Jason goes to the Niles Film Museum for Comedy Shorts Night

A complete sellout at Niles! Awesome to see this place doing so well.

THE COUNT (1916): Charlie Chaplin and his giant rival Eric Campbell crash a high society shindig hosted by Miss Moneybags (Edna Purviance), each trying to pose as Count Broko. Hilarity ensues.

THE BELLBOY (1918): Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton work as bellboys in a third rate hotel (which charges first rate prices). A hilarious series of mishaps. Then it almost becomes a different movie in the second half when it turns into a bank heist comedy. Still very funny, of course.

Then an intermission, and two more shorts.

HIS ROYAL SLYNESS (1920): Harold Lloyd is a dead ringer for the prince of Thermosa (played by Harold's big brother Gaylord Lloyd, uncredited). When the prince gets a telegram warning him of his rival the Prince of Rochquefort (Snub Pollard), he meets Harold's character and the play a switcheroo, sending Harold into both a battle with the rival Prince and a peasant rebellion. On the plus side, it sends him into the welcoming arms of Princess Florelle (Mildred Davis), and he ends up accidentally leading the peasant rebellion and becoming the first President of Thermosa. Hilarious.

WRONG AGAIN (1929): And we end with the boys, Laurel and Hardy. They work in the stables, and hear news that The Blue Boy has been stolen. There's a $5,000 reward for its return. Which is good news, because they know exactly where Blue Boy is. Too bad they don't know that the reward is for the famous painting, not a race horse named Blue Boy. Particularly funny when the owner (who's in the bath) tells them to just put it on the piano.

Next weekend is the big free 5th anniversary special for the re-opened (after a 75 year hiatus) Edison Theater. That is, the 5th anniversary of the Niles Film Museum playing silent films every Saturday night. As I said, it's free, but the reservations are all filled up. So...sorry for the tease.

Running Time: 114 minutes
My Total Minutes (estimated): 166,381