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  • Film Comment

    Funny Girls

    Jul 03, 2018 2 minutes
    BY STEVEN MEARS

    ⋆ The Complete Hal Roach/Thelma Todd/Patsy Kelly Comedy Collection

    21 shorts, USA, 1933-1936; ClassicFlix

    COMEDY MATCHMAKER HAL ROACH, THE auteur-producer who aligned the stars of Laurel & Hardy and The Little Rascals, envisioned a female duo with the same knockabout antics, slow-burn reactions, and crackerjack timing and declared “the greatest dramatic actress,” with Thelma Todd, a sprightly blonde contract player who’d appeared to charming if limited effect in Roach’s Laurel & Hardy and Charley Chase shorts. The addled Pitts and wholesome Todd appeared in 17 popular two-reelers between 1931-33, but salary disputes ended Pitts’s association with Roach Studios, necessitating a new partner for Todd, whose stock had risen in the interim with a range of showcase roles (including the faithless wife of Sam Spade’s partner in the original 1931 ).

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