"Imma let you finish, but Noah Young was the best heavy of all time!!"

Pardon the disgusting pop-culture reference. I promise it won't happen again. Also pardon the fact that I watch far too many 2-reelers and feel the need to dissect them.

As I've mentioned before, in my humble opinion, Noah Young is the greatest silent film heavy ever. I am utterly convinced of this, and cannot be persuaded to think otherwise (perhaps that opinion wasn't so humble as previously thought...) In our poll of Greatest Heavy Ever, the public reached an agreement that Oliver Hardy is the greatest villian while Noah only came in second place. Quite rude, and quite incorrect, really (my apologies to Matthew, who is convinced that the only heavy is Eric Campbell, who actually tied with Noah in 2nd.) I shall now give a list of reasons why Noah is so much better.

Let's start with the obvious, shall we? Mr. Young is very tall. Tall-ness isn't exactly necessary, (Vernon Dent being a good example) but it does help a great deal in the general intimidation factor. I'm not sure how tall he actually is, but he is taller than Charley Chase. I would guess he is probably 6'2"-6'3" which makes him taller than everyone he's ever bossed or bullied (unless at some point he's harrassed Roy Brooks, but I'm not aware of that happening.)

Second, he has played the heavy to other heavies. In other words, he has been the villain to Snub Pollard, Oliver Hardy, and James Finlayson, all of whom were heavies. I think that counts for something.


Third, in the 1915 San Francisco World's Fair he was declared the World's Strongest Man. Take that, Campbell!

Fourth, the somewhat fabulous rumor that once for a film he lay face down in the middle of the road and a car with four passengers in addition to the driver ran right over him but that he just got up and walked away perfectly fine. This seems maybe a little much, but in the days of early motion pictures anything goes. Buster Keaton breaking his neck, Peter Lorre being pushed down flights of stairs, and all the horror stories about the Keystone Cops all spring to mind.

Fifth, he is startlingly normal when compared to other villians. He leans towards the Al St. John-ish end of the scale with less makeup, little-to-no facial hair (with the exception of the occasional moustache on Noah's part), no opera capes, and no silken top hats. If you'll remember, this lack of ornamentation causes my sister to believe that they aren't truly heavies. I disagree, and I digress. Al St. John makes up for the lack of bizarre war-paint with his diabolical plottings and over-the-top stunting. Even if you should happen to agree with my sister about Al St. John being a "baby heavy" there really shouldn't be any doubt about Noah being a heavy. This lack of bizarreness really gives him an advantage on his acting too - he can play almost any character. For example, Snub Pollard is just so strange that he is very much limited to what he can play other than weirdo.

Poor Snub. We still love you.

Sixth, he is a surprisingly good actor. He does lean a great deal more towards pantomime, but he is fairly good in the talkies too. He looks an awful lot thinner in the late 20s, so I think the directors assumed he lost a lot of his power in the angry villian department because he starts to play good guys around this time. Still dummies, but good guys nonetheless. His last "big" role is probably "Welcome Danger" in 1929, which contrary to general opinion, I didn't think was that bad apart from the near-hellish dubbing (I really can't put enough emphasis on the term "near-hellish".) I haven't seen the silent version though so I can't really compare which is better, though I hear the silent version is twice as good as the talkie. Concerning talkies I really think he was at his best in "Feet First" from 1930. Even though he doesn't actually have any lines he was still hysterically funny as the confused sailor (but as I mentioned he is really best at pantomime, so silently taking bizarre scoldings from Harold Lloyd is a pretty good situation for him.)

(A scene from "Welcome Danger")

Seventh, he has the good title card introductions. Of course, Hal Roach is generally pretty good for funny title card introductions, but this is a luxury the other villians of the other studios did not get to enjoy. My personal favorites:

"Rough House O'Rafferty - so tough he could swim the English Channel with a sea lion under each arm and never miss a stroke" (From "A Sailor-Made Man").

Or a really bizarre one:

"Bull Brindle was so tough he wouldn't eat lady fingers unless they had brass knuckles." (From "For Heaven's Sake".)

If you say so. Roach has some pretty good ones for Snub Pollard and Oliver Hardy, so amusing introductions of villians aren't such a novelty, but that bit about brass knuckles is really something else.

Eighth, if IMdB is to be trusted (which it isn't, really) he appeared in 172 films. Quite a respectable number by anybody's standards.

Nineth, he had really wonderful chemistry with all of his foils. I know Harold Lloyd is generally the most popular, but I actually think he was really at his best with Charley Chase or Snub Pollard. Something about them really seems to click. Perhaps it's because Harold has a lot more good-natured vim and verve to him that perhaps doesn't fit quite so well with oversized Noah. Charley Chase is a little more dark-humored, and the surrealism of Snub Pollard really seem to suit a steadier, dumber villain. At least that's how I feel about it.

(A scene from "Do Detectives Think?")

Anyway, enough with the endless gab! I now leave you all to draw your own conclusions about Noah Young with some of his film appearances. I'm afraid there's naught but poor pickings for internet viewing, but I'll do the best I can!

First up, Noah as a mean boss with a penchant for pushing and strangling in "A Jazzed Honeymoon" from 1919.

