INDIANAPOLIS — Film historian Eric Grayson will screen a group of rare W.C. Fields short films made between 1915 and 1932 at the monthly Vintage Movie Night at Garfield Park Arts Center on Sat., Aug. 25 at 8 p.m.
Not shown much today, short comedies were very popular additions to movie schedules until the late 1950s, according to Grayson. Like many comedians, Fields made some, although he concentrated on feature pictures. Here is a sampling: Pool Sharks (1915) is Fields’ first film, discovered only in the late 1960s. The Golf Specialist (1930) replicates Fields’ famous Ziegfeld Follies routine. The Dentist (1932) was partly new material, but revived an old vaudeville skit dating back to about 1905. The Fatal Glass of Beer (1932) mostly replicates another vaudeville routine, “The Stolen Bonds,” that Fields did in the Ziegfeld Follies as well. Some wonderful history here, Grayson adds, and hilarious, time-tested comedy.
Admission is $5 and concessions are $1. The program will be introduced by Grayson and a Q&A will follow. For more information, visit www.gpacarts.org or call 317-327-7135.
