OK, I looked up MOOCHING THROUGH GEORGIA in "The Complete Films of Buster Keaton", and Jim Kline states, as you pointed out, that it did form the basis for UNCIVIL WARBIRDS. Both were directed by Jules White. I have all the Keaton Columbia shorts ready to watch, but the only one I have viewed so far is PEST FROM THE WEST, which I've had on Super 8 for about 25 years. PEST was a remake of Keaton's feature THE INVADER, AKA AN OLD SPANISH CUSTOM. I bought the VHS tape from Grapevine Video in the early 90s, which used the latter title. I watched it exactly once, when I first bought it.
I have all the Universal A&C movies memorized, plus NOOSE and AFRICA. I've seen all 36, but the M-G-Ms aren't as clear in my mind since they weren't aired once every 31 weeks like the Universal ones and NOOSE, HENRY, and THE WORLD OF were. Funny, but I didn't know about AFRICA until I read the Mulholland book. It never aired back then on my local stations. Only saw it when I rented it on VHS. Now I've seen it dozens of times. I usually skipped watching the airing of HENRY after the first couple of times.
I've seen the TV episodes just as much as the Universals, since they were always on. They sometimes showed them during rain delays of Yankee games, or "we will now join Abbott and Costello, already in progress" if the Yankee game ended earlier than expected. I always wondered -- what did they do, start the 16mm projector during the game, even though they weren't airing it? I don't have them memorized since they weren't very focused, at least not the first season. I know all the routines, though. I have my crib notes that I mentioned before, to identify which episode had which routine in the first season.
The second season usually had Costello mixed up with a mobster's, boxer's, or wrestler's wife. So they all merge together in my mind. BARBER LOU, AMNESIA, PRIVATE EYE, FENCING MASTER, WELL OILED and UNCLE BOZZO'S VISIT stand out in my mind as the best of the second season. The rest are - well -- at least somewhat watchable, but there might be another gem or two in there that I'm forgetting.(TBH, the second season really isn't as bad as it's reputation would indicate. You really need to hand-pick the good episodes, like what I just did.) Hillary only shows up in one episode, but that was an out-take from season one. No Stinky, no Bacciagalupe, and Sid Fields is barely given any comedy to do -- what a waste of his talent. The final episode, BARBER LOU, uses extensive out-takes from season one, and actually has the feel of a season one episode. I've always suspected that the rubdown scene was actually an out-take from season one too, but it has only been confirmed that the incident with the traffic cop was from season one's filming. The rubdown scene has very few cuts between shots, giving it the feeling of a live broadcast.
There are a few season one episodes that I dislike, despite the fact that many people get a warm-fuzzy feeling when they talk about all season one. My favorite, hands down, is GETTING A JOB. My least favorite, again hands down, is BINGO/LICENSE FOR BINGO/CHIMPANZEE. (This episode holds the distinction of being known by the most number of titles. Bob Furmanek recently set the record straight -- it's CHIMPANZEE.)
Bob also claims that Rita Moreno was in one episode, ALASKA. Years ago, on the A&C forum, we all concluded that it was
not Rita Moreno. Bob recently posted a scan somewhere showing the production paperwork, and it does say Rita Moreno. My theory is that it was
a Rita Moreno, not
the Rita Moreno, who went onto a highly successful, award-winning career. At 90, she is still active today.
The girl in ALASKA does not look like, nor sound like the Rita we all know. I even looked at a clip of her from SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, filmed around the same time. She does not look like the girl in this clip:
What do all of you think? In any case, the girl in the clip has plenty of pulchritude!
According to Wikipedia (which is of course infallible), this is not listed as one of her TV credits. It says in 1950 she appeared in 3 films (I assume in small roles, but her characters did have a name, unlike in ALASKA.) In one of those, she was credited as Rosita Moreno. Season one of A&C started filming in 1951. (Perhaps all episodes were filmed that year, I'm not sure.) The Furmanek book states that the first 6 episodes were filmed at the end of May 1951. ALASKA was episode 6. In 1952, she appeared in 4 episodes of a few TV series (2 for Fireside Theatre).
Given that she had already appeared as named characters in 3 films, I really doubt she would have taken this brief appearance on A&C to simply be eye-candy. I have been unable to quickly find out when SINGIN' IN THE RAIN was filmed, and I have just seen conflicting information (surprise!). One site says it was actually first released in 1951, but then pulled so as not to compete with AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, and another site repeats the story, but changes it to 1952 and the re-release of PARIS, since it had just won the best picture at the 1952 Academy Awards (for 1951 films.) The latter story says it was pulled in the Spring of 1952, so I assume most of the filming was probably done in 1951. Again, would Rita take this insignificant "role" in an A&C episode, scantily clad, at a time when she was good enough to be cast in SINGIN' IN THE RAIN? I think not.
Again, the proof-in-the-pudding is the above clip -- that is not
the Rita Moreno, but simply an actress with the same name.
