Topic: Cinecon 44, Aug. 28 - Sept. 1, Hollywood CA

[BeAStooge]

Labor Day weekend, the Cinecon 44 film festival will be held in Hollywood. Among the films to be shown during the event are SING, BABY, SING (1936) starring The Ritz Brothers, Patsy Kelly and Ted Healy, and some rare Charley Chase comedies, including a "long-lost" short from his Columbia period.

Cinecon 44
Sampling of the film schedule

From the site's main page...

Spend 5 days in the dark this Labor Day weekend at Cinecon 44

Come join us at the Cinecon 44 Classic Film Festival this Labor Day weekend, August 28th to September 1st 2008, in Hollywood.

Cinecon is a five day celebration of the movies, screening nearly thirty rare silent and early sound feature films and as many short subjects from the nation's leading film archives and Hollywood studio vaults, and is dedicated to showcasing unusual films that are rarely given public screenings. Celebrity guests will attend a screening of one of their films and participate in question and answer sessions following the film. You can buy great movie memorabilia in our six fabulous dealers' rooms and the Cinecon Career Achievement Award celebrity banquet takes place on Sunday evening.

The Hollywood Renaissance is the host hotel with all screenings taking place at the historic Egyptian Theater just down the street on Hollywood Blvd.

Additional [Charley Chase] information from Stan Taffel...

ATTENTION ALL CHARLEY CHASE FANS.

Cinecon 44, one of the oldest classic film festivals in the country will be held August 28th thru September 1st at Grauman's Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Blvd. Among the over forty films presented will be three films featuring comedy pioneer Charley Chase.

First up is a meticulously restored version of TILLIE'S PUNCTURED ROMANCE, which includes recently found footage that hasn't been seen since its original release in 1914. Charley Chase plays a detective and has a sequence with Charles Chaplin and Mabel Normand in a movie theater.

Second is a long lost film and the first sound motion picture Charley Chase appeared in, entitled MODERN LOVE (1929). Released by Universal, this film also features Anita Garvin. Chase and Garvin filmed this during the break at the Hal Roach Studios when the compound was closed in order to wire up for sound pictures. This will be the first time since 1929 that the once lost film will be seen AND in 35mm.

Finally, one of the four missing Charley Chase Columbia shorts that hasn't been seen since its original release in 1939 will be shown. THE AWFUL GOOF also features Lucille Lund, who played the wife of Boris Karloff in THE BLACK CAT. Screened in 35mm (as are virtually all the films) this is another rare opportunity to see a once thought lost film.

Many features, shorts, cartoons and other rare film will be seen including a two reel remake of Laurel and Hardy's classic WAY OUT WEST, this time featuring Max Baer and Maxie Rosenbloom, made at Columbia Pictures. Go to the Cinecon website for further information. http://www.cinecon.org and don't miss this chance to see rare Charley Chase and other amazing films. Cinecon is an annual festival and always takes place over Labor Day weekend. The celebrity banquet is a chance to see at least fifty stars from the glory days and is a big highlight of the festival.

Don't expect to wait for these to pop up on DVD. Film preservation is not done solely so everything can be put out on video. Some things are done for preservation purposes and can be seen the way they were meant to be seen; on a screen. Come join us as we screen rare classics and a few nobody has seen in decades.

Additional notes from Rich Finegan...

... several films are being shown that should be of interest to Three Stooges fans.

 - OFF AGAIN, ON AGAIN (1945) is one of the two very rare Shemp Howard Columbia shorts from his mid-1940's starring series that just has never turned up among collectors.

 - THE AWFUL GOOF (1939) starring Charley Chase. This is one of four of his 20 Columbia shorts that has never been re-released or made available in any form since its original release. THE AWFUL GOOF was a partial remake of Chase's classic 1928 Hal Roach short LIMOUSINE LOVE. Then in 1946 Columbia remade THE AWFUL GOOF as BRIDE AND GLOOM starring Shemp Howard. It was the last of Shemp's nine Columbia shorts from the 1940's in which he was the star, and was released just before he rejoined The Three Stooges to replace Curly. Lorna Gray appears unbilled in this short.

 - Two other movies coming to Cinecon, that should be of interest to Three Stooges fans are SING, BABY, SING (1936) starring Alice Faye, with Ted Healy in a supporting role, and CRAZY HOUSE (1943) starring comedy team Olsen & Johnson with Shemp Howard among many interesting cameos and guest stars.

[Single-O]

The "Modern Love" restoration is the one that I would be MOST interested in seeing, but I won't be able to make it this year.

Hopefully they will pick it up for Slapsticon next year

[Sadistic Stooge]

Well I'm far from CA , wish I could go to that . I also hope Columbia puts out all the Charley Chase Shorts on dvd soon ...

[2reelers]

Well.....rumor has it.........Early 2009 for a Chase Columbia collection.

I'd love to see the Baer-Rosenbloom short "ROOTIN TOOTIN TENDERFEET". I've seen one other of their films at Columbia, a sort of "scare" comedy called THE CHAMPS STEP OUT. Emil Sitka has a pretty good part in that short, as does the mask with big teeth from "THE HOT SCOTS".  B and R make a kind of fun team though...it'd be interesting to see this spin on an L & H classic, especially at a time when Columbia was cutting corners with the shorts department. I wonder if any special budget was reserved for this production?

If any one goes to this screening, please report!