Tweet "silent movies" on TV?

Watching stuff this week I ran across a few examples of "silent movies" on TV shows. Actually they were both on the "Carol Burnett Show." One was a production number where they built a musical around silent movie types (mostly Keystone Kops) but another featured Gloria Swanson in a silent movie vignette where she once again plays Chaplin to Burnett's charwoman.

Any other TV shows that payed homage to silent films by recreating them?

Ed,

There is an episode of LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY where Lenny and Squigy pay homage to Silent Movies. And I think they actually concentrate on the drama's and not comedies too. Haven't seen that one in a very long time. Don't remember it real well. Would like to see it again sometime. As far as I know only the first 4 seasons of LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY have been released on DVD. Nothing after that. This episode wasn't in the first 4 seasons.

There is an episode of Gilligan's Island where the castaways make
a silent film in an attempt to bring attention to their location and
plight so they can be rescued.

Ed,

There is an episode of LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY where Lenny and Squigy pay homage to Silent Movies. And I think they actually concentrate on the drama's and not comedies too. Haven't seen that one in a very long time. Don't remember it real well. Would like to see it again sometime. As far as I know only the first 4 seasons of LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY have been released on DVD. Nothing after that. This episode wasn't in the first 4 seasons.

And just when you thought it safe to go back to the DVD player
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/54171/la ... th-season/" target="_blank
It doesn't sound like that episode is in here.

There is an episode of Gilligan's Island where the castaways make
a silent film in an attempt to bring attention to their location and
plight so they can be rescued.

...and the film wins an award at Cannes instead.


I wish I didn't remember that episode.

There is an episode of Gilligan's Island where the castaways make
a silent film in an attempt to bring attention to their location and
plight so they can be rescued.

...and the film wins an award at Cannes instead.


I wish I didn't remember that episode.

Wow...the original The Artist!

The Beverly Hillibillies tried to resurrect Gloria Swanson's carreer by producing her in Passion's Plaything and staging a World Premiere at the Bugtussle Theatre.

Dick Van Dyke performed as Stan Laurel (both silent and talking) in numerous episodes of various TV shows, including his own.

Oh yes the Carol Burnett musical homage actually featured William Conrad singing (argh) and impersonating Oliver Hardy.

The writers of Gomer Pyle USMC seemed
to be admirers of Harold Lloyd because there
are at least two episodes that borrow from
Lloyd's silent features.

One episode has Gomer Pyle's uncle giving
him a family heirloom to boost his confidence.
It turns out to be a refrigerator ornament
(Grandma's Boy).

Another episode has Sargeant Carter buying
a suit for a bargain from a con man and having
the suit fall apart on him while he's in a restaurant
(The Freshman).

There was an episode of The Partridge Family
where Ruben Kincaid secures an endorsement for
Shirley and the kids but it requires they wear chicken
suits and ham it up in stereotypical silent movie style
for a commercial.

Chef Gordon Ramsey's current TV spot is done as a silent movie. Be forewarned, there are parallels here to the opening scene from Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend:

There was an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer done as a silent film. Not that I saw it, but it was mentioned in a recent Onion interview with the director.

There was an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer done as a silent film. Not that I saw it, but it was mentioned in a recent Onion interview with the director.

If I remember correctly, it was an episode titled, "Hush," in which there was no spoken dialog (due to demons sucking the voices out of the inhabitants of Sunnydale while they slept). Characters had to use pantomime, message boards, etc. to make themselves understood. Only the inhabitants of the town were affected. I believe the episode received an Emmy nomination. A couple of seasons later, an episode in which Buffy's mother died was done with no music track. Even more effective than the "silent" episode.

Don't forget The Goodies (especially at about five minutes in):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AYcK8wb5vw

[silentfilm]

There's the episode of Screen Director's Playhouse entitled The Silent Partner (1955) with Buster Keaton, Zasu Pitts, Joe E. Brown and Bob Hope. Some patrons at a bar are watching the Academy Awards program on TV. Joe E. Brown wins an award, and he reminisces about working with Kelsey Dutton (Buster Keaton), and we see how Keaton/Dutton got his start in silent films. While watching the show, the patrons realize that Keaton is in the bar, watching the show with them. This episode was produced by the Hal Roach Studios, and Blackhawk sold it on film. I have a print.

I randomly put on syfy on one day to watch The Twilight Zone and it was an episode that had Buster Keaton in a "silent film". I saw about ten minutes of it before I had to go back to work but I never knew The Twilight Zone paid homage to silents.

