Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1949)

Busman's holiday You've heard about the bus driver who went touring on his vacation, the sailor who went boating on his shore leave and the mailman who went walking on his day off. Sure thing! A busman's holiday, they call it. Well, the story of this one begins back in the summer of 1947. The setting, of course, is Hollywood — almost a must for as fantastic a fable of amateur filming as you're likely to hear. The first character on stage is an amateur of long standing, one Dudley E. Porter, who first put "ACL" after his name way back in 1928. More or less fresh out of a few years behind Signal Corps cameras, Mr. Porter was, in the summer of 1947, about to embark on a two weeks vacation from the Beverly Hills Camera Shop. At that point he runs into character No. 2 — name of Red Skelton, ACL — and the vacation ends and the busman's holiday begins. As far as we know, it's still going on. For it seems that Red (of the "I Dood It" Skeltons, that is) is a recent and rabid convert to the cine craft and is panting to make a picture. (Just as if he wasn't making them all day for MGM, and convulsing all and sundry over the air waves in the evening! ) No, spare time he had, and a couple of spare cameras he had — so-o-o, friend Dudley, how's about we make a movie? And begin making a movie they did. For the two straight weeks of Porter's vacation, they ground away at it. Since that time, they've been shooting off and on over weekends. Red figures now that the film will carry them well into 1949. The title of this improbable production is The Great Wilbur spoon — and it's as antic an imbroglio as any of Red's professional pictures or radio programs. It was written, of course, by Red himself and not unnaturally features him in its comic continuity. 59 16mm. scenes by Dudley E. Porter, ACL RED SKELTON, ACL, playing in A Southern Yankee, watches Dudley Porter, ACL, line up his 16mm. sound camera for record scenes. At right, frames from The Great Wilburspoon, Red's amateur version of the classic Western. Time of The Great Wilburspoon is the 1800s, with the major settings in pioneer California. Wells Fargo Express, it seems, has been losing a lot of their gold shipments to bandits along the stage trail to San Francisco. Red, playing a midwestern minstrel, is engaged to get the gold through — in the not unreasonable assumption, apparently, that no bandit would ever suspect such an implausible zany. So the minstrel I Red I leaves by stagecoach for California, with the gold nicely unconcealed in an old carpetbag. When well along the way into the desert, the coach driver discovers the presence of the treasure and. thinking that he has possession of the precious bag, kicks Red off into the cactus. But Red, of course, has the gold all the time, and he plods on bravely over the terrible trail. Exhaustion grows on him and the fateful black wings of the traditional buzzard are zooming overhead when at last he stumbles into the arms of a grizzled prospector. The prospector takes him to his humble cabin, gives him food and water, and (rather unwisely, it would seem ) introduces him to his daughter. Red — naturally and promptly— falls in love with her. But the delights of dalliance are not for our hero. After resting for [Continued on page 68] How spare time and a couple of spare cameras led Red Skelton, ACL, into filming for fun