Thelma Todd & Zasu Pitts: The Hal Roach Collection 1931-33
Directed by Hal Roach, Marshall Neilan, George Marshall, Gus Meins, and others.
Starring Thelma Todd and Zasu Pitts.
SYNOPSIS:
Thelma Todd and Zasu Pitts are a comedy duo in these seventeen, pre-code shorts from Hal Roach.
A little over two years ago Turner Classic Movies held an online course on slapstick comedy. While I’d watched Hal Roach’s “Our Gang” shorts before, studying them cultivated a new fondness for the series. It was also during this course that I watched my first Thelma Todd short, “Pip from Pittsburg,” with Charley Chase.
While I don’t remember whether we were told about her suspicious death then, or if it was something I learned about later in the backmatter of an issue of Angel City, I always wanted to seek out more of Todd’s comedy. The same year “Pip from Pittsburg” (1931) came out, Thelma was paired with Zasu Pitts, in an attempt by Roach to create a female Laurel and Hardy. Together they would film 17 two-reel shorts, each running about twenty minutes long, and now, thanks to Kit Parker Films and The Sprocket Vault, all seventeen pre-code films have been restored and made available on DVD in Thelma Todd & Zasu Pitts: The Hal Roach Collection 1931-33.
It’s not a pithy title but tells you exactly what you’ll find in this set. A must-own for any Hal Roach comedy fan (if you’re not sure, more than a few of his shorts are available online), this DVD collection is the way to go because it’s every short they did together in one package, and what a range of films they are. From a short about being made to endure another date at Coney Island, to trying to make it on time to a gig with their musical monkey, there’s no continuity so every short is a surprise.
The strangest probably involves Thelma acting as a defense attorney for a mad scientist (Billy Burns), while Zasu appears on the jury. The best involves a mix-up over a stolen royal seal, where Thelma and Zasu follow a tip to a boarding house where they think the seal’s being held.
Many of the actors (including Zasu and Thelma) go by their real names and there are a handful (Billy Gilbert, Anita Garvin, and Blanche Payson, for example) who appear multiple times, though always in fresh scenarios. Starting with “Red Noses” there’s a period where the shorts are more dependent on physical comedy. Little reason is needed for Zasu to end up stuck while the other characters find themselves tangled trying to free her. There are also a few (“One Track Mind” and especially “Catch-As Catch-Can”) where Thelma and Zasu get sidelined in their own shorts. These aren’t their strongest outings, but the series jumps back from them for a strong finish.
At the beginning of this review I focused a lot on Thelma Todd and that’s who I knew going into this set. I’d never heard of Zasu Pitts (her first name is an amalgamation of her aunts’ names, Eliza and Susan) and went in with no expectations. Let it be said Pitts is a major reason to check-out these shorts and while even the description on the back of the box seems to favor Todd (and she probably is the more recognizable name today) that’s not the case when you’re watching. While a few of the shorts spotlight Pitts, you never get the equivalent of a Todd-focused episode, which is a shame. Todd is usually the straighter comic (though not exclusively so, as in the excellent, class-aware “Pajama Party”), and the more admired of the two by the male characters. Pitts’ delivery of lines reminded me of Shelley Duvall in Popeye and, sure enough, Mae Questel, who voiced Olive Oyl in the 1930’s cartoons, based her voice on Zasu Pitts. You can imagine how her performance might’ve influenced later takes on the character.
Each of the shorts has a commentary track by one of four film historians: Richard M. Roberts, Randy Skretvedt, Brent Walker, and Robert Farr. Most are informative (though as a pet peeve, I wish one of the commentators didn’t sigh). Some can be heavy on biography, though more than a few talented guest stars would go uncredited otherwise and a few times it’s mentioned IMDB didn’t cite their names correctly. A separate feature on Thelma and Zasu might’ve been better, since they sometimes get overlooked, discussing the shorts episodically, but it’s always neat to learn when a gag’s been recycled and Skretvedt provides some cool contributions from having interviewed a few of the actors before.
Even the musical acts (as in the first short, “Let’s Do Things”) become a place for comedy and it’s fun to see the transitions now associated with Power Point being used to intercut between scenes. The sound can be static-y at points but that’s understandable, given the age of the films and how they were preserved. I wish the main screen for the DVDs wasn’t a sound clip since it gets annoying after a while, when you’re in-between shorts, but the photo gallery on disk two is better than most, thanks to captions identifying who’s who.
The best part about Thelma and Zasu as a duo, though (and this extends to even the poorest of their shorts), is what sets them apart from the other comedy teams (Laurel & Hardy, The Three Stooges, etc.): they’re always there for each other. You never see them busting on one another or getting embarrassed. Zasu ends up in troublesome situations more but no matter which of them is in trouble you always see the other stop and try to help. This is best exemplified by the ending of “Asleep in the Feet.” Thelma has just identified Zasu as the person who punched her (long story) and Zasu’s crying her mascara away. Thelma starts laughing, and that’s how the short ends. Their camaraderie raises even the lightest of their shorts and it’s a delight to watch them be funny on-screen.
Thelma Todd & Zasu Pitts: The Hal Roach Collection 1931-33 is available now on DVD in the US.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★★
Rachel Bellwoar