There was an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer done as a silent film. Not that I saw it, but it was mentioned in a recent Onion interview with the director.

If I remember correctly, it was an episode titled, "Hush," in which there was no spoken dialog (due to demons sucking the voices out of the inhabitants of Sunnydale while they slept). Characters had to use pantomime, message boards, etc. to make themselves understood. Only the inhabitants of the town were affected. I believe the episode received an Emmy nomination. A couple of seasons later, an episode in which Buffy's mother died was done with no music track. Even more effective than the "silent" episode.

Yes, Hush was a 4th season episode. It's not just silent, it's genuinely scary, and Whedon apparently has some familiarity with silent screenings, as there is a very funny scene that is "accompanied" by an annoying tinkly needle-droppy version of Saint Saens' Danse Macabre. The Body was 5th season.

Yes, I am a Buffy geek.

David Hyde-Pierce in a segment of FRASIER in which he plays a trouser-pressing scene as a silent piece. Very funny.

David Hyde-Pierce in a segment of FRASIER in which he plays a trouser-pressing scene as a silent piece. Very funny.

Oh dear lord, one of the funniest bits of silent comedy ever. Ever.

and didn't Jackie Gleason have a silent character on his old variety show?

Don't forget The Goodies (especially at about five minutes in):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AYcK8wb5vw" target="_blank" target="_blank

Many episodes of The Goodies include silent film homages, especially the one where they inherit an old movie studio and set about to recreating gags from Keaton, Chaplin and Lloyd films (including a low-budget version of the Steamboat Bill Jr. falling house facade stunt).

EDIT: I see this is the episode the above YouTube clip is taken from.

The regular silent gag sequences were filmed on location, and also lowered the budget since they didn't have to drag a sound crew along with them, instead overdubbing music and sound effects back at the studio.

When I was in elementary school, the local CBC-TV station showed an hour-block of "Charlie Chaplin Theatre" and The Goodies every Monday through Friday. Talk about an education!

My kids used to watch "The Powerpuff Girls", & that show had an episode titled "The Silent Treatment" with the characters going through a land of B&W drawings with many major silent characters.

The episode shows up onBoomerang Network.

There is an episode of "It's a Great Life" (NBC, first aired 11/13/1955) Episode 11 of Season 2, titled "The Movie Star," in which door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesmen Michael O'Shea and William Bishop encounter former silent film star Laura La Plante doing house work and they mistake her for having fallen into poverty and needing to work as a maid.

Didn't Ed Wynn and Buster recreate part of "The Butcher Boy" on a variety show at some point?

Didn't Ed Wynn and Buster recreate part of "The Butcher Boy" on a variety show at some point?

Yes.

A bit farther afield:

"Deadly Silents" is an episode of MacGyver from 1991. Henry Gibson plays "Pinky Burnette" a former star of silent movies. Pinky is hoping that he can get his films preserved by a foundation, but there are complications....

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0638696/

Rick

The May 14, 1999 episode of "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" was entitled "Silent Movie" and for several minutes turned into one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtUersyE ... creen&NR=1

Sid Caesar had a couple of excellent ones in the 50s: "A Drunk There Was" and -

"A Fool's Profile"


From the second Monty Python episode (1969), "recently discovered" film of that wacky Queen Victoria gives the Roundhay Garden Scene a run for its money:

and didn't Jackie Gleason have a silent character on his old variety show?

That was The Poor Soul, in which he hardly ever spoke and wore a cap
similar to Lloyd Hamilton's. The childlike nature of the character was a
bit more like Harry Langdon, however.

The May 2nd episode of The Middle (sitcom on ABC) folded in some references to silent film. The episode starts by talking about marriage fights and shows some quick scenes from old films (Eric Campbell fighting with his wife in Easy Street). The episode also utilizes intertitles when the main couple has their ongoing argument about buying a new bed. While the entire episode isn't "silent" it was nice to see it pay homage to silent film.

http://abc.go.com/watch/the-middle/SH55 ... -counselor" target="_blank" target="_blank

I randomly put on syfy on one day to watch The Twilight Zone and it was an episode that had Buster Keaton in a "silent film". I saw about ten minutes of it before I had to go back to work but I never knew The Twilight Zone paid homage to silents.

That was the episode "Once Upon a Time". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_Upon_a_Time_%28The_Twilight_Zone%29