Columbia produced over 500 two-reel shorts from 1933 through 1958, with Hollywood’s finest comics (the Three Stooges, Andy Clyde, Buster Keaton, Harry Langdon, Charley Chase, others). Fully illustrated with never-before-published photographs, the book chronicles the history of all, including interviews with the veterans. The filmography covers all of the 526 two-reelers: credits, date, synopsis.

Ted Okuda is a Chicago-based film historian whose articles have appeared in such publications as Nostalgia Digest, Filmfax, and Classic Images.
Edward Watz, of Morganville, New Jersey, has written a number of film magazine articles. He is the coauthor of a book on Columbia’s comedy shorts.

Ted Okuda with Edward Watz
Foreword by Emil Sitka
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 272
Bibliographic Info: 85 photos, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 1998 [1986]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-0577-0
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1010-8
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments     v
Foreword     vii
Preface     ix
Introduction     1

1 A Historical Overview     3
2 The Comedy Shorts Department: A Close-up     20
3 The Series     51
4 Television and Theatrical Revivals     195
5 Selected Biographies     197

Bibliography     249
Index     251

“recommended”—Choice; “well organized…lively and entertaining…most informative”—ARBA; “valuable…fantastic nuggets of information”—PlanNineCrunch; “way overdue…. Superb research is evident throughout…the rare stills reproduced here are just another reason for fans of Golden Age comedy to hunt the book down now”—Film Review.