Let's Do Things

This is a quite enjoyable 26 minutes, the first of the Thelma and ZaSu series.Jerry Mandy as the doctor is very funny and almost a clone of Jimmy Durante.Also present for Laurel&Hardy fans are Harry Bernard and Charlie Hall as waiters and Dorothy Granger as the leading Night Club dancer.The cigarette girl in the nightclub is Mary Kornman who is often mistaken for a different unidentified actress who appears briefly in the Thelma/ZaSu shorts Maids a la Mode,Alum and Eve and also as a bridesmaid in L&Hs Me and my pal.The nightclub manager is Maurice Black who appears in Bonnie Scotland.Even without the L&H connection this is well worth seeing.

Although Hal Roach Studios is known for its Laurel & Hardy films, the studio also made a variety of shorts starring other, lesser known acts. Charley Chase, the Boy Friends and the Little Rascals also made many shorts for Roach. They also tried making a string of female duo comedies--though the composition kept changing and no consistent line-up ever resulted. First, they tried Zasu Pitts and Thelma Todd....and Zasu left and was replaced by Patsy Kelly. Then Thelma Todd died mysteriously and was replaced by Lyda Roberti.....who died a short time later as well! "Let's Do Things" is the first of these comedies.

Like so many of the Pitts/Todd films, there really is not a lot in the way of plot. As usual, they play roommates and as was typical of many of these shorts, the plot (such as it is) consists of them going on a date with a couple of clods. Not much happens on the date and the film ends. As I said...not much plot. Instead, small bits (such as Zasu losing her shoes) were drug out way past being funny and the whole thing seemed a bit forced and unfunny. Not a terrible film...but also one that is among the studio's lesser films of 1931.

This is the first of a series of Hal Roach comedies spotlighting the talents of two of the big screen's most gifted comediennes, Thelma Todd and Zasu Pitts. Thelma and Zasu made a magical pair of cut-ups, almost a female counterpart to Hal Roach's timeless comic team, Laurel and Hardy. Zasu was just as versatile as Stan Laurel and exhibited nearly as many humorous mannerisms. If the viewer thinks Zasu's image is familiar it's because she was the inspiration for Popeye's Olive Oyl cartoon character's voice and idiosyncrasies. Thelma, on the other hand, was more an equal in the comedy department, seldom satisfied with just playing it straight for Zasu. She was a beautiful blond with an instinct for comic timing. Though gorgeous, she was adept at physical humor too. Like the later Lucille Ball, Thelma was lovely yet could still play the clown.

"Let's Do Things" is to some extent a parody of Clara Bow's "It," released four years earlier. The story begins in the same location, Waltham's, The Biggest Store in the World, where Thelma and Zasu are sales clerks in the music department. Rather than selling merchandise the two beauties are singing with a gang of customers--all men--the popular song, "Them There Eyes." The camera zooms in on the face of Wild Bill Elliott, when he was still being called Gordon Elliott. His fans will enjoy hearing him sing in harmony with the others. The manager shoos them all away and commands Thelma and Zasu to get to work selling music. A funny part ensues with Zasu reading aloud the titles of sheet music, adding commentary: For example, "I'm Throwing Myself Away," only twenty-five cents.

Zasu's rather stout boyfriend who enjoys culinary delights enters telling her that he has fixed Thelma up with a medical doctor. Thelma is enthusiastic until she learns that he is an orthopedic physician. When they all meet in Thelma and Zasu's apartment, Thelma is turned off by her blind date and feigns a headache. The good doctor twists, yanks, and pulverizes Thelma into a pretzel. She confides to Zasu that she had better go with them to the nightclub or she'll get her neck broken.

All types of shenanigans befall the wistful couples, one of the funniest being the good doctor treating the dancers who have the worst spines he has ever encountered. Once he finishes with them, they do one of the craziest dances the viewer is likely to see, their bodies bent out of shape like so many contortionists. There is a slapstick ending that wraps up the show just right.

Those who like slapstick humor at its best, presented by two experts and directed by another, will enjoy "Let's Do Things." Forget the rather generic title, and watch the fun. Male viewers get a bonus. Thelma shows more cleavage than usual, and what cleavage!

Let's Do Things (1931)

** (out of 4)

The first in the Zasu Pitts/Thelma Todd short runs just under thirty-minutes, which would be the only film in the series to try and expand to a three-reeler. The story is quite simple as Zasu's boyfriend asks that she set Thelma up on a blind date. The blind date turns out to be with an annoying orthopedic physician. The four go out to dinner where the doc becomes more annoying and soon enough Zasu has had a tad bit too much to drink. Even if you didn't know going in that this was the first film in the series you'd probably guess that after viewing because there's really not too many good things going on and it's clear the Hal Roach group were just using this to introduce their new female stars who they were hoping would become the next Laurel and Hardy. The film opens up with stock footage from the Clara Bow movie IT and then we get the highlight of the film as Todd gets to sing a quick song before the setting changes to their apartment where the girls get ready for the dates. There are the exactly comedy bits of Todd getting thrown around and Zasu acting fooling but none of it ever reaches a funny state. The final bit seems out of a different movie and doesn't mix well with everything that preceded it but I guess you needed the end the film with chaos. Zasu isn't too bad in her role but she would certainly get better as the series went on. Todd, on the other hand, displayed some stuff that you wouldn't see in future films and I am curious why the studio seemed to cut back on her screen time in the next few entries. Either way, LET'S DO THINGS isn't a good movie or a funny one so only fans of the duo will want to check it out.