Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1932)

429 From "Little Geezer," an amateur satire of Hollywood gangsters EVERYONE enjoys comedy burlesque, and the moving picture is such an integral part of life that there are very few who will not find amusement in a good satire on the product of Hollywood. Those who do not go to the movies can always enjoy the comedy byplay, even if they do not recognize the subtle digs. A burlesque is the easiest type of photoplay for the amateur to produce for, while it is difficult to compete with Hollywood producers on their own ground in a straight story since amateur actors are apt to suffer by comparison, in a burlesque, errors and crudities only add to the fun. As everyone knows, the Hollywood producers follow each other like a flock of sheep. When a given picture proves to be a success, there are bound to be countless imitations until the story is exhausted and the public bored. Then another idea is found to be a box office success and the cycle starts again. The professional imitativeness makes it easy to find subjects for burlesque. In fact, by the time the end of a cycle is reached, the professional pictures, themselves, are usually unintentional burlesques of the original plot. In the same manner, good devices and bits of business are weakened by repetition. A classic example is the race with death finale. In the days of The Birth Of A Nation and Intolerance, it was a very effective cinematic device, new and startling, peculiar to the motion picture, alone, with its simultaneous, parallel views of the distressed party and the rescuers. But when anyone is saved in the nick of time today, it is almost ridiculous because the trick, invented by D. W. Griffith, has been imitated so often by inferior producers. Even the title, Came the Dawn, wasn't such a bad connective link when it was first used ! But now it is these worn out plots and devices which make good burlesque material. There are plenty of ripe plots to choose from. We have had the war cycle, the western cycle (recurring often in different styles) the college series, the airplane, the backstage Pagliacci theme, the mother love, the gangster, the lady with the Past (usually based on the Camille theme) the newspaper plot, a minor cycle of doctors and crooked lawyers and now, it seems, a cycle on Hollywood is coming. It is best to pick a story that has been done so often by professionals that everyone will be familiar with the basic idea and it is a good idea to take the general outline and salient features of the original film hit for your burlesque, adding to it the Charles DuBois Hodges banalities and laugh provoking weaknesses of the last of the series. The film must also be embellished with exaggerated action, unexpected comic twists in the plot and caricature in setting, costumes, makeup and characterization. Burlesque depends on broad and coarse effects but, in directing a burlesque film, the amateur movie maker must see that the actors play their parts "straight," doing everything seriously with only a slight exaggeration of expression, emotion and gesture. The humor and comic effect comes from the situation, the plot and the caricature. There should be no smirks, smiles or suppressed giggles on the faces of the actors. These will entirely destroy the effect. By all means, let the audience do the laughing! We have found children under twelve best suited as actors for these pictures. The contrast in size with the original adult film actors brings out, more sharply, the incongruity necessary to satire. Adults, of course, can make good burlesque stories, too, but children are born actors. They are more easily available and are not troubled with self consciousness. All children are natural mimics; it is part of their makeup as much as the instinct to play, and it is lost as they mature even as the other childish instincts disappear. Young people are always aping their elders and pretending that they are grown up, so they jump at a chance to pretend, for a while, to be cowboys, soldiers, aviators, crooks, policemen or what not. This natural flair for impersonation makes them easy to direct if one adopts a simple unaffected attitude. If the amateur photographer is not making the film in cooperation with an organized club or at a summer camp, it is easy to collect a "gang." There is usually a youngster in the family to start with. He or she brings a friend who brings another until quite a sizable group is gathered. Or one can use the "gang," present in nearly every neighborhood, as a nucleus. Welfare agencies also offer a nucleus. After explaining the story, next comes the choosing of the parts. As little makeup will probably be used, it is best to cast by type, using the ones that fit [Continued on page 448] Burlesque copies of standardized plots are sure of laughs THEODORE HUFF, ACL The mirror of burlesque