Spelvin
2004-07-23 05:42:09 UTC
OK, this might be the most off topic and trivial question of the month,
but here goes.
I recently read an interview with Penny Singleton from 1958. She was
asked how many Blondie movies she made, and she positively replied,
"44."
I thought, "H'mn. Wait a minute here."
Every reference book, and my complete collection of them, shows there
were 28 Blondie movies. I could understand that she might be off by one
or two ... but sixteen?
Then I thought about that number, sixteen. That's two times eight.
Columbia's comedy shorts, including our beloved Stooges, were done
at the rate of eight a year. (By the way, in order to get eight a year
for the Stooges, and not seven one year and nine the next, you have to
realize that the movie "season" in those days ran from August-July.
Line them up that way, and it's eight a year, every year, except when
Curly got sick. But I digress.)
Anyway, Columbia's shorts were done eight a year. The Blondie feature
films were dropped for two years from 1943-45. Aha! I thought. Could
it be? Could it be that during those two years Columbia converted
Blondie from feature status to short subject status, and Singleton, Lake
and the Pups made 16 short Blondie films (two-reelers, presumably)?
So I scurried over to my Columbia reference books, fully expecting to
see 16 Blondie short subjects around 1943-45, proving Singleton's 44 to
be correct -- but I found nothing.
My question is -- are we SURE there aren't 16 Blondie short subjects
that fell through the cracks? If there positively weren't, how did
Singleton come up with 44, which is so far off the correct total of 28?
(She wasn't thinking of the 1957 Blondie TV series, since she wasn't in
it, although Arthur Lake was.)
After you answer this question, I can get on with my life!
Spelvin
but here goes.
I recently read an interview with Penny Singleton from 1958. She was
asked how many Blondie movies she made, and she positively replied,
"44."
I thought, "H'mn. Wait a minute here."
Every reference book, and my complete collection of them, shows there
were 28 Blondie movies. I could understand that she might be off by one
or two ... but sixteen?
Then I thought about that number, sixteen. That's two times eight.
Columbia's comedy shorts, including our beloved Stooges, were done
at the rate of eight a year. (By the way, in order to get eight a year
for the Stooges, and not seven one year and nine the next, you have to
realize that the movie "season" in those days ran from August-July.
Line them up that way, and it's eight a year, every year, except when
Curly got sick. But I digress.)
Anyway, Columbia's shorts were done eight a year. The Blondie feature
films were dropped for two years from 1943-45. Aha! I thought. Could
it be? Could it be that during those two years Columbia converted
Blondie from feature status to short subject status, and Singleton, Lake
and the Pups made 16 short Blondie films (two-reelers, presumably)?
So I scurried over to my Columbia reference books, fully expecting to
see 16 Blondie short subjects around 1943-45, proving Singleton's 44 to
be correct -- but I found nothing.
My question is -- are we SURE there aren't 16 Blondie short subjects
that fell through the cracks? If there positively weren't, how did
Singleton come up with 44, which is so far off the correct total of 28?
(She wasn't thinking of the 1957 Blondie TV series, since she wasn't in
it, although Arthur Lake was.)
After you answer this question, I can get on with my life!
Spelvin