Starring ZaSu Pitts and Thelma Todd.
Featuring George Byron and Jerry Mandy.
Directed by Hal Roach.
Synopsis
"My feet haven't been so good lately"
"Let's Do Things" starts with ZaSu and Thelma working at the music counter in Waltham's, the world's largest store.
Thelma sings a song - "Them There Eyes" - which attracts plenty of male customers, but not many sales.
ZaSu doesn't do much better trying to sell sheet music, much to the disgruntlement of the manager.
ZaSu's boyfriend, Milton (George Byron), turns up with news that he's been put in touch with a big doctor from Boston who wants to take them out to a cabaret. Thelma agrees to go as the doctor's date for the evening.
The girls get ready for the big evening.
Milton arrives early so sets about eating most of the food that the girls have purchased. The doctor (Jerry Mandy) arrives at the girls' apartment. It turns out he is an osteopath (which doesn't go down well with Thelma).
She refuses to go, claiming that she has a bad headache. This doesn't put the doctor's back out at all; instead he rushes into the bedroom to cure Thelma of her headache.
After throwing her around for a bit, an irked Thelma tells him that she is cured, so they all set out for the club.
In the club, ZaSu's feet are killing her so she takes off her shoes.
A variety of entertainment takes place whilst the foursome sit awaiting dinner, during which Thelma accidentally kicks ZaSu's shoes out from under the table.
The doctor brags about a special strong alcoholic concoction that he has made. He says it will kill all pain, so ZaSu rubs some into her feet. Unknowingly, she also pours a large quantity into her drink.
More dancers appear to entertain the guests, but the lead girl falls over, hurting her back. The doctor goes out back to treat her. Thelma takes the opportunity to confide in ZaSu that she plans to get rid of the doctor by pretending to be drunk. She asks ZaSu to pretend to be drunk as well.
ZaSu drinks up, actually getting drunk. Meanwhile the dancing girls return after the doctor has worked on them - they can't walk properly, and it looks like his treatment has done more harm than good!
Thelma pretends to be drunk, and is shocked to discover that ZaSu's performance of drunkenness is a little too real! The doctor dances with Thelma to stop her making a nuisance of herself - so he tells the manager.
Milton and ZaSu's attempts to dance do not go well. Without her shoes, ZaSu slips on the floor and gets chewing gum stuck to her sock.
The doctor gets a bit too enthusiastic whilst dancing with Thelma, and ends up going through a table. He is removed forcibly from the establishment by a waiter (Charlie Hall).
Trying to find her shoes, ZaSu eventually ends up underneath a dining trolley. She is carted out of the club by Thelma, with Milton trailing them.
Back at their apartment, Thelma prepares some food as she is starving. Milton sits down and is about to have a serious conversation with ZaSu, so it would appear.
Instead, he just asks for a bit of pie, so Thelma throws it in his face!
Thelma sings a song - "Them There Eyes" - which attracts plenty of male customers, but not many sales.
ZaSu doesn't do much better trying to sell sheet music, much to the disgruntlement of the manager.
ZaSu's boyfriend, Milton (George Byron), turns up with news that he's been put in touch with a big doctor from Boston who wants to take them out to a cabaret. Thelma agrees to go as the doctor's date for the evening.
The girls get ready for the big evening.
Milton arrives early so sets about eating most of the food that the girls have purchased. The doctor (Jerry Mandy) arrives at the girls' apartment. It turns out he is an osteopath (which doesn't go down well with Thelma).
She refuses to go, claiming that she has a bad headache. This doesn't put the doctor's back out at all; instead he rushes into the bedroom to cure Thelma of her headache.
After throwing her around for a bit, an irked Thelma tells him that she is cured, so they all set out for the club.
In the club, ZaSu's feet are killing her so she takes off her shoes.
A variety of entertainment takes place whilst the foursome sit awaiting dinner, during which Thelma accidentally kicks ZaSu's shoes out from under the table.
The doctor brags about a special strong alcoholic concoction that he has made. He says it will kill all pain, so ZaSu rubs some into her feet. Unknowingly, she also pours a large quantity into her drink.
