The Big V Comedies (also known as “Vitaphone Comedies”) were two-reel (17 to 20 minute long) comedy

film short A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

s produced by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

and

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one th ...

between 1931 and 1938, contemporary of the more famous

Hal Roach Harry Eugene "Hal" Roach Sr.Randy Skretvedt, Skretvedt, Randy (2016), ''Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies'', Bonaventure Press. p.608. (January 14, 1892 – November 2, 1992) was an American film and television producer, director, a ...

Mack Sennett Mack Sennett (born Michael Sinnott; January 17, 1880 – November 5, 1960) was a Canadian-American film actor, director, and producer, and studio head, known as the 'King of Comedy'. Born in Danville, Quebec, in 1880, he started in films in the ...

and

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

comedies.

Overview

Most of these Warner short subjects were filmed at the Brooklyn, New York facilities, but a few 1935 titles handled by

Ralph Staub Ralph Staub (July 21, 1899 in Chicago, Illinois – October 22, 1969, Los Angeles, California) was a movie director, writer and producer. Three of his short subjects in the '' Screen Snapshots'' series have been nominated for the Academy Award a ...

were done in Hollywood, including the classic '' Keystone Hotel''. (This was a similar situation with the contemporary

Educational Pictures Educational Pictures, also known as Educational Film Exchanges, Inc. or Educational Films Corporation of America, was an American film production and film distribution company founded in 1916 by Earle (E. W.) Hammons (1882–1962). Educational pr ...

, which also made its film shorts in both New York and Hollywood during the same period.)

Samuel Sax Samuel Sax (September 5, 1880 –January 2, 1962) was an American film producer. He produced 80 films between 1925 and 1946, including the last films of Roscoe Arbuckle. From 1938 to 1941, Sax headed Warner Brothers's British subsidiary at ...

was often producer in charge. Among the most famous of these were the very last films starring

Fatty Arbuckle Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle (; March 24, 1887 – June 29, 1933) was an American silent film actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He started at the Selig Polyscope Company and eventually moved to Keystone Studios, where he worked w ...

, along with vintage screen appearances of

Shemp Howard Samuel Horwitz (March 11, 1895 – November 22, 1955), known professionally as Shemp Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He was called "Shemp" because "Sam" came out that way in his mother's thick Lithuanian Yiddish, Litvak accent. He is ...

Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared ...

fame and

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...

before his big break in features and radio. One mini-series, dubbed “Girlfriends Comedies” featured

Thelma White Thelma White (born Thelma Wolpa, December 4, 1910 – January 11, 2005) was an American radio and film actress. White is best known for her role in the 1936 exploitation film ''Reefer Madness''. Early life and career Born in Lincoln, Nebras ...

and Fanny Watson. The production standards were usually first rate (since the same company made the popular

Broadway Brevities Broadway Brevities are two-reel (17–21 minutes long) musical and dramatic film shorts produced by Warner Bros. between 1931 and 1943. The series continued as Warner Specials in later years. Overview Other titles used for these black and white ...

and Melody Masters), but the success of an individual film depended on both the talent of the performers and the writers involved. Also many titles were filmed indoors with fewer outdoor action scenes than many California produced comedy shorts. The name “Big V” was used rather loosely in the trade periodicals, with later logos “Vitaphone Comedy” and “Vitaphone Gay-ety” (for the more musical product) alternating as substitute names in the later years. Some titles were given alternative series names by

Motion Picture Herald The ''Motion Picture Herald'' was an American film industry trade paper published from 1931 to December 1972.Anthony Slide, ed. (1985)''International Film, Radio, and Television Journals'' Greenwood Press. p. 242. It was replaced by the ''QP Herald ...

as “Big Star Comedies” or simply “2-reel comedies”. The studio stopped making two-reel comedies in 1938, the same year that Hal Roach sold his

Our Gang ''Our Gang'' (also known as ''The Little Rascals'' or ''Hal Roach's Rascals'') is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, also the ...

series to MGM and 20th Century Fox stopped distributing the Educational product. Apart from an occasional special, the

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation.

and

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animation, animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. Then some new cartoons were produced from the late 197 ...

supplied much of the comedy before the Warner feature attraction, until the

Joe McDoakes ''Joe McDoakes'' is an American short film comedy series produced and directed by Richard L. Bare for Warner Bros. A total of 63 black and white live action one-reel short subjects films were made and released between 1942 and 1956. The ''Joe ...

series began in the 1940s.

List of titles

Below is a listing arranged by year of release with title listed first, followed by major credits, release date (and sometimes

Film Daily ''The Film Daily'' was a daily publication that existed from 1918 to 1970 in the United States. It was the first daily newspaper published solely for the film industry. It covered the latest trade news, film reviews, financial updates, informatio ...

review or copyright date ''Catalog of Copyright Entries: Cumulative Series. Motion Pictures 1912-1939''
(51,112 films), published in 1951. L.C. card, 51-60018.
copy
) and DVD availability (some on sets put out by the

Warner Archive Collection The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the inte ...

1931

1932

1933

1934

1935

1936

1937

1938

Links

Film Daily links
(dates of reviews listed above)
DVD Talk review of ''Vitaphone Comedy Collection Volume 1''

DVD Talk review of ''Vitaphone Comedy Collection Volume 2''

References

* (''lists by Vitaphone numbers with credits'')
''Catalog of Copyright Entries: Cumulative Series. Motion Pictures 1912-1939''
(51,112 films), published in 1951. L.C. card, 51-60018.
copy
(copyright date and additional information)
BoxOffice back issue scans available
(''release date information in multiple issue “Shorts Charts” '')

Notes

{{reflist Vitaphone short films Warner Bros. short films