Posts filed under “Popular Entertainment”

WHAT’S HOT—WHAT’S NOT.

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Not hot at all—Egg prices! They’re going down again! Now what will we complain about to get likes on social media? This is Joe Biden’s fault.

Lukewarm—Poetry. Sure, some people like it, but a lot of it is, like, really boring.

On the fence—Chain link: useful divider or public eyesore? We can’t decide!

Pretty hot—Plaid! Everything looks good in plaid!

Totally hot—Pottery kilns! It’s like a furnace in there!

MODEST STEIN AND THE KEYSTONE COPS.

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The Auctioneer, by Modest Stein

Illustration by Modest Stein of a scene from The Auctioneer, a silent-film adaptation of the play by Charles Klein and Lee Arthur. From an advertisement for the film in Motion Picture News, May 8, 1926.

Modest Stein was a very popular illustrator in the 1920s, one who was ubiquitous enough that he bears some responsibility for the characteristic look of the magazines of that era. Who was he? Dr. Boli, having noticed his signature on many of the magazine covers of a century ago, decided to look him up.

It turns out that Stein was momentarily quite famous under another name way back in 1892. He was part of the trio of Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, and Modest Aronstam who plotted to assassinate Henry Frick in 1892. He got away with his part in the conspiracy, changed his last name, and prospered. (And, to be fair, it’s hard to say whether trying to assassinate Frick should earn you a jail term or a government pension.)

Now, isn’t it a shame that the age of two-reel silent comedies is over? We can imagine how Mack Sennett would have taken this hint from Stein’s Wikipedia article and turned it into a perfect scenario.

On his way to blow up Frick’s house with pockets full of dynamite, Stein—then still called Aronstam—saw a newspaper with a headline warning against “Aaron Stamm” as a Berkman conspirator. He became frightened, dumped the explosives in an outhouse, and returned to New York.

That is how Wikipedia tells the story. But in the Mack Sennett version, the big gag comes when the cop who’s been chasing him for the past reel and a half decides he has to go to the outhouse and takes his cigar with him.

IN THEATRICAL NEWS.

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The new production by the Dormont Shakespearean Theater of Hamlet, the well-known play by William Shakespeare, has drawn mixed reviews in the press. The Leader’s theatrical column praised the production as “a daring departure,” saying that the unusual choice to set the play in medieval Denmark, with the title character as the son of a murdered king, “brought a breath of fresh air to an otherwise familiar tale.” The Sun-Telegraph, however, while expressing appreciation for the “creative effort” behind the unusual production, was of the opinion that “Hamlet works best in a more traditional setting in line with its author’s intent, such as Nazi Germany or a big American tobacco corporation.” The Volksblatt critic thought the title character dithered too much and said that “he should just pull up his socks.”

TRY TO IMAGINE HIS ACT.

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Billboard cover with Captain Louis Sorcho, submarine engineer, now appearing in vaudeville

Submarine engineers must have been much in demand in vaudeville if this one made it to the cover of the Billboard. But there were opportunities for all kinds of people on the performing circuit.

Wanted—midgets
Be a handcuff king
Wanted—experienced catcher for flying return act. Also lady leapers.

The advertisement above makes us wonder whether the shortage of lady leapers was directly related to the lack of an experienced catcher.

Snake shows—when all others fail try the old stand-by
Wanted—posing and dancing girls for indoor museum
Hindus wanted—East Indian magicians

TONIGHT ON YOHOGANIA PUBLIC RADIO.

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Culture Watch.—Tonight: The 47 ways overexplaining is destroying our culture. Featuring a panel of experts in psychology, education, astrology, media studies, chiropractic, auto mechanics, epidemiology, nuclear physics, backgammon, gender studies, zymurgy, and fourteenth-century Catalan poetry. 7 p.m. till our last expert drops from exhaustion.

IN ENTERTAINMENT NEWS.

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Pantocrator Pictures Corp. confirmed today that classically trained Shakespearean actor Theodore Naphtha, best known for his role as Irv in the 2006 comedy Herb and Irv Hit Themselves on the Head with Hammers, has signed on to play the title role in the new darker reboot of the Book of Job. Director and screenwriter Monty McCarrion promises “a world-class spectacle” in the climactic battle with the supervillain Elihu. The project earlier generated some controversy among fans when McCarrion revealed that this updated take on the venerable franchise would not include the character of God, a cult favorite in some corners of fandom. Most fans seem to agree, however, that giving the Job character superpowers has obviated the need for the God character.