Thelma Todd & Zasu Pitts: The Hal Roach Collection 1931-1933 presents all 17 of their short comedies, beautifully restored from their original negatives by Paul Gierucki and Cinemuseum. For a time she continued making dramatic films, but her concurrent association with comedic films caused problems, most famously when, at early showings of Lewis Milestone's great antiwar drama All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), audiences laughed and Pitts was replaced. Pitts, whose first name is sometimes written as "ZaSu" and correctly pronounced "Say-Zoo," had started in mostly silent one-reel comedies but also became a respected dramatic actress, best known as the female lead in Erich von Stroheim's 9 1/2-hour (initially) Greed (1924). Personally under contract to Roach, rather than the studio, he decided to team her with silent star Zasu Pitts. At the same time, she was beginning to get good parts in feature films, including the original film of The Maltese Falcon (1931, as Miles Archer's wife), and the classic Marx Bros. A talented comedienne, Todd had already appeared in supporting parts in other Roach comedies starring Chase and Harry Langdon, including the Laurel & Hardy classics Another Fine Mess (1930) and Chickens Come Home (1931). Thelma Todd was something of a replacement. Roach briefly had Jean Harlow under contract, but she soon signed with Roach's distributor, MGM, and never looked back. Roach tried again with another contrasting team. But, alas, Garvin & Byron apparently didn't click with the moviegoing public. They appeared in two Roach comedies together, the second of which, A Pair of Tights (1929), is quite funny. Byron, a good foot shorter than Garvin, was Buster Keaton's leading lady in Steamboat Bill, Jr. In her prime Garvin was an extraordinarily sexy vamp-type tall, leggy, and curvy with slicked-back jet-black hair. Garvin was a frequent foil in Laurel & Hardy's universe, appearing in 11 of their films from the silent days through 1940's A Chump at Oxford (in the long version of that film only). The great success of Laurel & Hardy in the last dozen months of the silent era prompted Roach to develop something like a "female Laurel & Hardy." First he attempted pairing Anita Garvin and Marion "Peanuts" Byron. His was a small company with a family atmosphere, the "Lot of Fun," as it was nicknamed, his pictures distributed by bigger companies (first Pathe, later MGM and finally United Artists), and he gave artists like Stan Laurel (the main creative force behind Laurel & Hardy) much more freedom than the big studios would ever have allowed.
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As he had done earlier with silent great Harold Lloyd, Roach nurtured his properties, favoring strong characterizations over broad slapstick.
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Roach was a businessman, but making his comedies good was equally important. Roach's most successful films were the shorts and features starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, but his studio also boasted Our Gang (aka The Little Rascals), Charley Chase and others. Hal Roach Studios produced many of the best short and feature comedies of the silent and early sound era.