More dancers appear to entertain the guests, but the lead girl falls over, hurting her back. The doctor goes out back to treat her. Thelma takes the opportunity to confide in ZaSu that she plans to get rid of the doctor by pretending to be drunk. She asks ZaSu to pretend to be drunk as well.
ZaSu drinks up, actually getting drunk. Meanwhile the dancing girls return after the doctor has worked on them - they can't walk properly, and it looks like his treatment has done more harm than good!
Thelma pretends to be drunk, and is shocked to discover that ZaSu's performance of drunkenness is a little too real! The doctor dances with Thelma to stop her making a nuisance of herself - so he tells the manager.
Milton and ZaSu's attempts to dance do not go well. Without her shoes, ZaSu slips on the floor and gets chewing gum stuck to her sock.
The doctor gets a bit too enthusiastic whilst dancing with Thelma, and ends up going through a table. He is removed forcibly from the establishment by a waiter (Charlie Hall).
Trying to find her shoes, ZaSu eventually ends up underneath a dining trolley. She is carted out of the club by Thelma, with Milton trailing them.
Back at their apartment, Thelma prepares some food as she is starving. Milton sits down and is about to have a serious conversation with ZaSu, so it would appear.
Instead, he just asks for a bit of pie, so Thelma throws it in his face!
Review
"Some girls say 'yes' - very popular!"
And there's a nice gag right at the very start of the film.
The girls work at Waltham's department store, New York, the same store in the classic Clara Bow film "IT" where Bow, as shop worker Betty Lou, woos the boss, Cyrus Waltham. I'd love to have seen a quick shot of a Bow lookalike working in the store in those opening moments! That would have been a nice touch! But still, whereas old Cyrus Waltham fell in love with Betty Lou, the store manager whom Todd and Pitts work for doesn't like them very much, and there's some nice comedy there.
So, what do I think of the film and the Pitts / Todd pairing?
Well, the film is actually a really nice showcase for the success of the Pitts / Todd pairing. In short, I think this is a really great short to kick off the series. It's solid, with some decent gags and a large supporting cast, and although I wouldn't consider it to be one of the best Pitts / Todd films, it's certainly not one of the worst.
I'm going to focus on the Pitts / Todd pairing throughout this review, but I have a few general thoughts to jot down here initially. The pair have an interesting dynamic that is, as would be expected, very different to the later Kelly / Todd shorts. Typically, Pitts makes most of the mistakes in the films, bumbling along innocently like Stan Laurel. Pitts is also reliant on Todd to get her out of certain scrapes and predicaments that the pair find themselves in. Pitts's catchphrase - if I can call it that - of "Ohhh, dear" becomes more and more charming the more you hear it mumbled as mishaps occur.
And Pitts is an incredible comic actress with a penchant for a deadpan expression during the high slapstick moments.
Todd's role is rather fluid in the shorts with ZaSu. Arguably, she does a greater amount of slapstick in them than she does in the Kelly shorts, but she is still the beautiful object of desire for (m)any men. It's interesting that her character is less grouchy in the Pitts shorts, and Todd seems to lose her temper more with Kelly than she does with poor defenceless Pitts. Generally Todd seems happy with ZaSu's company, but in the Kelly shorts, her character often feels lumbered (or cursed) with Kelly's company.
But all in all, her slapstick comedy is wonderful stuff, and it's interesting in this particular short that Todd plays the cautious, discerning dame, whereas Pitts is a bit love-struck with Milton (this is often flipped in the Kelly / Todd shorts where Todd is hopelessly in love with someone and Kelly acts as the brash and anti-romantic friend).
Sure, Todd is beautiful, but her acting talent is well utilised in this film: singing, crawling under tables, scowling, frowning, pulling hilarious facial expressions, and getting thrown around by an osteopath. Coupled to ZaSu's elegant slapstick - such as trying to get off a painful pair of shoes or dancing on tiptoe - and her meek, timid, but endearing voice, the partnership has a lot of strengths.
So what's so funny about this particular film?
