Evening star., 1938-06-26

n If you, or you or you ca
wv think up some funny bus.
ness that has not yet bee
used in the movies veteran Directo
Cline will pay you $500
for it,
Sounds easy. doesn't it? But Mr.
Cline. currently making "Breakin'
the Ice" starring Bobby Breen, j
confident he is in no danger of los
ing his money-'because," he says,
there are no new gags"
Cline, who started with Mack Sen
nett 20 years ago, claims there arc
only 112 basic gags-movie Language
for a humorous situation. The mos
popular and most frequently used ha
to do with the undignified fall of the
dignified or plump person. There arr
IA main variations of the fall. Dur
ing the recent cycle of crazy comedie,
you saw at least three in every film.
The Oldest gag of all" says Cline
lis the chase. Some form of the
chase has appeared in practicall.
every picture, from the crazy shot
gun chases of Chaplin and Sennett.
cowboys and Indians, police and rack
eteers. right down to pictures like
Bringing Up Baby in which Katha-
rine Hepburn and Cary Grant chase
leopard-and vice versa. Incidentally,
lions and big cats are always good
for a laugh, especially when mixed
with a little terror.
"At the preview Of Three Blind
Mice the other day I saw a very old
gag revived successfully. Judging by
audience reaction" continues Cline.
THE scene in question concerned two
men-Joel McCrea and David Niven-
trying to get out of doorway at the
same time They were stuck, and it
was very funny, as it always has
been.
"NJOW this gag has as much gray
hair on it as any know. 1t
used to be a stock comedy situation
between the late Mack Swain, who
was very big and very fat, and the
very lean Mr.. Chaplin. Whenever We
had to get a sure-fire laugh we sent
the two out door, and Mr.. Swain
would crush poor Mr.. Chaplin. 1
must have done this identical thing
at least 100 times.
LAS matter of fact, have so
much faith in it that I am reviving
it in Breaking the Ice This time
am using Charlie Ruggles and Bobby
Breen, who get stuck in a tunnel. 1t
is the same gag. but with change
of environment, setting and PERSONAL
tiles"
In THE Awful Truth" audiences
howled when Irene Dunno and Cary
Grant travelled on the handle-bars of
police cycles. This gag is at least
Is years old. Chaplin used it in the
second or third picture he made.
with only a slight variation" says his
former director. Charlie was being
chased by a bicycle policeman. The
wheel hit the curb, throwing the
officer. Charlie abandoned his run
ming, picked up the policeman, put
him on the handle-bars and rushed
him to the police station"
Two years ago this same gag, but
with a slight twist, was incorporated
in Thanks a Million" in which Dick
Powell, escaping in an automobile.
is chased by a score of motor cycle
police. The scene and the picture
fade out with the police telling him
he is free to 60 as he likes, and they
form an escort behind him, conveying
him triumphantly into town.
THE goofy-girl-falling-f -the-but-
Ter gag is not as new as modern
picture men would make you believe" "
according to Cline. my Man God
frey used it, with Lombard and Will
liam Powell Bill repeated this iden-
tical situation within year in The
Baroness and the Butler with Anna
bella" (Both were taken from the
old French farces)
IN 1.-THE Adventures of Marco Polo
Basil Rathbone throws Sigrid Gurie
to the vultures and exhibits this re-
fined bit Of cruelty to hero Gary
Cooper. This gag is the rankest
form of melodrama and used to be
a standby in the old days when lions
were used for the purpose. And. il
I remember correctly, it was a STOCK
property of melodramas Of 100 year,
1010 0PAHAM pace T.10