I am looking forward to this volume, primarily to refamiliarize myself with these later shorts, most of which I have not watched for years. I have all on home video and 16mm, but generally do not take them out for viewing. And, I admit that I have always enjoyed a few of the Bessers, like MUSCLE UP A LITTLE CLOSER, QUIZ WHIZZ and OILS WELL THAT ENDS WELL.
The annual Fan Club Meetings provide the opportunity to screen some of these later shorts, to introduce costar guests like Arline Hunter (OUTER SPACE JITTERS) and Diana Darrin (A MERRY MIX-UP). In each case, the film room was filled, and the audience laughed. No, it wasn't the response you'd get from HOI POLLOI or BRIDELESS GROOM, but the laughter was loud and frequent.
This year we screened SPACE SHIP SAPPY (1957), before introducing costar Marilyn Hanold. One of the longest and loudest laughs came when Besser ad-libs a retaliation to a Moe-slap, roundhousing a smack to the back of Moe's head, proclaiming "What'd you do that for!!!?" The entire short was consistently well-received.
There's a lot of good stuff coming up in Vol. 8. There's a lot of crap too, like SWEET AND HOT. None of it is by any means vintage Curly or Shemp. But there's still a lot of funny.
Due much to feedback and fan-energy seen during last week's Fan Club Meeting, I am looking forward to Volume 8.