Firstly, the girls are given some nice gags to work with that are a nice blend of physical slapstick, comical facial expressions, and hilarious one-liners. I'll draw attention to these moments as we go along, but I wanted to mention the second reason why this short is a good starter for the series: the leading men (George Byron as Milton and Jerry Mandy as the doctor) are highly comic and great, whimsical characters who have a plethora of humorous traits and one-liners between them.
In fact, it's usually one of my greatest irks in the whole of the Pitts / Kelly / Todd series that the leading men in some of the episodes are -incredibly- characterless; dull, insipid, flat, and tedious. Just watch "Catch As Catch Can", "The Pyjama Party" or "Three Chumps Ahead" for fine examples of how leading men playing 'boyfriends' in the shorts can ruin them totally.
But it's difficult isn't it? After all, these shorts are films starring Pitts / Todd and Kelly / Todd - so the boyfriends can't steal the limelight too much, can they? That's true to a certain extent, but "Let's Do Things" gives a rare opportunity for zany boyfriends to complement ZaSu and Thelma's comedy act, and in my opinion, elevate the women.
And besides, men with real character do make frequent successful appearances in these shorts (Billy Gilbert, Don Barclay, Arthur Housman), without stealing the limelight from the women, and again, those shorts are generally good thanks to the certain charm that those men have by playing memorable and quirky characters.
So I guess I'm basically saying that generally, any films where 'boyfriends' appear are typically a bit rubbish, thanks to the incredible dullness of the 'boyfriends.'
I've taken a long time to say it, but "Let's Do Things" really works because the boyfriends are interesting, original characters!
George Byron's Milton has a passion for all food and spends most of his screen time eating. He also appears wonderfully distant with regards to conversation, sporting a puzzled look on his face most of the time. He's even comically oblivious to the fact that Thelma really dislikes him, and all of this makes for good fun in the film. He also takes a pie to the face in the final moments of the film.
Jerry Mandy (whom eagle-eyed readers might have already identified as the sailor frightened by Stan Laurel in "Why Girls Love Sailors") is also a great actor, full of comical, exaggerated facial expressions (no doubt honed from his days in silent films).
He gets a decent amount of opportunity to engage in slapstick - notably jerking Thelma around on a bed trying to cure her headache, and diving through a table and getting a face full of spaghetti.
So it's a double-thumbs up from Magnolia for two funny men complementing the girls in this short.
Shame they didn't always get the 'boyfriends' right...
Anyway, the stars of the show, of course, have the best laugh-out-loud moments.
Some of my favourite ZaSu and Thelma moments include the following: ZaSu dancing along and joining in to Thelma's rendition of "Them There Eyes", and later on trying to sell sheet music in her inimitable way: "I'm Throwing Myself Away - only 25 cents".
Watching the girls do their make-up in front of the camera: It's clear that Thelma is well-used to applying make-up, but ZaSu looks outside of her comfort zone, comically covering her whole face in white powder! Poor ZaSu doesn't fare much better once they get to the club. Worried that the dress that she borrowed from Thelma shows too much flesh, she'd put a white shirt on underneath it, much to the merriment of the other patrons. Thelma comes to the rescue. It's a bit cruel to poor ZaSu (giving her the role of the 'unconventional' woman to be laughed at rather than adored like Thelma), but it does make for good comedy.
Seeing Thelma get thrown about on the bed as the doctor tries to cure her headache is also hilarious. She looks stunned by his treatment!
ZaSu also plays the drunk well, innocently making a fool of herself, and you can't help but feel sorry for her when she accidentally gets chewing gum on her foot. This comes after she has comically mimicked the dancing entertainment for the evening by moving her hands and feet in time to the music whilst sitting down watching the pros perform. Once again, it's her little mannerisms that can garner the greatest laughs from the viewer.
Seeing a drunk ZaSu carted away underneath the dining trolley by everybody's favourite cameo actor, Charlie Hall, is also a nice moment. He pops up everywhere, does Charlie Hall.
Other standout moments include the look on the doctor's face once he lands in the plate of spaghetti, which is brilliant, and you feel that Milton gets his just deserts when Thelma throws a pie in his face. He was asking for that!
What do you think of "Let's Do Things" and the Pitts / Todd pairing?
Watch it
"Ohhhh, dear!"
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