So far as film companies were concerned in 1933-34, double features stood for two things: evil and menace. There were other descriptive terms as damning. Argument against combos piled thus: They made shows run too long and so permitted less audience changeover through the day, features took less rental as result of being paired, and twin billing opened the door for independents to horn in on programs. Worst overall was the format taking control away from majors already pinched by collapsing revenue. What was worse timing of two-for-one sales than a Great Depression? ... except where the public was concerned, of course. And there was the argument for double features, the only one perhaps, but enough. Anything thatcustomers bought could not be stopped, and what they wanted was two movies on a single ticket, and in fact, would come to settle for nothing less. Exhibition could fight or give in --- there was plenty of room on the canvas for those who ignored the bell.
Paramount execs sat in "closed meetings" to discuss combat of the scourge, a few promising to fight "all the way to the White House," said Variety, but each knew they'd have to submit. Failure to get resolution among majors and the Motion Picture Code authority led to increased letters on marquees nationwide and a New Deal for picturegoers. The Indiana Theatre in Indianapoliswas a "Publix" house, Paramountcontrolled, and come the dawn of 1934, among first of company strongholds to give in. So long as Para had to play, they'd make a most of it. Toward filling those 3,133 seats came promise of a Giant Double Show Every Man, Woman, and Child Will Enjoy!, with emphasis on that mostdreaded aspect of duals --- Both For The Price Of One. As things worked out, Paramount and the Indiana had their cake and ate too, combined program of Six Of A Kind (62 minutes), Miss Fane's Baby Is Stolen (70), and The Rasslin' Match (11) adding up to less than two and a half hours, little more than duration of a typical single feature show with short subjects. Even with such horn of plenty, the Indianablew out five shows daily between 11:00 am and 9:15 pm. The answer, of course, laid in brevity of features. Majors, including Paramount, would form "B" units to service bottom-of-bills, careful to keep these just over or under an hour's length.
Six Of A Kind and Miss Fane's Baby Is Stolenwere programmers, a form that would adapt to B mould as double featuring became entrenched, being neither specials nor B's as we'd later understand them. Studios in any case never liked "B" as a term applied to product, as it smacked of pejorative. Six Of A Kind could and did play as a single, its cast out of comedic top drawers, but times requiring desperate measure obliged the Indianato bargain with customers. If Six Of A Kind required two of a kind, in terms of feature offering, then yes, the theatre would serve, and willingly. Question then ... would combos hypo business? In this case, no. The Indiana's dual of Six Of A Kindand Miss Fane's Baby Is Stolen, with Amos n' Andy in The Rasslin' Match, went buzz-to-dud route to tune of mere $4,000 in ticket sales. Double billing may have been panacea elsewhere, but not for Indianapolis. Further tinkering sought a cure in the following week, when a tab version of The Student Prince made for stage-screen tandem with Hi, Nellie from Warners. There was jump to $9,500 in the till, but Variety called that "moderate" because of house nut increased by bringing in legiters.
I wanted to experience the Indiana's February 5-12, 1934 show, and here's what happened: First off, I couldn't see any but the first eight minutes of Miss Fane's Baby Is Stolen, and that glimpse came courtesy You Tube. Miss Fane is owned by Universal, along with balance of Paramount pre-49 talkers, and she'sbeen deep-sixed since MCA sent 16mm to tee-vee station buyers. It'll likely stream or DVD-release when pigs take wing, which is too bad, because Miss Fane's Baby Is Stolen starts promisingly, being spun off the Lindbergh case with subject babe (Leroy of Bill Fields contretemps fame) nabbed from his movie star mom. A-1, said Variety, with both boxoffice and punch. We'll not take that punch so long as Universal holds out, but there is at least succor of ready access to Six Of A Kind and The Rasslin' Match, these DVD-permitting bask in two-thirds of what Indiana crowds got for their twenty cent and up admission.
To enjoy Six Of A Kind depends upon tolerance of all half-dozen clowns in review. Do Burns and Allen at their most aggressive play on your nerves? Then be warned. Would Charlie Ruggles and Mary Boland tire rather than amuse? Go elsewhere in that event. I'll assume everyone, here at Greenbriar anyway, likes Bill Fields, but know too that he's only in for half this show, the latter half. Till then, it's B&A making life hell for R&B on a road trip over gravel and dirt that characterized travel in 1934. The way is scarily dotted with tramps that prey on motorists, in this case familiar threats Walter Long and Leo Wallisof perfidy in Roach comedies. Getting lost amidst such wilds is played for humor, but I found it near as unsettling as things that go wrong for cross-countrying Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Nightfrom the same year. Deliverance comes of Fields taking over the show with reprise of a pool table routine honed on stages through a decade before Six Of A Kind. His prattle here, and in search of a "hunchbacked Ethiopian," just had to be ad-libbed or W.C.-written contrary to the script. Whichever --- it redeems deposit on this Six pack and leaves refreshing taste at the finish.
And then came The Rasslin' Match, a first of two Amos n' Andy cartoons made of an announced thirteen. Why stop at two? The shorts apparently fell on a sword that was creators Gosden and Correll's displeasure, the two a no-show (to read dialogue) after initial Rasslin' and follow-up The Lion Tamers. What should have run smooth had not, The Rasslin' Match adapted from a story already air-used, with translation-to-screen clearly gone kerfloo. Small operator Van Beuren had an RKO release deal, RKO in same Sarnoff/RCA ownership bed with NBC radio, home to A&A. Hopes were high as evinced by a Radio City Music Hall booking for 1/4/33, very nice work when a Van Beuren reel could get it. TheRasslin' Match was sold primarily on voices that fans wouldn't miss if homes caught fire, Gosden/Correll themselves pulling $6,500 per week for vaude and picture house apps. Van Beuren may have figured so what if the cartoons disappointed, but RKO had been bit by the flop of non-cat/mouse Tom and Jerry plus The Little King, both series under VB banner and ultimately yanked by the distributor. A specific problem with The Rasslin' Match may have been lack of sentiment that propelled radio's A&A as much as comedy. For animation, the team went only for funny, and based on response, came up a damp blanket. The Rasslin' Match is good as curiosity, however, and Thunderbean has a nice DVD where it abuts other Van Beuren oddities.
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