Second, the really wonderfully good "For Heaven's Sake" from 1925. This one has Noah as a pickpocket-type who Harold converts with the help of his missionary girlfriend. (The scene when Noah and his cronies get drunk and try to bring Harold to his own wedding was particularly funny!) Click here to see part 1.

This is all I could find on the internet where he is on screen for more than a few seconds, but if you want to see more, look for DVD sets of Charley Chase, Laurel & Hardy, and Harold Lloyd. I would particularly recommend the DVD set "Becoming Charley Chase". On second thought, my recommendation is get BCC whether or not Noah Young has impressed you. I would also add, run, don't walk to get it if you know what's good for you.

Enjoy!

Minta Durfee Shrug Free Pattern

I wanted to make the Minta Durfee Shrug available as a free pattern for all you knitters out there!


This started as a pattern from 1912 that I have given a gauge, changed the needles, changed the yarn, given it a size, and brought the terminology up to date. Please respect my copyrights, and remember that I do search for violators.

Anyway, on to the pattern!


Materials:
Size 7 knitting needles
2 balls Patons Classic Wool Merino

Size: One size fits all, but if want to change the sizing, all you have to do it adjust the gauge!

Gauge: 4 sts x 8 rows = 1" in garter stitch

CO 19 sts. K 1 row.
Row 2: K2, yo, k15, yo, k2. K 3 rows.
Row 6: K3, yo, k15, yo, k3. K 3 rows.
Continue in this manner, adding 1 stitch before and after the yo every 4th row and remembering to work the 3 plain rows in between. Continue in this manner until there are 79 sts on the row.
Next row: K 32, slip these sts to a stitch holder. Bind off the next 15 sts for the back of the neck. *On the remaining 32 sts k for 80 rows, ending with the last row facing the neck edge.
Next row: K 31, turn, k back.
Next row: K 30, turn, k back.
Continue in this manner leaving one more stitch each row until there are no more stitches left. Bind off all 32 sts. Sew the lower part of the corresponding side of the back, thus forming the armhole.
Repeat from * with the sts on the stitch holder.


And voila! The Minta Durfee shrug!

Better in the Talkies

Educational Pictures. "The Spice of the Program" my right eyeball. Half-soused has-been silent comedians rehashing old gags that simply do not work in the talkies, more like it. All right, so they did release "The Iron Mule", but the vast majority of the shorts I've seen are as rotten as a month old egg. The only reason that you would dare watch one of those atrocites is because you are particularly fond of that actor and for historical reasons wish to see them in their twilight years. HOWEVER - there is one actor who managed to make the rehashed Educational gag actually funnier than the original. This magician of a man - Harry Langdon with the cold routine. It's almost twice as funny when you can actually hear him coughing and sneezing away. Besides, Vernon Dent much a much nastier (thus funnier) "villian" in the talking version.

In both the silent and the talkie version, the routine runs about 10 minutes and consists almost entirely of closeups of Harry taking cold medicine. Honestly, he is the only man I've ever known who can have a close-up of one action for 10 minutes and still make it funny. He first used the routine in "The Strong Man" from 1926, and used in again in "The Hitchhiker" in 1933. The routine is the main feature of the "Hitchhiker", whereas the "Strong Man" has a plot and the routine makes up just a small part of the film.

The original silent version (it starts at 5:30 on the first video and continues into the second):






The later, talking version:



So tell me, do you also believe the talkie version to be funnier?

New Listing On Etsy!

I have something new for my Etsy store! This is a tea cozy knit from a British pattern that was published in 1916 (because I only work with vintage patterns you know!) It's knit from pure wool, so it keeps the tea nice and warm!

Visit my store here!

I Have An Etsy Store!!

I have offically opened a store on Etsy! I couldn't think of a way for my silent film obsession to pay for my knitting obsession, so my knitting obsession is going to pay for my silent film obsession!

I am offering a shrug that I have knit based on a 1912 design! It's knit in a very soft pure merino wool, so it is warm without being stifling. I'm offering it for $40.00 (it is handknit people!) I'm afraid I only ship within the US.

From the back:


From the front:


Visit my Etsy store here!

I'm A Member Of Spiffy!

I'm very pleased to tell you all that I am now an official co-editor of the lovely blog Spiffy! Thank you so much Casey and Kate for letting me be a part of this!

You can read my first post here!

Charlie Chaplin with Abe Lyman and His Orchestra

Yes, I know. I'm a terrible Chaplin fan. However, as much as I admire him, he is not my most favorite character in history for several reasons, which I intend to use as my excuse for the following statements:

Today I found out that in 1925, Charlie Chaplin wrote two songs for Abe Lyman and His Orchestra, and actually conducted the band for the recording of those songs. I did not know this up until today, even though I have been watching Chaplin since I was 13 and listening to Abe Lyman for about a year now. I'm really quite surprised that I only heard about this today, seeing as this sort of thing should be right up my alley.

Anyway, here are those two songs compiled nicely into one video. The first is "Sing A Song", and the second is entitled "With You Dear, In Bombay".




If you liked those two songs, here is a link to them on the Internet Archive, so you can download to your iPod and listen to your heart's content! (Notice the gross errors on the spelling? "Charley Chaplan"? "Abe Lymon"? Oy vey!)