Shivering Shakespeare

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shivering Shakespeare (1930) is an Our Gang short film made in late 1929 and released to theatres on January 25, 1930. Our Gang members include Mary Ann Jackson, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Allen "Farina" Hoskins, Norman "Chubby" Chaney, Jackie Cooper, Donald Haines, and Douglas "Turkie Egg" Greer. Adult stars include Edgar Kennedy (as Kennedy the Cop), Gertrude Sutton (as Kennedy's wife Mrs. Funston Evergreen Kennedy), Lyle Tayo (as Chubby's mother), Ham Kinsey (as the first man hit with a pie), and Charles McAvoy (as the man whose son is hit with a pie).

[edit] Plot

On Thursday, February 18 in Gamut Hall, the gang participates (allegedly forced to do so) in a boring play entitled The Gladiator's Dilemma (a weak adaptation of the novel Quo Vadis). The play (a benefit for the Auspices Children's Audubon Society) is written like a Shakespearean play, using words of older English and creating silly (and stupid) expressions like "What ho!" The play is written, produced, and directed by Mrs. Funston Evergreen Kennedy. Her husband, Kennedy the Cop, is responsible for the special effects and is forced to play different characters, including the giant named Ursus, and an elephant.

As a nervous, uptight Mrs. Kennedy gives her introduction to the audience, the kids get ready for their performance. Their disgust and lack of enthusiasm shows how they feel about the show. During the first act, Mary Ann (playing "Mary Annicus") and Wheezer forget a good bit of their lines and confuse some of the words for others, so Mrs. Kennedy has to yell them out to them. In the background, a tall boy who plays Ursus sneezes, causing his fake wig and beard to fall and land on Pete the Pup. Mrs. Kennedy helps Chubby start with his line then excitedly forces her husband to shake the tin to create thundering noises. When Farina ("Farinacus") begins saying his line, a goat runs loose and pushes him with its horns, knocking him down. Getting up, Farina yells, "Forsooth, I think these mountains are full of too many goats!"

At the end of Act I, Chubby gets ready to play Nero. He looks at the script and begins writing his lines on his costume in case he forgets a line. Kennedy the Cop luckily notices that he was wearing his costume inside out and has him put it on correctly. At the beginning of Act II, Jackie delivers his lines and (like the others) forgets several words, so Mrs. Kennedy yells them to him. She gets more and more nervous. Donald Haines catches the giggles while saying his line about Nero riding an "elephant bathed in perfume." Just minutes later after Kennedy the Cop comes onstage in an elephant costume (with Chubby on his back), the curtain accidentally falls in the middle of the scene, causing the elephant head to fall off. The boy who's in charge of opening and closing the curtains just sits, so Mrs. Kennedy has to open them up for him. Chubby accidentally falls on a bowl of tomatoes which makes his rear end wet and dirty.

Meanwhile, some teenage boys (who were kicked out of the cast) are seeking revenge by throwing eggs at the players. Chubby forgets a line, so he has to pull his toga up to find out what his next line is (this happens off and on throughout the entire show). His mother and Mrs. Kennedy order him to put it back down, so he asks quietly what he must say. After being given the line, he says, "What ho! Bring on the dancing girls!" A female dancer comes onstage to do her number while the musicians play a sour-note version of "The Blue Danube Waltz.". The angry boys find the dance number terrible and throw an egg at her face.

As Farina does his scene where he reads the future from a crystal ball, he confuses some words for others, so Mrs. Kennedy has to yell out the right words. After a while, he gets disgusted and aggravated with her yelling and yells out for the audience to hear, "Doggone it! Look, I wish that woman would quit bothering me!" The audience chuckles, and Farina resumes his performance by beginning his next line with "Well anyway..." Chubby suddenly gets an egg thrown in his face, while Farina gets one at his right ear. Mrs. Kennedy, who is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, begins biting at her script.

At the beginning of Act III, "Mary Annicus" is told that Nero wants to marry her. Before she is able to show that she forgot her line, Mrs. Kennedy gives it to her: "I spurn thy vile heart, O monster, and cast it in the dust." Mary Ann, refusing to go through all that, just shortens the line: "Well anyway, I won't marry ya." Farina gets a second egg in the face, and the fight that he must have with the lion turns into a comedic act. The scenes with the sacred bull are even funnier when the man in the bull costume runs around and dances. Kennedy the Cop comes out onstage to play Ursus the Giant who has to kill the "bullicus." When the man inside the bull costume provokes Kennedy by making the bull stand on just its hind legs, Kennedy takes off his beard and hair and fights the man inside the bull costume with his bare fists. By now, Mrs. Kennedy is about to break down and cry. Soon, Kennedy gets a pie in the face from one of the teenage boys.

While saying his line, Chubby ends up getting a pie thrown at him from one of the boys and his mother catches him. She encourages Chubby to throw a pie at the boy back. Chubby tries but misses his aim. The man who was hit tries to hit Chubby but ends up hitting one of the other boys. The boy's father tries to hit that man but he misses. Chubby tries to hit another person who hit him with a pie but ends up hitting his own mother! Soon, a pie fight begins with everyone in the auditorium participating. Mrs. Kennedy sees the play being completely ruined and orders everyone to stop. The kids turn to Kennedy. He nods, giving them permission. All the kids throw their pies at her.