And if you think Ham and Bud were bad......
repro...@earthlink.net
While at Cinecon, Dr Phillip Carli and I continued to share our
research on just what may be the most loathsome, disgusting and
fortunately obscure comedy team of the silent era and feel it's time to
share what we've uncovered with the Silent Film Community in hopes of
fostering or uncovering more info from those out there in the know.
In 1915-16, the Vermin Film Company put on the independent market a
series of comedies starring Maggott and Pustule, the Contageous
Comedians. Shot in Ajo, Arizona, and starring King Maggott and
Spottiswoode Pustule, formerly of the Aristocrats Vaudeville Troupe,
these comedies were apparently so badly received that not only have all
traces of any prints vanished, but records show that they were hunted
down and destroyed sometimes within the week of release. Reviews were
few, and not complimentary, but the titles are listed below:
THEIR FIRST BOIL
LEPROSY LOVE
ONE MANS BEDPAN
BUBONIC BEAUTIES
A RINGWORM ROMANCE
GANGRENE GIRLS
A TRUSS BETWEEN FRIENDS
WHY DOES IT DRIP?
POXED PIXIES
AN ITCH IN SLIME
AN EARWAX ELOPEMENT
DON'T TOUCH IT!
PLEASE CRUSH MY SKULL
TO INFECT IS HUMAN
MAGGOTTS MAGIC SPLEEN
NOT SO RUNNY
PUSTULE PERVERTS A PUPPY
CONSUMPTIVE CAPERS
IT'S SWOLLEN!!!!
IT'LL FALL OFF ANYWAY
MUCOUS AND MUSILAGE
A CALAMITOUS COLOSTOMY
THE DIURETIC DILEMMA
BOTULISM BABY
THE CHOLERA COWBOY
Any further information, stills or artwork, etc. would be appreciated.
RICHARD M ROBERTS
Eric Stott
<repro...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:1157622773.6...@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> ONE MANS BEDPAN
I think I've seen a Castle Films cutdown of this retitled URINE BIG TROUBLE
> A CALAMITOUS COLOSTOMY
Ditto for this one- I think it was LEFT HOLDING THE BAG
Stott
Christopher Snowden
title, but Castle used to sell a condensation called WHOOPS I'M
INCONTINENT. Sam Gill showed his print of SCAMPS AND SCABIES at Niles
last year, and somewhere I've got a cut-down of TAPEWORM TANGLES.
Eric Stott
"Christopher Snowden" <unk...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1157681732.5...@p79g2000cwp.googlegroups.com...
I just checked my toy projector and I've got about three feet of something
called LANCE THAT BOIL! It shows a man walking down a street (possibly
Ithaca NY) he appears to have a third buttock attached to his right hip.
Title card reads "Carbuncle had Plenty of Cheek". Is this a bootleg of "ITS
SWOLLEN" or the work of an imitator?
precode
I think I've seen a re-release print titled THE OOZE HAVE IT.
Mike S.
Eric Grayson
precode <michael_s...@spe.sony.com> wrote:
Yes, there's a follow-up to this that Roberts missted entirely: Pus in
Boots.
philip...@pittsford.monroe.edu
A small scrapbook recently surfaced in Weedsport, NY with some
cliipings concerning "the Vermin" and the Maggot & Pustule comedies --
as I go through them in my limited spare time I will forward the most
informative pieces.
The book commences with a clipping from a hitherto unknown journal
whose title is contained within the piece -- the smudged heading is
March (unreadable) 1915:
'The South-Western Kinematograph & Dairymen's Review has recently
learned of the arrival in Ajo of the Vermin Film Co.'s stock company,
who will commence producing "Maggot & Pustule" comedies for release on
the Mutual program. Personnel include King Maggot, Spottiswoode
Pustule, Harry Bumford, and Ethel Rehdy, leads; Martha Vast, Bertha
"Ma" Zatz, Bert Gumless, "Warty" McBoghouse, and Soggy the
Wonder-Baby, support; Minotaur McFadwich, cameraman; and E. Louis
Schmeir, director and company manager. In addition, the Santa Fe mixed
train from Tucumcari which brought the Vermin also delivered a fine new
stock of mixed 2-year Jerseys and Guernseys and 5 Seroco cream
separators direct from Sears, Roebuck & Co., Chicago. More information
will be reported as soon as the livestock is unloaded and Mr. Schmeir
comes out of the back room of the Hotel Ajo, where he has apparently
resided or hidden since last Tuesday.'
Fascinating, and more to come...
Philip Carli
philip...@pittsford.monroe.edu
haub...@yahoo.com
Wasn't E. Louis Schmeir, veritable "father figure" to the company, the
one who was affectionately referred to by almost everyone as "Pap"?
Brent Walker
joel...@joimail.com
Maggott and Pustule comedy in its library. I remember that as a child I
watched it with equal parts fascination and nausea. The Comedy Capers
version was called BROTHERS AND CYSTS. Anyone have an idea of the
original title?
See ya!
