BLOG TO COMM

DVD REVIEW! JOE McDOAKES COLLECTION, starring George O'Hanlon (Warner Brothers)

I was laughing my scabs off over these classic 40s/50s JOE McDOAKES Warner Brother short subjects way back during my early VCR days (just grab any issue of BLACK TO COMM twixt #s 18 and 25 to read about 'em all up front and natural-like), and now that we've entered the age of Dee-Vee-Dee I finally have the opportunity to watch the entire run of this long-forgotten series in the very privacy of my own boudoir. Yes, in an age where comedy has become synonymous with one big bad-rapping by a buncha dykes who are still mad at their daddies so they dragged some black guy on 'em and had a kid and shouted LOOK AT WHAT I DUMPED ON YOU, SOCIETY!!!, these shorts come off even funnier than the time I substituted my neighbor's birth control pills with thalidomide! And really, if I have laughed this year at all it was because of this set which helps out during those moments when I realize that life is just a joke and I just happen to be the punchline!

George O'Hanlon as Joe is of course perfect in the lead role as the hapless hero who comes off part Dagwood Bumstead and part Ralph Kramden at his get rich quick best---can't think of anyone else who coulda done the role better'n this long-forgotten fanabla who, other'n his voice work for THE JETSONS as well as the MR. ED United States Savings Bonds film is hardly ever seen these sorry days. The supporting cast is boffo as well, with Phyllis Coates tying it with Jane Frazee to see who makes the best Alice while Rodney Bell as neighbor Marvin and former Little Rascals Carleton Young (later Jackson Wheeler) as Joe's best friend Homer really make these shorts work swell. Of course the other talent in front of the camera from Fred Kelsey (sometimes not playing a cop!) to Lyle Talbot, Douglas Fowley, Joi Lansing, Frank "YEEEEEESSSS????" Nelson and even Arthur Q. Bryan doing his Elmer Fudd impersonation really add the bop to these already funny comedies which have everything going for 'em.

And rilly, who could forget the directorial talents of none other than Richard Bare. You remember him of those snarkier TWILIGHT ZONE episodes (TO SERVE MAN and the one where William Demerast cheats on Joan Blondell with Sandra Gould!) as well as the entire (but one, the debut) GREEN ACRES run which really should clack up the goodie points for all of you kids who knew enough to watch old tee-vee reruns inna afternoon when you shoulda been doing your homework!

Flashback scene from SO YOU WANT TO BE A BACHELOR

Not just a "self help" series, SO YOU WANT... really tackles the absurdities of everyworkaday living with a humorous side that comes off rather tragic in quite a few ways but don't worry, because you'll be laughing at Joe rather'n with him! And like all of the other kids have known since Kindergarten that's a whole lot better'n laughing WITH someone, so while you're cringing with Joe when he pops into the boss's office with a big faked grin right when the boss is announcing his wife's death or suffering along with him while Bud from FATHER KNOWS BEST inflicts him with a whole comic book fulla wartime atrocities you'll be feeling superior to it all knowing that he's nothing but a stoopid schmuck unlike you are! And really, when was the last time you felt superior to those rather demented and downright disturbing beings known to you as friends and family?

A great way to get your boss forties/fifties fulfillment, and although Warners coulda done a better job packaging this 'un (what, no booklet???) at least you're getting a good round of fantastic and at-times downright subversive comedy that sure beats all of that stand around and talk styled "humor" we're constantly inundated with. Well, at least that's the impression that I get from watching those ads for current produce popped in front of me during the commercial breaks on GILLIGAN'S ISLAND.

One quickie aside---yes, that is Tor Johnson playing a wrestler getting beat up by some waist-length haired assailant during SO YOU WANT TO BUY A TELEVISION SET!

If you want to know more about the McDoakes series just click on the SO YOU WANT A JOE McDOAKES WEBSITE? link found in the left hand column. Interest and informative true, but unfortunately filled with that modern-day sense of superiority that all but ruins them old time fun 'n jamz for us, with pious pontificating about how women were treated then and how this kind of humor is oh-so-demeaning...sheesh, that shit was bad enough when we were getting alla that "kumbaya" stuff crammed into our skulls when we were in grade school, but when it's even penetrated the sacred realm of moom pitcher history it 's practically unbearable! And what good does it do, since all you feel like doing after being inundated with this preachy shaming is be even more of a racist misogynist type if only outta spite! But if you "men" who happen to be reading this don't mind having your balls lopped off and hatchecked at the "More Better Than You'll Ever Be" Club by all means feel free to grovel.

Still not satisfied with my ramble on? Well just view this all time fave from '55 and just SEE

how right your Unca Chris has been about these forgotten mooms all these years! And if you run outta underwear due to their rampant moistening, don't bother sending me your laundry bills!