Topic: Bacon Numbers (as in "Degrees of Seperation")

[Dunrobin]

Came across this on Coyote Blog:

THIS is why the Internet was invented.  Google has a new search feature so you can quickly find out how many degrees of separation any actor has from Kevin Bacon.



It is hard to push the number much higher, for any reasonable value of "actor."  For God sakes, Charlie Chaplin is a 2.  I got a three with Humphrey Bogart and Butterfly McQueen.  Not even sure how to get a four.

I tried it for Moe and got this result:

Moe Howard's Bacon number is 2
Moe Howard and Howard Morris appeared in Star Spangled Salesman.
Howard Morris and Kevin Bacon appeared in End of the Line.

Of course, that means any actor who every appeared with the Three Stooges is no more than a 3.  I did manage to stump it on Gus Shy (I Scream, 1934 Shemp solo) and Jack Pearl (Meet the Baron, 1933), though.  I guess they are a little too obscure to have made it into Google's database so far.  (Gus would be a 4 at most, by the way, since Shemp is a 3.)

[metaldams]

I like to play the same game with rock music and throw in Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple) or Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath).  With the line-up changes of those two bands, I can link the above mentioned guitar players up to almost anybody.

I've always heard of the Kevin Bacon game but I must confess, I'm not much of an aficianado on Kevin Bacon himself.  Still, sounds like a fun game.  Charlie Chaplin a 2, eh?  Let me try some people out. 

[metaldams]

DEGREE 2:
Buster Keaton and Patty McCormack appeared in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Patty McCormack and Kevin Bacon appeared in Frost/Nixon.

Groucho Marx and Austin Pendleton appeared in Skidoo.
Austin Pendleton and Kevin Bacon appeared in Starting Over.

DEGREE 3:
Harold Lloyd and Anthony Quinn appeared in The Milky Way.
Anthony Quinn and Chris Penn appeared in Mobsters.
Chris Penn and Kevin Bacon appeared in Footloose.

Harry Langdon and Joan Crawford appeared in Harry Langdon: The Forgotten Clown.
Joan Crawford and Betsy Palmer appeared in Queen Bee.
Betsy Palmer and Kevin Bacon appeared in Friday the 13th.

Stan Laurel/Oliver Hardy and Ethel Griffies appeared in Great Guns.
Ethel Griffies and Tippi Hedren appeared in The Birds.
Tippi Hedren and Kevin Bacon appeared in Jayne Mansfield's Car.

Christine McIntyre and Tom Kennedy appeared in Society Mugs.
Tom Kennedy and Jack Lemmon appeared in Some Like It Hot.
Jack Lemmon and Kevin Bacon appeared in JFK.

[metaldams]

Sadly, the Hal Roach Charley Chase does not get included.  When you type in Charley Chase, you get another thespian...

Degree 4:
Charley Chase and Lexi Belle appeared in Throated 13.
Lexi Belle and Ashley Jensen appeared in Keep 'Em Cummin'.
Ashley Jensen and James McAvoy appeared in Gnomeo and Juliet.
James McAvoy and Kevin Bacon appeared in X-Men: First Class.

[BeAStooge]

Sadly, the Hal Roach Charley Chase does not get included.  When you type in Charley Chase, you get another thespian...

Degree 4:
Charley Chase and Lexi Belle appeared in Throated 13.
Lexi Belle and Ashley Jensen appeared in Keep 'Em Cummin'.
Ashley Jensen and James McAvoy appeared in Gnomeo and Juliet.
James McAvoy and Kevin Bacon appeared in X-Men: First Class.

Using synapses instead of Google-power...

Charley Chase and Ann Doran costarred in MANY SAPPY RETURNS (1938), and a couple other Columbia shorts
Ann Doran and Verna Bloom appeared in THE HIRED HAND (1971)
Verna Bloom and Kevin Bacon appeared in NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE (1978)


The "Ann Doran connection" also gives a better result for Harry Langdon.  She costarred with Harry in a couple Columbia shorts.

Google's FORGOTTEN CLOWN connection to Joan Crawford really isn't valid because Harry & Joan appear in that via archive footage.  Unless you substitute TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP (1926), the original source of that Langdon/Crawford footage.

[metaldams]

Using synapses instead of Google-power...

Charley Chase and Ann Doran costarred in MANY SAPPY RETURNS (1938), and a couple other Columbia shorts
Ann Doran and Verna Bloom appeared in THE HIRED HAND (1971)
Verna Bloom and Kevin Bacon appeared in NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE (1978)


The "Ann Doran connection" also gives a better result for Harry Langdon.  She costarred with Harry in a couple Columbia shorts.

Google's FORGOTTEN CLOWN connection to Joan Crawford really isn't valid because Harry & Joan appear in that via archive footage.  Unless you substitute TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP (1926), the original source of that Langdon/Crawford footage.

I actually thought about TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP with Harry Langdon after I copied that, but you're right, that film would be a better example.  Joan Crawford, in my opinion, was easily at her most beautiful in the silent days before she was a huge star.  In addition to TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP see also THE UNKNOWN (1927) with Lon Chaney.

I printed the "Charley Chase" results as a combination cheap laugh and sad reminder of what a Charley Chase search gets you these days.  I would've had the comedian Charley Chase no higher than four degrees due to being with Stan and Ollie in SONS OF THE DESERT, but nice job of getting it down to three.