Joe Libby
www.joelibby.net
Eric Stott
I think that one went out under the accurate but deceptively innocuous title
SISTERS BIG SQUEEZE, otherwise known as LET POP POP IT
Stott
<joel...@joimail.com> wrote in message
news:1157898190.2...@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
Laughsmith
comedies and knew Pap Schmeir very well.
Grandpappy kept a journal, which has since gone
missing, however I recall reading a story about
Schmeir being so frugal that he refused to pay
professionals to build his house in Chloride, AZ.
He instead did all of the work himself using some
discarded black tar paper on the outside and the
original M&P 35mm nitrate negs for insulation!
This worked surprisingly well until Pap's cat,
Mr. Kalem, kicked over a kerosene reading lamp.
Pap Schmeir and Mr. Kalem were incinerated instantly.
Minotaur McFadwich was able to capture part the three
day blaze on film and those negs are rumored to have
been sold to Mack Sennett who likely incorporated the
footage into numerous short subjects.
I suspect that Pap would have enjoyed knowing that his
death provided laughter for millions.
Does anyone know what happened with the proposed
M&P two-strip color feature?
-- Paul E. Gierucki
haub...@yahoo.com
I don't know, but I do know that during the influenza epidemic of 1918,
when many studios were closing their doors for health reasons, the
Vermin Company was the only operation that actually increased their
film production output and began operating a night shift.
Brent Walker
Eric Grayson
It's called...
Candiru, Beast of the Amazon...
OK, look it up when you get home. You'll laugh.
Eric
In article <12g8k77...@corp.supernews.com>, Eric Stott
David Totheroh
I heard that the entire cast dyed prematurely when the censors ordered
that all the to-strip scenes had to be amputated.
haub...@yahoo.com
We still have his immortal words, originally uttered in response to
criticism of his comedies in the trades: "Maggott and Pustule comedies
are not to be sneezed at."
Brent Walker
Eric Stott
"Eric Grayson" <filmspam...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:110920061823457068%filmspam...@earthlink.net...
> Wait a minute! The 1986 Cinesation also ran a great feature they did...
>
> It's called...
>
> Candiru, Beast of the Amazon...
>
> OK, look it up when you get home. You'll laugh.
>
> Eric
EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
R H Draney
Didn't Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons do the title song?...
Can DEEE rooo!....r
--
It's the crack on the wall and the stain on the cup that gets to you
in the very end...every cat has its fall when it runs out of luck,
so you can do with a touch of zen...cause when you're screwed,
you're screwed...and when it's blue, it's blue.
madevaraven
they even spawned imitators.
I first became aware of the existence of a faux M & P while attending a
bachelor party in the 1970s down in a sleazy section of Nogales, Mexico.
Some of us were taking a break and getting a bite to eat in a greasy
enchilada parlor that was located next to an establishment that specialized
in..um..er.. animal acts.
While waiting for our food I noticed that the proprieters were running old
8mm films on the walls to entertain their "specialized clientele". Most of
the films projected seemed to be ancient porn loops but stuck among those
fetid clips was a cutdown "comedy" of these Spanish M & P clones named
Escupida and Limo.
Due to my..uh.. somewhat impaired condition at the time I can't remember too
many details of the film (probably the only reason I was able to keep my
sanity afterwards) but do remember one sequence that had me transfixed in
horror where E & L were battling a kid gang (imagine an Our Gang from Hell)
and ended up being pelted by them with just about every bodily fluid
imaginable until they were litterly a-swim in filth.
The film's finale had E & L tricking the entire gang into falling into a
large open outhouse hole that they then sealed over immediately with an
unbelievably huge pile of manure that they just happened to have handy in a
nearby dump truck! The film ended with a still dripping and excretion
covered E & L shaking hands and chuckling as they looked lovingly at their
manure mountain!
The regular crowd in the enchilada joint laughed and cheered loudly at the
film's wrap up while I just sat there in a stunned and nauseous state.
Joe Moore
(still haunted by the memories)
Eric Grayson
<dado...@spamcop.net> wrote:
> >
>
> >>EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> >!!!!
>
> Didn't Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons do the title song?...
>
Yes, but that was on the remake. I could come up with some lyrics but
not on a public forum!
Eric
R H Draney
Hey, if Tony Orlando can have a #1 single with a song about a yeast
infection....r
--
"Screwing Type Gloomy - Giant Swing" --- Gloomy makes your world turn
around! Watch out for this charming toy teddy-bear that amazes you with
his agile walking skills through a special wind-up mechanism. Enjoy the
joyful company of this active playing wonder right away!
joel...@joimail.com
Maggott and Pustule comedy. The seller couldn't identify
the original film, but the one-reel cut down version is titled
DIARRHEA OF A LOST GIRL.
If anyone knows film's original title, please tell us!
See ya!
Joe L.
www.joelibby.net
David Totheroh
Silent Running?
Eric Stott
<joel...@joimail.com> wrote in message
news:1158546930.1...@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> An ebay auction just ended for a home movie version of a
> Maggott and Pustule comedy. The seller couldn't identify
> the original film, but the one-reel cut down version is titled
> DIARRHEA OF A LOST GIRL.
>
> If anyone knows film's original title, please tell us!
