Hollywood Hobbies

Sightseers go on a tour to see movie stars. They see them doing things outside their usual routines, like Clark Clark Gable whitewashing his barn and Robert Young's horse riding stable.

It's a very human sort of short subject. Contemporary audiences may have confused the actors and the roles they played; the idea that they might have, like their contemporaries, outside interests, humanized them.

The highlight for me was excerpts from the annual charity baseball game between the leading men and the comedians. Back when he ran his own studio, Buster Keaton's job application form purportedly asked two questions: if the applicant could do anything having to do with movies, and if he could play baseball; a passing grade was 50%.