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Tireman, Spare My Tires (1942) - Harry Langdon

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Umbrella Sam:

--- Quote from: HomokHarcos on January 08, 2021, 07:57:39 PM ---This is much different from the previous short and feels less like you'd usually expect from Jules White. I thought it was interesting that Louise didn't know how to cook, usually they make men the clueless ones when it comes to cooking. But being from a rich family, I think the implication is supposed to be that they usually hired people to cook for them.

Harry Langdon is noticeably older here, when I saw the YouTube thumbnail I noticed it right away. I think that might be due to Harry Langdon using less makeup than before, like what happened when Laurel and Hardy went to 20th Century Fox.

--- End quote ---

I actually think Langdon looked a bit better with less makeup. In his silent and early Roach shorts, it always seemed to me that his makeup was kind of overdone, to the point that it made him look a bit too zany (which, to be fair, may have been the point). In stuff like ZENOBIA, COLD TURKEY, and the two Rogers-Langdon features, he looks silly, but still more relaxed, which was a bit more similar to Stan’s look at Roach. I agree that he does look older in some of these later Columbia’s, but I don’t find it too distracting, at least not yet.

metaldams:
An OK Columbia short, but not really much of a Langdon short.  He pulls the material off OK for the most part, but there really isn’t  anything specifically suited for Langdon.  It’s a reaction comedy that had gags that would have worked with The Three Stooges.  Here, it all feels very journeyman like.

Louise Currie, shortly before earning screen immortality playing scream queen to a simian Bela Lugosi, is very likable here, but like Langdon, feels a bit misplaced.  It was weird seeing Currie, in a Columbia short, mixing ingredients in a kitchen so - straight.  That type of thing is meant for comedians who can’t count and read. 

I really do like the floating pot gag and as a Columbia short, perfectly acceptable.  As a Langdon short, if this were the only thing I ever saw from the guy, I wouldn’t understand what’s so special.  Sometimes Columbia writes these shorts with gifted comedians, stays too rigid to their formula while completely forsaking the gifts that makes the comedian unique.  TIREMAN, SPARE MY TIRES is a great example.

Thank God the Columbia formula was tailor made for The Three Stooges.

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