Tracy & Sawyer Military Comedies - Coming Soon from ClassicFlix (1 Viewer)

[Gary OS]

Our good friends at ClassicFlix have done it again! Just got an email telling me they'll soon be releasing 6 Hal Roach streamliners, specifically the Tracy & Sawyer Military Comedies! Fantastic news!!

Gary "thanks so much - once again - ClassicFlix" O.

 

[borisfw]

That is good news. Will be an instant buy for me. Love these B film series .

 

[Bob Gu]

Notice the cover says Volume 1. So the remaining streamliners must be on the way.

That's Veda Ann Borg, on the cover.

Here's an odd picture showing Hal Roach, center, celebrating the one year anniversary of the streamliners. Roach and the behind the scenes folks are looking at the cake, but the cast, William Tracy, Jean Porter, Marjorie Woodworth, and Joe Sawyer, is looking at Roach.

Hal Roach produced two more Tracy and Sawyer/Dodo and Ames movies, in 1951 and 1952, released by Lippert. But I suppose they are not considered part of the Roach streamliners that were released by United Artists.

I hope Volume 2 with be the 'Taxi' series with Grace Bradley, William Bendix, and Joe Sawyer. (also pictured-Florine McKinney)

 

[Josh Steinberg]

So what are these and are they as fun as the posters look?

 

[bujaki]

I found them funny. Looking forward to their release, particularly the one in Cinecolor, which I've only seen in B&W.

 

[borisfw]

I like the Taxi series with Bendix and Bradley. I remember watching a few of them on tcm years ago. They had pretty short running times if i remember correctly.

 

[Rodney]

Hey, that's Pepi Katona!

I put my order in a couple of weeks ago, when I first heard about 'em. Blind buy, but I love what ClassicFlix has put out to date, so feel comfortable with a pre-order.

 

[bujaki]

Hey, that's Pepi Katona!

I put my order in a couple of weeks ago, when I first heard about 'em. Blind buy, but I love what ClassicFlix has put out to date, so feel comfortable with a pre-order.

Yes, it's Pepi Katona, and that's why I watched these delightful films. I'm always quoting his line: But I'm just a child!

 

[Bob Gu]

I first saw some of the streamliners as part of a Hal Roach package on TV that ran some of the Roach United Artists features and some of the features that were made by combining two streamers together. So it will be nice to see the Tracy/Sawyer series in their original format.

The streamliners are goofy fun! The first streamliner was "All American Girl"-1941. That one has been running on the MOVIES! channel lately. (Many of them are on YouTube also.) The Tracy/Sawyer series had the most 'episodes'. The Taxi Series with Sawyer, William Bendix, and Grace Bradley had three, "Brooklyn Orchid"-1942, "The McGuerins From Brooklyn"-1942, and "Taxi Mister"-1943. The cowboy series with Noah Beery, Jr. and Jimmy Rogers had three, "Dudes Are Pretty People Too"-1942, "Calaboose"-1943, and "Prairie Chickens"-1943. And there were two streamliners with Hitler, played by Bobs Watson. I think the rest were stand alone comedies.

YANKS AHOY! is famous for having the soldiers wearing the new U.S. M-1 helmet backwards.

Joe Sawyer with Marjorie Woodworth and the backwards helmet.

Helmets the right way in "Guadalcanal Diary"-1943, William Bendix, Lloyd Nolan, Anthony Quinn, and Preston Foster.

I'd like to think that the director had the actors wearing their helmets backwards because they looked funnier that way. But more likely, even though "Yanks Ahoy!", was not released until the summer of 1943, it was probably filmed in 1942 at a time the helmets were so new, they never saw them worn properly. So the technical advisors guessed wrong. I could see the Army providing the new helmets straight from the factory to the movie studio for recruitment PR reasons.

Marjorie Woodworth is in many of the Hal Roach streamliners and features. She's a great example of wholesome forties cheesecake.

Streamliner, "Niagara Falls". with Slim Summerville, Zazu Pitts, Marjorie Woodworth, and Tom Brown.

 

[JoeDoakes]

I never knew these existed