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May 29, 2009 12:21 PM

Hollywood Bloopers: 1936-1947 A couple of the years won't load for me, but the ones I can watch are fun.
posted by grumblebee (14 comments total)

Thank you so much for this. I don't think I've seen many, if any, bloopers from before the 1960's -- at least if my memory of the Dick Clark and Ed McMahon shows serves me right.

I also love the Foreword to the first reel:

A breakdown--when one or more people get "tetched in the head" at a most inopportune time--causing the director, the assistant director, the unit manager, the producer, etc., to lose their mental balance and their digestive organs fail to function.
posted by not_on_display at 1:16 PM on May 29, 2009 [2 favorites]

Ah, nuts!
posted by FuManchu at 1:18 PM on May 29, 2009

A surprising amount of profanity in these, but I guess they weren't publicly released.
posted by jedicus at 1:22 PM on May 29, 2009

I didn't think people swore in those days. It's nice to see they aren't so fucking different after all.
posted by joelf at 1:24 PM on May 29, 2009

Warners have been putting these as extras on the DVDs of their classic movies. I'm sure I read an article about them somewhere on the web, but I can't find it now
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 1:43 PM on May 29, 2009

If you look and listen closely, you will note that they still edit/mask the "shits" and f-bombs.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:02 PM on May 29, 2009

This is the best thing today.
This wins.
The next time someone says the past is a foreign country and people have changed inestimably look at these faces and the faces of actors bloopering now.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:30 PM on May 29, 2009

..you will note that they still edit/mask the "shits" and f-bombs.

In 1947 maybe, but not in 1936. The f-bomb was the product of an intensive Manhattan Project near the end of WWII.
posted by DU at 2:31 PM on May 29, 2009 [2 favorites]

> I didn't think people swore in those days. It's nice to see they aren't so fucking different after all.

They still are. Most of the time it was all 'Balderdash!' and 'Banana oil!'
posted by davelog at 2:41 PM on May 29, 2009

'46 was Reagan-tastic.

Also, they're all pretty serious and stuff. Not much yucking it up back then.
posted by GuyZero at 3:46 PM on May 29, 2009

Awesome post, and now if you excuse me... I'm going to lose myself in archive-land and dream of different times.
posted by czechmate at 6:13 PM on May 29, 2009

Fantastic post... and I agree with GuyZero - they take it very seriously when they make a mistake.
posted by niccolo at 12:01 AM on May 30, 2009

"Where's the King's Arms?"

"Around the Queen's Arse!"

Awesome.
posted by Harry at 10:49 AM on May 30, 2009

I've just seen the 1936 ones so far. Amazing in that many of the 'bloopers' were just slight pauses in their cadence or slight mispronunciation of a word or two that causes the actors to stop and swear. These small mishaps would often be ignored and put into the show and not even noticed today. They had higher standards back then.
posted by eye of newt at 10:38 PM on June 1, 2009