The Misadventures of Biffle and Shooster (2013-2016)

My love of film originated with the classic comedies of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s.  By the time I was in first grade, my dad had introduced me to the work of Abbott & Costello, Laurel & Hardy, the Marx Brothers, the Three Stooges, and W.C. Fields (who remains my favorite film actor).  While my parents would take me to see each Disney animated release on the big screen, it was really those misfit characters in those old black-and-white films that captured my imagination.  They continue to be my first love to this day.  That overlong introduction is just another way of saying that I was almost certain to enjoy the films of Biffle & Shooster. 

Biffle & Shooster are a fake 1930s comedy team created by musician and Disney voice actor Will Ryan (Sammy Shooster) and Broadway star Nick Santa Maria (Benny Biffle), modeled primarily on Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.  They created the characters largely for their own amusement, until film historian and producer Michael Schlesinger saw the film potential to the comedy duo.  Schlesinger had already co-produced the classic film parodies The Lost Skeleton Returns Again (2009) and Dark and Stormy Night (2009), so it was not big a stretch to imagine a pastiche of the type of classic comedy short subjects produced by Hal Roach and Jules White, starring Santa Maria and Ryan as Biffle & Shooster.  Schlesinger wrote a one-off script, leaving plenty of room for his stars to ad-lib; and together they shot It’s A Frame-Up! (2013) in the original 1.37:1 Academy ratio and glorious black-and-white.  The short was a hit on the festival and classic film convention circuit; and in 2015, Schlesinger, Ryan, and Santa Maria re-teamed to produce four additional Biffle & Shooster shorts.

While the films garnered favorable reviews, unless you were lucky enough to attend a classic film festival where one of the shorts was being screened, there had been no way to see them.  Happily, that is no longer the case, because boutique video label Kino Lorber is releasing all five shorts on a single DVD, entitled The Misadventures of Biffle and Shooster.  Now that I have finally seen these long-discussed comedies, it is my pleasure to report that the films live up to the hype.  Not only are the recreations of the 1930s film-making techniques reasonably accurate; the shorts are laugh-out-loud funny.  The Misadventures of Biffle and Shooster provides all of the double-takes, slaps, pratfalls, and spit-takes that one would hope for, and it is quite simply the most fun video release of this or many a year.

The success of the Biffle & Shooster shorts is due in largest part to the actors inhabiting the primary roles.  In the straight man part of Sammy Shooster, Will Ryan combines the look and bossiness of Bud Abbott with the softer delivery and dunderheadedness of Oliver Hardy, along with the musical aptitude of Charley Chase.  Whereas, Nick Santa Maria’s more broadly comedic Benny Biffle combines the physicality and line delivery of Lou Costello, with the affability of Red Skelton and “resting dunce face” of Huntz Hall.  Stooges fans are also sure to detect touches of Curly Howard, Shemp Howard, and Joe Besser in some of Santa Maria’s clowning.  That’s not to say that he’s unoriginal.  Santa Maria has simply absorbed the lessons of a lifetime love of film comedy and made it his own.  

The approach to the supporting actors in the shorts is unique.  Instead of simply playing their roles, each actor is meant to portray a ubiquitous character actor of the time, such as Franklin Pangborn and Patsy Kelly, in the part.  I was unsure of the wisdom of this approach, as it invariably invites audiences to draw comparisons with old pros of the studio era.  However, I quickly warmed to the idea and found it to be an extra layer of fun.  While some actors come closer to their 1930’s counterparts than others, the cast members are all game and seem to be having a great time.  Standouts in the supporting cast include Trish Geiger as Mae Busch, Glenn Taranto as Vernon Dent, and Robert Forster as James Burke.  Best of all is Robert Picardo, who does a dead-on imitation of “character drunk” Arthur Houseman.

Schlesinger also deserves kudos for his screenplays and direction.  The shorts are period-accurate throughout and never resort to any easy anachronism gags.  Some may quibble that the scripts are filled with recycled jokes from a bygone era, but the comedians of the 1930s were not shy about borrowing from each other either.  It is also undeniable that limitations in budget occasionally keep the films from looking precisely like the 1930’s movies that they’re aping, but the high-spirits and obvious love behind the project make up for any budgetary shortcomings.     

I certainly hope this isn’t the last we see of the team of Benny Biffle and Sammy Shooster.  I’d happily contribute to a crowdfunding effort to aid the production of additional short subjects or (dare we hope) a feature-length Biffle & Shooster story.

Here is a brief summary of the shorts included in the package.  There’s not a bupkie in the bunch:

 

The Biffle Murder Case (2015)

In this satire of Philo Vance drawing room mysteries, Biffle and Shooster discover a dead body when delivering a crate wrong-side-up to a high society mansion.  Soon they are joined by private sleuth Milo Nance (Frank Dietz as Edmund Lowe) and a homicide cop (Robert Forster as James Burke), who are determined to find out who done it.  Can the boys prove their innocence?

 

Imitation of Wife (2015)

Vying for a promotion at work, Sammy Shooster invites his boss (Glenn Taranto as Vernon Dent) home for dinner, without first informing his wife (Trish Geiger as Mae Busch).  However, that shouldn’t be a problem, because Sammy asked Benny Biffle to drop by the house to help his wife prepare the meal.  What could go wrong?

