Charlie Murray
Belgian postcard by Weekblad 'Cinema', Antwerpen.
American comedian Charles Murray (1872-1941) appeared in 283 films between 1912 and 1938 and also directed 5 films. He worked together with George Sidney (1876-1945) on a series of comedies around the Jewish Nate Cohen and the Irish Catholic Patrick Kelly, two business partners who are constantly fighting.
Charles Murray was born in 1872 in Laurel, Indiana, USA. He was on stage in travelling shows from the age of eleven. Later he teamed up with Oliver Trumbull (stage name Ollie Mack) as half of the vaudeville double act of "Murray and Mack". After an impressive 21 years on the circuit, they split up and Murray joined Biograph in 1912 (some sources say 1914). Two years later, he moved to Keystone, where he played the Hogan character. He appeared in several films opposite Charlie Chaplin and Mabel Normand. He remained a popular actor in 2-reel comedy shorts throughout the 1920s. The actor and director was known for such films as Sweet Daddies (Alfred Santell, 1926) with George Sidney, Mike (Marshall Neilan, 1926), featuring Sally O'Neil and William Haines, Vamping Venus (Edward F. Cline, 1928) with Louise Fazenda and Thelma Todd, and Around the Corner (Bert Glennon, 1930) with George Sidney. Murray was still seen in small character roles up to 1938. He was married to Nellie Bae Hamilton. Charles Murray died in 1941 in Los Angeles.
The silent comedy The Cohens and Kellys (Harry A. Pollard, 1926) is the first of the Cohens and Kellys film serials. The characters were similar to those in the Anne Nichols play, 'Abie's Irish Rose' which was made into a film in 1928 and in 1946. Is the humour of George Sidney and Charlie Murray still funny today? For G. Manfred at IMDb The Cohens and the Kellys in Africa (Vin Moore, 1930) was "one of the toughest 68 minutes" he ever sat through: "Without the historical value, this picture has no value at all. The plot is hallucinatory and the script is mainly one-liners that range from barely funny to atrocious. Cohen and Kelly own a piano business and decide that, to save money, they should go to the source of the ivory - hence the title. Things go steadily downhill, especially the jokes, and there is not much else to say about this movie. If you attend a retrospective or a film festival and this one is on the program, get your hand stamped and go out and sit in your car. It will be time well spent."
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Charlie Murray
Belgian postcard by Weekblad 'Cinema', Antwerpen.
American comedian Charles Murray (1872-1941) appeared in 283 films between 1912 and 1938 and also directed 5 films. He worked together with George Sidney (1876-1945) on a series of comedies around the Jewish Nate Cohen and the Irish Catholic Patrick Kelly, two business partners who are constantly fighting.
Charles Murray was born in 1872 in Laurel, Indiana, USA. He was on stage in travelling shows from the age of eleven. Later he teamed up with Oliver Trumbull (stage name Ollie Mack) as half of the vaudeville double act of "Murray and Mack". After an impressive 21 years on the circuit, they split up and Murray joined Biograph in 1912 (some sources say 1914). Two years later, he moved to Keystone, where he played the Hogan character. He appeared in several films opposite Charlie Chaplin and Mabel Normand. He remained a popular actor in 2-reel comedy shorts throughout the 1920s. The actor and director was known for such films as Sweet Daddies (Alfred Santell, 1926) with George Sidney, Mike (Marshall Neilan, 1926), featuring Sally O'Neil and William Haines, Vamping Venus (Edward F. Cline, 1928) with Louise Fazenda and Thelma Todd, and Around the Corner (Bert Glennon, 1930) with George Sidney. Murray was still seen in small character roles up to 1938. He was married to Nellie Bae Hamilton. Charles Murray died in 1941 in Los Angeles.
The silent comedy The Cohens and Kellys (Harry A. Pollard, 1926) is the first of the Cohens and Kellys film serials. The characters were similar to those in the Anne Nichols play, 'Abie's Irish Rose' which was made into a film in 1928 and in 1946. Is the humour of George Sidney and Charlie Murray still funny today? For G. Manfred at IMDb The Cohens and the Kellys in Africa (Vin Moore, 1930) was "one of the toughest 68 minutes" he ever sat through: "Without the historical value, this picture has no value at all. The plot is hallucinatory and the script is mainly one-liners that range from barely funny to atrocious. Cohen and Kelly own a piano business and decide that, to save money, they should go to the source of the ivory - hence the title. Things go steadily downhill, especially the jokes, and there is not much else to say about this movie. If you attend a retrospective or a film festival and this one is on the program, get your hand stamped and go out and sit in your car. It will be time well spent."
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.