Variety Time

This B Picture from 1948 is a throw-away variety show that pads its one-hour length with library footage and new segments. The segments are largely uninteresting. They include a recycling of the previous year's unfunny comedy short, "Hired Husband," excerpts from an unknown silent film (with narration), a couple of vaudeville acts, and an over-the-top performance by Cuban singer Miguelito Valdés of "Babalu," which would soon become the trademark song of fellow Cuban singer Desi Arnaz.

Though unexciting, this film is worth watching for the intros and outros delivered by emcee Jack Paar, who makes his debut here. Paar shows off the casual style and wry attitude that would become his own trademark when, ten years later, he would take over as host of NBC's Tonight Show (succeeding Steve Allen and preceding Johnny Carson). Paar also performs in a mildly amusing sketch featuring Hans Conried as "French singer" Rudy La Paix; Paar serves as lyric translator.

TCM shows this film from time to time. It's worth recording and fast-forwarding through to watch Paar in his hosting infancy.

I've read all the other comments about this variety program which is a hodge-podge of material selected with no apparent theme in mind other than comedy, and if you like vintage comedy, that's good enough for some of us. When TV was in it's infancy, material like this was readily available on the Ed Sullivan show, the Jackie Gleason show, and many other classic programs, and for those of us who grew up watching TV in an era when they would only broadcast for about 12 hours per day because there was not enough material available to fill an entire 24-hour schedule, then you will be very happy to see this type of stuff once again. The heritage of all the episodes is pure vaudeville, and though I'm not that old, don't forget that vaudeville entertained people for many more years than our modern TV era. So, I think all the other comments come from people who don't appreciate the comedic history of this delightful montage. If you like antiques, watch it and enjoy!

Two comedy shorts from the RKO department -- one from the Edgar Kennedy series and one from the Leon Errol series -- and a few of musical shorts from RKO pasted together with a liberal dose of Jack Paar telling some mediocre jokes and introducing the shorts as if this were all intended.

Edgar Kennedy does a pretty good domestic situation comedy -- his RKO series lasted from about 1932 until his death the year this was released, 1948; Leon Errol's ran from 1933 through his death in 1951. RKO's short subject department was pretty lively through the 1950s. You may particularly enjoy, as I did, Jesse & James, a pair of acrobatic dancers in the vein of the Nichola Brothers. Paar's comedy monologue has not aged well and his sarcastic cutting up of a couple of silent movies, including D.W. Griffith's TWO PATHS and a William S. Hart short, done the year Griffith died, is in poor taste. Griffith has, it seems, aged better than Paar.

Some very unamusing bits by modern comedic standards, but well worth watching for its nostalgic and historical value. Jack Paar isn't at his best in this film, but you can see the infancy of his style minus the emotional outbursts. And it will probably make you want to see more of the Errol and Kennedy shorts.

One thing I found most interesting was that the bits with Paar - specifically the one with Paar and Conried - appeared to be filmed with three cameras, which would later become a common television production practice. (Maybe Desi Arnaz wasn't so original after all.) I give it a 6/10 just because I'm a nostalgia buff.

Well, this IS a hodgepodge, so it's bound to be hit and miss, but the misses far outweigh the hits. Jack Paar makes his first appearance on screen (and he tells you that at the beginning) as the host of this film/vaudeville collection. He already has his inimitable casual delivery down pat and delivers self-deprecating material, but it's forced and he seems uncomfortable with it. Film features two shorts, one with Edgar Kennedy that's okay and another with Leon Errol that's frantic farce but not particularly funny. The hodgepodge includes Jesse & James, a Nicholas Brothers-like acrobatic dance team that is quite good; as is an evocative "Babalu" dance number. Hans Conreid comes on to do a comic mis-translated French singing number that is humdrum, and Paar does jokey commentaries over some old silent movie footage. In fact, Paar is a dead weight throughout, flatly reciting patter that is stale to begin with, but could have been given some lift if a brighter, snappier personality had delivered it. More or less a curio.