Hal Roach's Streamliners
Encyclopedia
Hal Roach's Streamliners were a series of short comedy film
s created by Hal Roach
that were longer than a short subject
and less than a feature film
not exceeding 50 minutes in length. Twenty of the twenty-nine features that Roach produced for United Artists
were in the streamliner format. They usually consisted of five 10 minute reels.
s but by 1935 sensed that short subjects were on the way out. As the double feature
format for cinemas was then popular, when Roach began producing films for United Artists
he came up with the idea of a short length film he called streamliners after the public's infatuation with the then modern and fast streamliner
trains. The short length gave more room for part of a double feature program.
The price of a streamliner was set at $110,000; with four streamliners being able to produced for the cost of one feature film, yet profits would bring an estimated 50 to 75% more than a single feature.
World War II interrupted Roach's Hollywood film production with Hal Roach Studios used for training films.
Following the War, Roach resumed film production with the streamliners in Cinecolor
giving Roach the distinction of being the only film studio to have an all colour schedule. Roach had made a Cinecolor short, Daily Beauty Rituals with Constance Bennett
in 1937.
When faced with cinema owners who didn't show double features, Roach combined two streamliners into a single feature. Hal Roach's Comedy Carnival was a single feature of his Curley
and The Fabulous Joe. His second (and final) attempt was Lafftime, combining Here Comes Trouble and Who Killed Doc Robbin
?. Roach also rereleased the two Bendix/Tracy features as Two Knights from Brooklyn (1949).
The visionary Roach soon turned his studios over to television show production in 1949 beginning with Fireside Theater
.
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
s created by Hal Roach
Hal Roach
Harold Eugene "Hal" Roach, Sr. was an American film and television producer and director, and from the 1910s to the 1990s.- Early life and career :Hal Roach was born in Elmira, New York...
that were longer than a short subject
Short subject
A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...
and less than a feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
not exceeding 50 minutes in length. Twenty of the twenty-nine features that Roach produced for United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
were in the streamliner format. They usually consisted of five 10 minute reels.
History
Roach's studio initially produced comedy short subjectShort subject
A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...
s but by 1935 sensed that short subjects were on the way out. As the double feature
Double feature
The double feature, also known as a double bill, was a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatre managers would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown.The double feature, also known as...
format for cinemas was then popular, when Roach began producing films for United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
he came up with the idea of a short length film he called streamliners after the public's infatuation with the then modern and fast streamliner
Streamliner
A streamliner is a vehicle incorporating streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor "bullet trains". Less commonly, the term is applied to fully faired recumbent bicycles...
trains. The short length gave more room for part of a double feature program.
The price of a streamliner was set at $110,000; with four streamliners being able to produced for the cost of one feature film, yet profits would bring an estimated 50 to 75% more than a single feature.
Product
- Laurel and Hardy's A Chump at OxfordA Chump at OxfordA Chump at Oxford, directed by Alfred J. Goulding and released in 1940 by United Artists, was the penultimate Laurel and Hardy film made at the Hal Roach studios. Originally released as a streamliner featurette at forty minutes long, twenty minutes of footage largely unrelated to the main plot...
was released in the United States at 42 minutes, but extra scenes were shot for an overseas release of 63 minutes. - The first official streamliner filmed in 19411941 in filmThe year 1941 in film involved some significant events.-Events:Citizen Kane, consistently rated as one of the greatest films of all time, was released in 1941.-Top grossing films :-Academy Awards:...
was Tanks a MillionTanks a MillionTanks a Million is a 1941 American film directed by Fred Guiol. It was the first of Hal Roach's Streamliners, short films under an hour designed for the lower half of a double feature. The film was also the first pairing of William Tracy and Joe Sawyer in a series of films of the two in the...
the first of a series of seven military comedies starring recruit William TracyWilliam TracyWilliam Tracy was an American character actor. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Tracy is perhaps best known for the role of Pepi Katona, the delivery boy, in The Shop Around the Corner. He also starred in the John Ford film Tobacco Road . That same year, he began a recurring role as Sgt...
and his Sergeant Joe SawyerJoe SawyerJoe Sawyer was a Canadian film actor. He appeared in over 200 films between 1930 and 1962.He was born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, and died in Ashland, Oregon from liver cancer....
