Merry Christmas with Clark & McCullough!

[The Blackbird]

Geno Cuddy and Ralph Celentano have brought to us the long unavailable Clark & McCullough Fox short WALTZING AROUND, from 1929. This is one of only two existing Fox shorts with the duo (the other being BELLE OF SAMOA), also featuring Florence Lake, Bob Kortman, Otto Fries, Billy Bletcher and Ivan Linow.

[Bert Greene]

That was a very, very nice treat. I didn't think any of the Fox C&M's survived. Great to be able to see one. Indeed, McCullough seems to have a larger role in the proceedings here, compared to the RKO's. Always enjoy seeing Florence Lake and Bob Kortman, too.

I have an old photo still portrait of the duo, dating back to their earlier stage days. Found it about thirty years ago in a flea-market. The writing on the back states:

Clark and McCullough
with "Peek-A-Boo"
at the Berchel (or Buchel?)

No date or anything else. The photo is attributed on the front to "Apeda/N.Y." They definitely look a bit younger than their film forays. Anybody have any idea what the heck "Peek-A-Boo" is? Been a mystery to me since getting the darned thing. Ditto the apparent theater. Not that it's something I dwelled that much on, admittedly. Picked up several other old theater stills (some 11x14 size) that day, but I was most excited by the C&M one.

[busby1959]

That was a very, very nice treat. I didn't think any of the Fox C&M's survived. Great to be able to see one. Indeed, McCullough seems to have a larger role in the proceedings here, compared to the RKO's. Always enjoy seeing Florence Lake and Bob Kortman, too.

I have an old photo still portrait of the duo, dating back to their earlier stage days. Found it about thirty years ago in a flea-market. The writing on the back states:

Clark and McCullough
with "Peek-A-Boo"
at the Berchel (or Buchel?)

No date or anything else. The photo is attributed on the front to "Apeda/N.Y." They definitely look a bit younger than their film forays. Anybody have any idea what the heck "Peek-A-Boo" is? Been a mystery to me since getting the darned thing. Ditto the apparent theater. Not that it's something I dwelled that much on, admittedly. Picked up several other old theater stills (some 11x14 size) that day, but I was most excited by the C&M one.

PEEK A BOO was a burlesque review with music and lyrics by Michael Zelenko in which Clark and McCullough appeared along with Joe Cook before they became stars. It opened at the Columbia Theater on Broadway in 1919 and had a breif run. It toured on the Columbia Wheel from 1920 to 1922, during which time your photo is probably from. English producer Charles B. Cochran brought the show to London, where it was renamed CHUCKLES OF 1922. It became a hit there, and influenced Irving Berlin to cast them in his "Music Box Review" back in New York.

[Bert Greene]

Thanks for the info! Love learning about the back-history, in stage and vaudeville, of performers we all know from later screen work, and this C&M photo had burdened me with a nagging curiosity for years!

[s.w.a.c.]

This post prompted me to look at Bobby Clark's Broadway Database page, and I see that Music Box Revue ran over 2 1/2 years, with a cast change for its final six months, including the addition of Fanny Brice and the Brox Sisters. Not too shabby.