 

Schmo Boat (2015)

The only short presented in color (doctored to resemble the early red/teal Cinecolor process) places Biffle and Shooster aboard a showboat, emceeing a musical revue.  Between musical numbers, the boys run through some classic vaudeville routines.  There are even a mentions of the Susquehanna Hat Company and Niagara Falls.  NIAGARA FALLS!!!  Slowly, I turned.  Step by step, inch by inch…

 

Bride of Finklestein (2015)

When their car runs out of gas in the middle of a rainstorm, Biffle and Shooster seek shelter in a spooky, old castle owned by the mad Dr. Finklestein (Phil Baron as early Jewish comedian Max Davidson).  Numerous terrors await, including a gorilla (Chris Walas as gorilla suit actor Charles Gemora), a hunchback (Jesse Levy as Vince Barnett), a “wampire” (Sara Lattis as Carroll Borland), and the doctor’s reanimated wife (Sara Ballantine as Vivien Oakland).

 

It’s A Frame-Up! (2013)

In the first Biffle & Shooster short to be shot (but the last in the fake timeline) the boys are down on their luck and unable to buy a meager meal from Mr. Kennedy, the hot dog vendor (Daniel Roebuck as master of the slow burn Edgar Kennedy).  They manage to find work watching an art gallery, only to be menaced by a drunk (Robert Picardo as Arthur Houseman), who accidentally spikes the boy’s drinks.

 

USA/B&W+C-131m./Dir: Michael Schlesinger/Wr: Michael Schlesinger, Will Ryan, Nick Santa Maria/Cast: Nick Santa Maria, Will Ryan, Trish Geiger, Robert Forster, Phil Baron, H.M. Wynant, Todd Roosevelt, Glen Taranto, Stan Taffel, Frank Dietz, Daniel Roebuck, Robert Picardo, Andrew Parks, Alison Martin, Jim Beaver, Dick Miller, Fay Masterson, Sara Ballantine, Jesse Levy, Karen Kennedy, Katriona Kennedy, Shona Kennedy, Janet Klein, Rusty Frank, Sybil Darrow, Kevin Quinn, Paul Bunnell, Tegan Ashton Cohan, Perry Shields, Diane Michelle, Chris Walas

For Fans of: If you love the classic comedies of Abbott & Costello, Laurel & Hardy, and The Three Stooges, then you are the target audience for Biffle & Shooster.

Video: All of the Biffle & Shooster shorts filmed to date will be released on DVD by Kino Lorber on May 22nd as The Misadventures of Biffle and Shooster.  In addition to the five short subjects detailed above, the disc is packed with three hours’ worth of extras. I rarely watch all of the special features included with a disc, but this was the exception.  The material was so much fun that I couldn’t stop watching.  I devoured it all.

Those very special extra features include:

  • Commentary on all five shorts by filmmaker Michael Schlesinger and stars Nick Santa Maria And Will Ryan (which is almost as much fun as the films themselves)
  • An additional Biffle & Shooster short, FIRST THINGS LAST, made to resemble a Vitaphone short circa 1928
  • A Spanish outtake From IMITATION OF WIFE (It was standard practice in the 1930s to shoot separate foreign language versions of films for the European market, with the stars reading the dialogue phonetically off cue cards.)
  • MAD MAD WORLD outtake (A fake excised cameo of the boys in their later years from It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World)
  • 1962 Interview with the team (from the time of their Mad World appearance)
  • A PSA for the Will Rogers Institute
  • “Turn Off Your Phone” and other bumpers
  • Deleted Scenes (The films were shot in color and then processed to look like they were shot in black & white, so the extra footage is all in color)
  • Alternate takes and extended musical numbers (often displaying Will Ryan and Nick Santa Maria’s skills at ad-libbing)
  • Behind the Scenes Footage
  • Trailers
  • Plus nearly one full hour of bloopers and outtakes (including dirty words.  Horrors!)

Streaming: Simultaneous with the DVD release, a feature-length compilation of four of the six shorts (minus It’s a Frame-Up! and First Things Last), with the confusingly similar title of The Adventures of Biffle and Shooster, will be available on digital platforms including iTunes, Amazon Instant, Google Play and Vudu.

More to Explore: Back in 1991, Rob Reiner and Phil Mishkin created Morton & Hayes, a short-lived, six-episode television series, which supposedly presented long-lost comedy shorts by the team of Chick Morton (Kevin Pollak) and Eddie Hayes (Bob Amaral).  Five of the six episodes were directed by Christopher Guest, and the remaining episode was directed by Michael McKean.  Unfortunately, those shows have never been released on video, but you can watch them on YouTube.

Trivia: Like many of the classic comedians of old, Biffle & Shooster are also getting their own comic book.  You can purchase the first issue through their INDIEGOGO Campaign.

For More Info: For an overview of the classic film funsters that influenced the Biffle & Shooster pastiches, read The Great Movie Comedians: From Charlie Chaplin to Woody Allen by Leonard Maltin. It was my Bible when I was a kid.

garv

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