"The Mishaps of Musty Suffer" (1916-17) will be released on DVD exclusively on Amazon on April 22, 2014 ($19.95). Curated by Steve Massa and Ben Model. Produced for video and scored by Ben Model. Films preserved by the Library of Congress; new digital HD transfers by the LoC National Audio Visual Conservation Center Film Laboratory. DVD companionn guide written by Steve Massa will be published on same date, sold separately ($5.95). From Undercrank Productions. www.mustysuffer.com.
The Mishaps of Musty Suffer is a cartoony and surreal silent comedy film series produced in 1916 and 1917. Wildly popular during its release it has been oddly overlooked and neglected ever since. Chronicling the misadventures of put-upon tramp Musty Suffer, who lives a slapstick version of the Story of Job in which he bears the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, the series was an American descendant of the zany and anarchic early European comedies of Pathé and Gaumont. Its star is the equally forgotten Harry Watson, Jr., a very popular stage clown and who had graduated from vaudeville and Ringling Brothers' Circus to become a headliner of the early Ziegfeld Follies, where he rubbed elbows with legends like Fanny Brice, Bert Williams and Leon Errol.
Rediscover these inventive films and enjoy the antics of Musty Suffer, with an ensemble of zanies, as he tries his hand at a variety of jobs, gets subjected to medical treatments, and even marries a lemon from the garden of love. This DVD contains 8 of the funniest of the 30 Musty Suffer films that were made, newly transferred in HD from master materials preserved by the Library of Congress, with new musical scores by Ben Model.
The DVD was curated by Steve Massa and Ben Model, and was produced for video by Ben Model/Undercrank Productions. The project was funded by a Kickstarter campaign of 126 backers.
THE FILMS on the DVD:
GOING UP (1916) - 12 mins - itinerant tramp stumbles upon old pal Dippy Mary, who allows him to spend the night at the home she is caring for, but a beer bath and a serenade by a German band make for a difficult night.
THE LIGHTNING BELLHOP (1916) - 13 mins - Musty gets a job in a hotel where his duties as bellhop include being the elevator's counterweight and the hotel's maintenance man.
JUST IMAGINATION (1916) - 14 mins - when the Fairy Tramp appears before Musty, he wishes for a job, but is instead treated to a series of mental experiments in one of the most surreal films in the series.
BLOW YOUR HORN (1916) - 12 mins - this "whirl" finds Musty working as a bike messenger in the wilds of either the Bronx or Fort Lee, where he delivers building supplies and lingerie items. In the final third of the film Watson recreates a routine with two mannequins that was original a circus "walkabout" gag.
WHILE YOU WAIT (1916) - 14 mins - still looking for work, Musty tries an employment office and winds up with three different jobs…all at the same time for the same employer.
LOCAL SHOWERS (1916) - 12 mins - Musty must brave a dentist's office to have an infected tooth pulled in a bizarre film that anticipates the mania of Bob Clampett's WB cartoons.
OUTS AND INS (1916) - 12 mins - Musty works at a large indoor arcade, the set-piece of which involves his culinary and strangely sadistic work on the kitchen side of an automat.
SPLICED AND ICED (1917) - 12 mins - Musty tries to finally settle down at long last, and prepared to marry the woman of his dreams, but life with wifey and her father turn out to be a nightmare after the wedding.
EXTRAS:
CAPTURING CHICAGO (1916) - 10 mins - producer George Kleine made sure to have newsreel footage taken of Watson/Musty being feted during a motion picture exposition in Chicago in July 1916, and released it as this promo film.
HOLD FAST (excerpt) (1916) - 6 mins - the second half of this Musty "whirl" is basically a reenactment of Bickel & Watson's famous boxing routine from the Follies. (Look for ensemble player Snitz Edwards in the background!)
IMAGE GALLERY - rare photos, stills, and clippings of Harry Watson, Jr. and the rest of the cast.
