Double or Nothing

Beware--only if you are watching the short titled "Double or Nothing" made in 1936 are you watching radio star Phil Harris, shortly before he launched his long career as Jack Benny's bandleader. TCM recently aired another 1939/1940 short with the same name and mistakenly labeled it as this short. The latter short starred the forgotten Lee Dixon and a boring bevy of bad star imitators. (I notice that IMDb continues this confusion on its "Enter Review" comments header.) I doubt the 1939 short was nominated for an Oscar; more like Oscar Mayer filler! Phil Harris was a one-of-a-kind curly-haired entertainer who had the South in his Mouth and was a dynamo of fun. I hope to see him in the 1936 short instead of the 1939 ersatz. C'mon TCM, read your reel covers!

Double or Nothing (1936)

*** (out of 4)

Oscar nominated short has a stunt double (Phil Harris) being knocked out on set and then taken to the dentist where he is given sleeping gas. The double then goes to "Double's Heaven" where we get to see all sorts of famous stars but here they are played by their doubles. Not all of the gags work but this is a pretty entertaining short for film buffs. The Mae West bit is probably the best.

If you're interested in this film then Turner Classic Movies usually shows it once a year.

It's worth viewing if you come across it.

A stuntman -- Phil Harris it claims, but it looks nothing like the Phil Harris who married Alice Faye and sang in the 1960s animated THE JUNGLE BOOK -- gets knocked out on the set and sent to the doctor. There he's put under gas and dreams he is in a faux-medieval court, where all the people he meets are celebrity impersonators.

Although this wacky Oscar-nominated short ges on about being set in Hollywood, it is actually a Broadway Brevity produced by Vitagrah in Brooklyn. Well, it was all one industry, and the Big V, as it was known in the 1910s was now owned by Warner Brothers. A lot of mediocre but heartfelt performers pretend to be all sorts of famous Hollywood types. See if you can identify them!