Educational Pictures
Educational primarily distributed short subjects; it is best known for its series of comedies starring Buster Keaton[1] and the earliest screen appearances of Shirley Temple (1932–34).
[2] Educational's heyday was the 1920s, when the popular silent comedies of Al St. John, Lupino Lane, Lige Conley, Lloyd Hamilton, and Monty Collins complemented many a moviehouse bill as "the spice of the program."
Educational made a smooth transition to sound movies by handling the early talking comedies of pioneer producer Mack Sennett.
Most of Educational's silent stars made only a few talkies for the studio: Lupino Lane left the company in December 1929,[3] followed by Lloyd Hamilton and Al St. John in 1931.
Most of the earliest Educational talkies feature silent-comedy veterans with stage experience: Vernon Dent, Harry Gribbon, Raymond McKee, Edward Everett Horton, Daphne Pollard, and Ford Sterling.
Andy Clyde and Harry Langdon led Educational's release schedule for a few years, and then Buster Keaton headlined a series that yielded 16 popular two-reel comedies.
The Hollywood productions, in addition to those of Clyde, Langdon, and Keaton, hosted comedy stars Moran and Mack, Edgar Kennedy, Billy Gilbert and Vince Barnett, and Ernest Truex.
Educational's east coast productions were filmed at Eastern Service Studios, now known as the Astoria Studios, and starred New York-based talent from Broadway, vaudeville, and radio: Charlotte Greenwood, Joe Cook, Willie Howard, Lillian Roth, Will Mahoney, Tim and Irene Ryan, actor-singers Sylvia Froos and Warren Hull, Tom Howard and George Shelton, the Sisters of the Skillet (Ralph Dumke and Ed East), and Stoopnagle and Budd.
Many stars made debuts in Educational shorts: Bob Hope, Milton Berle, Warren Hull, June Allyson, Imogene Coca, Danny Kaye, Barry Sullivan, and Robert Shayne in New York; and Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers in Hollywood.
Perhaps the most controversial series was the Marriage Wows (1934–35), comprising only three two-reel shorts starring husband-and-wife comics: Dumb Luck with the Easy Aces, and Domestic Bliss-ters and How Am I Doing with Chick York and Rose King.
How Am I Doing featured a faithful transcription of York & King's successful vaudeville sketch "The Sleigh Ride", but the team's racy dialogue ran into trouble in small towns.
The technical staff was a small, close-knit crew: producer-director Al Christie; writer-director William Watson; assistant directors Robert Hall (promoted to director in 1936), Chris Beute, and Johnny Graham; writers Parke Levy, Arthur Jarrett, Marcy Klauber, and Billy K. Wells; and the New York studio's staff cameraman George Webber.
"[8] Earle Hammons replaced Buster Keaton with Broadway comic Willie Howard, who appeared as the Hebrew Frenchman "Pierre Ginsbairge."
Educational's freshman class included the comedy/dance team of Herman Timberg, Jr. and Pat Rooney, Jr., singers Niela Goodelle and Lee Sullivan, mild-mannered comic Charles Kemper (reminiscent of Educational's bygone star Lloyd Hamilton), wisecracking comedian Harriet Hutchins, ingenues June Allyson and Sally Starr, juvenile singing group The Cabin Kids, rubber-faced clown Imogene Coca, and up-and-coming dialect comedian Danny Kaye, who began as a supporting player and soon received starring roles.
Hammons joined forces with the financially troubled Grand National Pictures, in the hope of producing both full-length films and short subjects for that studio.
Most of the Educational sound shorts were obtained by Bob Savini of Astor Pictures, who shrewdly timed his re-releases to cash in on certain performers' popularity.
On October 21, 2017 CineMuseum LLC, a consortium of film archivists, secured exclusive rights to the Educational sound comedies,[16] with plans to restore and re-release them to media outlets.