I don't know the original title, but some of the footage shows up in the
1934 film Cholera: Love is Calling You, starring Sybil Tinkle.
Stott
repro...@earthlink.net
David Totheroh wrote:
> joel...@joimail.com wrote:
> > An ebay auction just ended for a home movie version of a
> > Maggott and Pustule comedy. The seller couldn't identify
> > the original film, but the one-reel cut down version is titled
> > DIARRHEA OF A LOST GIRL.
> >
> > If anyone knows film's original title, please tell us!
This was M and P's goldigger/vamp comedy originally titled PHEMALES AND
OLD PHARTS. the story involves Maggott pouring Milk of Magnesia into
the punch bowl and the wacky things that ensue.
More information has been unearthed on the real creative genius behind
the Maggott and Pustule comedies, Dr Heinrich (later Henry)
"Heidelberg" Vehrman (later Vermin) who produced, wrote and frequently
directed the films. Claiming at various times to have hailed from
Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Hawaii, or South Bend, Indiana. Vermin
was first heard of in the States around 1905, making his first fortune
as the creator and distributor of "Nervo", an opium/morphine based
elixer that claimed cure for the vapors, pox, grippe, male and female
discomforture, spon, lurgi,118 other known ailments, and guaranteed to
"break the ice at temperance meetings.".
After answering to various local and federal government agencies,
Vermin dissapears from view for a few years in the early teens then
resurfaces with an announcement in Motography of the Vermin Film
Company and the M and P comedies, each one revolving comically around a
favorite medical malady. Quoted as saying"There's nothing funnier than
a running sore", Vermin stated his plans to make Ajo, Az "another Fort
Lee, New Jersey" and comments on the town's proximity to the Mexican
Border as another reason for the Studio's placement there.
The Vermin Studios were located in a converted copper smelter on the
outskirts of town (which may be the cause of reviewers comments as to
the dinginess and general unsanitary look of the comedies hospital
sets). Star comic Spottiswoode Pustule claimed high-class ancestry as
one of the Back Bay Pustules, and King Maggott reasoned that, except
for a typing error, he'd have been a big star at Universal.
The comedies lasted just the one season, due to downright hostile
reaction from audience and exhibitors alike, and apparently relations
broke down quickly between the studio and the township. Vague
references in the Ajo newspaper refer to local population upset over Dr
Vermin's "experimentation", and the near-disastrous conflagration of
main street in the filming of an un-authorized fire sequence apparently
sealed the companies fate.
Dr Vermin again dissapears from view in the late-teens during the War
years, but occasional mention of him has been found in the twenties as
the inventor of a medical practice in which wolverine glands were
injected into aged patients to give them vitality, more government
agency issues, and a final show-business attempt in the late thirties
when his promoted dance-craze, the Hitler Hop, leads to his deportation
in 1939.
Plotlines of the M and P Comedies seem to always feature Pustule as
some sort of comedy doctor, and Maggott as some sort of handyman;
janitor, gardener, in one film cancer-ward cook, who either gets
infected with, or helps Dr. Pustule infects others with, whatever
comedy disease du jour that weeks film is dealing with.
RICHARD M ROBERTS
Tinted Nitrate
Too many shows to list here, but wanted to let you know I've just
booked:
Nov 24-26 (Thanksgiving weekend) - 1st annual Vermin Film Company
festival ("Vermicon") comprised of screenings of 9.5mm Pathe baby
cutdowns of Maggott & Pustule comedies. Will be premiering a new score
for "Bile Say She Is" ('16); score is comprised of J.S. Zamecnik cues
played backwards and will be performed four-handed by myself and Dr.
Carli. Am especially looking forward to the new digital restoration
(with tints) of the Dada classic "Un Réservoir Souple Andelous".
[Vermicon is funded by both the NEA and the NRA.]
Ben
www.silentfilmmusic.blogspot.com
joel...@joimail.com
RASH DECISION and IN FLEW ENZA.
No other info, so I'm guessing these are reissue or home movie titles.
Will this be part of Vermicon?
See ya!
Joe L.
Tinted Nitrate
are not scheduled to be screened, but they may turn up at the tables of
the many dealers who've pre-registered.
split...@yahoo.com
the cat out of the bag before someone else does it for me. My program
for next year's Slapsticon, which was going to a surprise, will be
MAGGOTT OR PUSTULE: THE SOLO FILMS.
Can't tell you much more... the UCLA Film & Television Archive has been
gathering up some of these obscure films... from a guy in England; this
woman in Austin, Texas whose Dad had been keeping some of these in an
old trailer on his ranch; and from a rather fruitful trek down to Ajo
itself. Funding for the restorations is being provided for by the Jim
Varney Estate since Jim "borrowed" freely from the plots of M & P
comedies for his ERNEST films.
Rob
P.S. Our newsreel preservationists tells me we have a story in our
Hearst Newsreel Collection called, "VERMIN MADE HONORAY AJOS"
apparently shot during the Ajo, Arizona Founder's Day Parade and Fair
in July 1915. Funny how what goes around comes around.. I could name a
number of silent comedy Ajos today.