. It was followed by four more streamliners- Hay Foot, About Face, Fall In and Yanks Ahoy (1943). After the war, the pair reappeared in a feature film concerning their misadventures in civilian life, Here Comes Trouble (1948), then two films produced by Hal Roach Jr., with the pair back in the army in the midst of the Korean WarKorean WarThe Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
- As You Were (1951) and Mr. Walkie Talkie (1952), released by Lippert Pictures. - A TechnicolorTechnicolorTechnicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
streamliner FiestaFiesta (1941 film)Fiesta is a 1941 American Technicolor film directed by LeRoy Prinz that was one of Hal Roach's Streamliners. The film was the motion picture debut of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera star Anne Ayars....
appeared in the same year. - Another comedy team of Sawyer and William BendixWilliam BendixWilliam Bendix was an American film, radio, and television actor, best remembered in movies for the title role in the movie The Babe Ruth Story and for portraying clumsily earnest aircraft plant worker Chester A. Riley in radio and television's The Life of Riley...
as Brookyn taxi drivers in Brooklyn Orchid, The McGuerins from Brooklyn and Taxi, Mister. - Two streamliners making fun of Adolf HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
played by Bobby Watson: The Devil with HitlerThe Devil with HitlerThe Devil with Hitler is a 1942 comedy short propaganda film that was one of Hal Roach's Streamliners. When the board of directors of Hell want Adolf Hitler to take charge, the Devil tries to save his job by making the German dictator perform a good deed....
and Natzy Nuisance. - Three rural comedies directed by Hal Roach Jr. starring Will RogersWill RogersWilliam "Will" Penn Adair Rogers was an American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer, film actor, and one of the world's best-known celebrities in the 1920s and 1930s....
' son Jimmy Rogers and Noah Beery Jr: Dudes are Pretty People, Calaboose and Prairie Chickens - Two streamliners with Zasu PittsZaSu PittsZaSu Pitts was an American actress who starred in many silent dramas and comedies, transitioning to comedy sound films.-Early life:ZaSu Pitts was born in Parsons, Kansas to Rulandus and Nellie Pitts; she was the third of four children...
: Niagara FallsNiagara Falls (1941 film)Niagara Falls is a 1941 American comedy of errors film directed by Gordon Douglas that was one of Hal Roach's Streamliners.- Plot summary :A peanut vendor sights a man named Sam Sawyer attempting suicide by jumping off a cliff into the waters below...
and Miss Polly.
World War II interrupted Roach's Hollywood film production with Hal Roach Studios used for training films.
Following the War, Roach resumed film production with the streamliners in Cinecolor
Cinecolor
Cinecolor was an early subtractive color-model two color film process, based upon the Prizma system of the 1910s and 1920s and the Multicolor system of the late 1920s and 1930s. It was developed by William T. Crispinel and Alan M...
giving Roach the distinction of being the only film studio to have an all colour schedule. Roach had made a Cinecolor short, Daily Beauty Rituals with Constance Bennett
Constance Bennett
-Early life:She was born in New York City, the daughter of actor Richard Bennett and actress Adrienne Morrison, whose father was the stage actor Lewis Morrison , a wealthy performer of English and Spanish ancestry...
in 1937.
When faced with cinema owners who didn't show double features, Roach combined two streamliners into a single feature. Hal Roach's Comedy Carnival was a single feature of his Curley
Curley
Ashishishe , known as Curly , was a Crow scout in the United States Army during the Sioux Wars, best known for having been one of the few survivors on the United States side at the Battle of Little Bighorn. He did not fight in the battle, but watched from a distance, and was the first to report the...
and The Fabulous Joe. His second (and final) attempt was Lafftime, combining Here Comes Trouble and Who Killed Doc Robbin
Who Killed Doc Robbin
Who Killed Doc Robbin is a film produced by Hal Roach and Robert F. McGowan as a reimagining of their Our Gang series.The film was one of "Hal Roach's Streamliners" features of the 1940s, running only 55 minutes, and was designed as a B-movie. Like most of Roach's latter-day output, Who Killed Doc...
?. Roach also rereleased the two Bendix/Tracy features as Two Knights from Brooklyn (1949).
The visionary Roach soon turned his studios over to television show production in 1949 beginning with Fireside Theater
Fireside Theater
Fireside Theater is an American anthology drama series that ran from on NBC from 1949 to 1958, and was the first successful filmed series on American television. Stories were low budget and often based on public domain stories or written by freelance writers such as Rod Serling. While it was panned...
.