The Treasurer's Report

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Treasurer's Report
Directed by Thomas Chalmers
Produced by William Fox
Written by Robert Benchley
Starring Robert Benchley
Distributed by Fox Film Corporation
Release date(s) 12 March 1928
Running time 10 minutes
Country Flag of the United States United States
Language English
Followed by The Sex Life of the Polyp (1928)
IMDb profile

The Treasurer's Report (1928) is a comedy sketch, made into a short film, written and performed by Robert Benchley. The film, made in the then-new Fox Movietone, documents an assistant treasurer of an organization struggling to present its yearly report. This was the first of Benchley's 46 comedy short films, with six made for Fox, one each for Universal Pictures and RKO Radio Pictures, 29 for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and nine for Paramount Pictures.

The short was adapted from a stage scene of the same name that Benchley wrote and performed for No Sirree!, a revue staged in April 1922 by Benchley and other members of the Algonquin Round Table.[1]

A number of Round Tablers were contributing new material for the revue and Benchley wanted to do his part, but as often happened he procrastinated. According to fellow Round Tabler Donald Ogden Stewart, Benchley didn't start writing the sketch until about a week before the revue, and then only scribbled rough notes on the back of an envelope[2] (Benchley would not commit a full script to paper until 1930[3]). Benchley's disjointed parody so delighted those in attendance that Irving Berlin hired Benchley in 1923 to deliver the Report as part of Berlin's Music Box Revue for $500 a week.[4] The Report was later filmed in 1928[5] and kicked off a second career for Benchley in Hollywood.[6]

Benchley would continue to perform the sketch periodically throughout his life, with his final Report delivered on October 27, 1945 (just a few weeks prior to his death) for CBS Radio's Report to the Nation.[7]

The film was included in the compilation Robert Benchley and the Knights of the Algonquin.[8]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kunkel, Thomas (1995). Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of The New Yorker. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers (paperback), 81. ISBN 0786703237. 
  2. ^ Altman, Billy (1997). Laughter's Gentle Soul: The Life of Robert Benchley. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 204. ISBN 0393038335. 
  3. ^ Altman, p. 206
  4. ^ Altman, pp. 208-9
  5. ^ Internet Movie Database. The Treaurer's Report. Retrieved on 2007-09-03.
  6. ^ Internet Movie Database. Robert Benchley. Retrieved on 2007-09-03.
  7. ^ Altman, p. 358
  8. ^ Kino. Robert Benchley and the Knights of the Algonquin. Retrieved on 2007-09-03.
 This short film-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.