Topic: Andy Clyde question

[Mark The Shark]

I remember how when the Ultimate Collection DVD set was going to be released, the initial plan was to include the solo shorts of Shemp, Joe Besser and Joe De Rita plus anything else relevant to the Stooges which either could be found or "cleared" as far as rights issues etc.

They ended up including all the "starring" solo shorts and most of Shemp's guest appearances with Andy Clyde and the Glove Slingers series. But there was one Andy Clyde title conspicuously missing, IIRC it was called "Not Guilty Enough."

Fast forward a number of years and author/historin James Neibaur looked into it and found that neither Sony nor the Library Of Congress had any elements on "Not Guilty Enough." This was sad news -- I'm used to reading about lost silent films but it seems less common for the talkie era (though not "unheard of," see "Hello Pop" which was eventually recovered), especially as late as the 1940s.

So I wonder if there is any information known regarding anything else that might be missing among the Columbia comedy shorts. As most of these have not had the availability and exposure that the Three Stooges shorts have had, I don't think it's common knowledge as far as which ones are or are not "archived."

I am glad that besides the Stooges and solo shorts, Buster Keaton and Charley Chase have had their Columbia shorts released on DVD. But Andy Clyde (whose longevity in the department was second only to the Stooges) never got a collection, and I wonder if missing films might be a factor in the reason why. Of course, despite his series' longevity, Andy Clyde is not a household name in the 21st century so there is that too.

I suppose we are fortunate that we have all 190 Columbia Stooges shorts. I just wonder besides that one Clyde film, what else might be missing, and how that even happens.

Also, the Stooges made several appearances in the "Screen Snapshots" series, including one with Ted Healy. I would really like to see those, in fact the whole series might have made a great Warner Archive type release if they had been done at another studio like M-G-M or Vitaphone. I've only seen one (in which they are trying to mount Curly on a horse) and I'm not even sure if I've seen the entire short.

Just curious about what's there and what isn't.

[metaldams]

This is the best website concerning the Columbia two reelers, where I’ll link you to the Andy Clyde page.  Indeed, “Not Guilty Enough” is listed as no known prints exist.

https://columbiashortsdept.weebly.com/andy-clyde.html

Click the “two-reel comedies” link on top of the screen and all the series show up, so you can do some digging yourself.  But yeah, sadly some shorts are lost and yes, we are very lucky all 190 Stooge shorts exist - and in the condition they’re in on top of it.

[Mark The Shark]

Thanks for the link. I'm familiar with the site but haven't really studied it in depth. I'm surprised how many Andy Clyde shorts are listed as "no known print exists" -- even "Loves A Poppin" from as late as 1953. And if I'm reading this right, sometimes a short is missing but its stock-footage remake exists, or vice versa.

I should ask Greg to clarify the "no known print exists" designation, i.e. how he knows that. I know Greg has been collecting the Columbia shorts for many years, maybe those are simply ones he hasn't found yet, or is it meant more literally.

I thought the "Hilarious Hundred" shorts released to TV via Screen Gems were (or seemed) kind of arbitrarily selected, but maybe not -- I wonder if certain titles were missing then, or the other way around, if their exclusion from a TV package led to them having gone missing since then.

Does anyone have a list of the "Hilarious Hundred" shorts? How about the Columbia comedy shorts released in Super 8 sound during the 1970s?

It would be great if TCM would make a deal for the Columbia comedy shorts like they have for the Hal Roach library.