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 primarily distributed short subjects; it is best known for its series of comedies starring Buster Keaton[1] (1934–37) and the earliest screen appearances of Shirley Temple (1932–34). The company ceased production in 1938, and finally closed in 1940 when its film library was sold at auction.
Production and releasing arrangements[edit]
Educational's short comedies sometimes show their low budgets, with noticeably limited sets and facilities. This is because Educational didn't have its own physical plant. Earle Hammons, rather than purchasing, equipping, and maintaining a studio, found it cheaper and easier to send his crews to suburban locations where scenes could be photographed outdoors, or to rental studios that offered both space and equipment to independent producers. Outdoor shooting continued until the very last Educational comedy, released in 1939.
For a time Educational filmed its comedies on both coasts. 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 based 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.
Educational had been releasing its own product until 1933, when Fox Film took over distribution.[8] Fox's successor Twentieth Century-Fox continued the arrangement. This resulted in Educational becoming Fox's "farm team", introducing new talent that Fox would take over for feature films. Shirley Temple, The Ritz Brothers, Joan Davis, and Leah Ray all won Fox contracts after starring for Educational. 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.
Buster Keaton[edit]
Buster Keaton, despite a successful feature-film career, had experienced personal problems and was fired from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1933. He accepted an offer to make a film in Europe. Upon his return to Hollywood in 1934, he made a screen comeback with Educational in a series of two-reel comedies. Most of these are simple visual comedies, with many of the gags supplied by Keaton himself, often recycling ideas from his family vaudeville act and his earlier films.[10] The high point in this series is Grand Slam Opera (1936), featuring Buster in his own screenplay as an amateur-hour contestant.
By 1936, for economic reasons, Educational had been concentrating its production in New York. Earle Hammons invited Keaton to make comedies there, perhaps in a bid for Keaton to relocate. Keaton agreed to three New York productions, but returned to California where he finished out his Educational series. Buster Keaton was Educational's most expensive talent and Hammons, forced to economize, could no longer afford the comedian's services. Hammons discontinued west coast operations after the last Keaton short was completed.
Ambition and failure[edit]
During its last year of production (1937-1938), Educational confined filming to New York. 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.[11] Webber was such a fixture at Astoria that the trade press noted it in print: "with George Webber, naturally, at the camera."[12]
Earle Hammons replaced Buster Keaton with Broadway comic Willie Howard, who appeared as the Hebrew Frenchman "Pierre Ginsbairge." Hammons also signed Bert Lahr for two-reelers, and continued his musical-comedy series with dancers Buster West and Tom Patricola. Illustrator Jefferson Machamer starred in a series inspired by his "Gags 'n' Gals" newspaper cartoons. Character comedian George Shelton was now working solo; he and partner Tom Howard reunited on radio's It Pays to Be Ignorant. Most of the later Educational series focused on youth; besides being less expensive talent, they lent a high level of energy to their performances. 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.
Twentieth Century-Fox had been distributing Educational product to theaters. It has long been thought that Fox dropped its line of short comedies in 1938 and withdrew its financial support from Educational, but in fact it was the other way around: it was Earle Hammons who discontinued Educational's short-subject production, allowed his agreement with Fox to expire, and declined to renew it.[13] Other studios approached Hammons with similar distribution deals for short subjects, but Hammons was anxious to enter the feature-film market. He joined forces with the financially troubled Grand National Pictures, in the hope of producing both full-length films and short subjects for that studio.
Hammons had stockpiled enough shorts to keep Educational going through June 1938; these films were distributed by Fox. The last two Educational shorts appeared in January 1939, released through Grand National; these were newsreel satires with radio and screen comic F. Chase Taylor as "Col. Stoopnagle." Hammons spent most of 1938 and 1939 in negotiations to secure financing and reimburse creditors. He remained optimistic, announcing a new slate of 26 one-reel films and 18 two-reel comedies for 1939-40 under the Educational banner,[14] but the drain on his finances forced both Grand National and Educational into bankruptcy.
The film library was sold at auction in 1940. Most of the Educational sound shorts were obtained by Astor Pictures, which shrewdly timed its re-releases to cash in on certain performers' popularity. Astor compiled four feature-length comedies showcasing, in turn, Shirley Temple (Our Girl Shirley, 1942), Danny Kaye (The Birth of a Star, 1945), Bing Crosby (The Road to Hollywood, 1947), and Bob Hope and Milton Berle (It Pays to Be Funny, 1948).
Legacy[edit]
Much of Educational's silent film library was lost in a 1937 fire at the 20th Century-Fox film storage facility,[15] but the sound comedies survive today. 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.