the while. *g* (I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't say I'd mind that... ;) ) It's also amusing that another member of the peanut gallery is Donald Cook, who played the dour elder brother to Cagney in The Public Enemy a year earlier.
I don't know if this short has ever been included as a DVD extra somewhere, but the Golf Channel kept putting up a banner to proclaim that they have the How I Play Golf series on DVD "for the first time ever". Out of curiosity, I looked it up. To be specific, they're selling a gift set that includes two complete Bobby Jones short film series, a coffee-table book, and some other junk--for $150. Take heart, however: I'm absolutely certain I saw a different episode on TCM a while back, so it's possible that this one as well may turn up there now and then.
(An unrelated note that amused me, at least: I didn't quite trust the Golf Channel to air this particular one when they said they would, so I checked the earlier installments on Friday morning. Having watched a lot of what was on TCM Thursday, that messed with my head. Two of those shorts respectively featured Guy Kibbee--who TCM had honored with an all-day birthday tribute that day--and Walter Huston, who was spotlighted in Treasure of the Sierra Madre that night. A weird sort of cross-channel deja vu...)
While I'm posting, I'd also like to point out a small cosmetic change to the community. There is now a link to the community's tags list in the "Navigation" box on the sidebar. This should help anyone who wants to search for a particular entry or subject. When posting, by all means feel free to use those tags, or to create new ones as needed. (And if you're wondering where the link to Fighting Irishman went, there's a button farther down the sidebar now, just above the community icon. *g*)