Vaudeville Question

[Mike]

i like old films noir (or is it film noirs?) lol. i got one recently with erich von stroheim called "the great flamarion" (1945) that is pretty good. in the movie which takes place in the 30's he plays a trick gunshot vaudeville sharpshooter. supposedly he used real bullets in the act. (in one scene he "misses" and kills one of the assistants, played by dan duryea). it's a good movie, but the thing i don't get is why the bullets didn't do a lot of damage to the scenery, stage, etc. does anybody know if there were really any trick gunshot acts that used real bullets during the vaudeville days???

[Mister Kitzel]

The first person that comes to mind is Annie Oakley. She really was able to do trick shots using real bullets! She performed in the Wild West shows that were the precursor to vaudeville.

Today there are trick shooters who use real bullets, but never shoot in the direction of a human being. They only perform at shooting ranges, not on stages.

Sometimes you may see shooters bursting balloons from horseback or some other difficult position. They use shot rather than solid bullets so that the shot scatters. The shooter still has to be fairly accurate, but the scattered shot makes it easier to give the illusion of greater accuracy.

[LLeff]

Speaking of vaudevillians, I just got this link from a member:

http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2008_09_14.html#015822

Really classic. Look for the Smith and Dale clip at the bottom. And note how much different this verbal comedy is than Jack's (thus why he, Frank Fay, and others were really groundbreaking). You can kind of see the evolution from:

- Smith and Dale Dr. Kronkeit
- The Marx Bros Why a Duck
- Abbott and Costello Who's on First
- Nichols and May Operator routine
- Cheech and Chong Dave's not here man (OK, that was stretching a bit far)

The blocking character - frustrated patsy dynamic, although the patsy always has his ways of keeping his footing in the discussion (and sometimes they switch off roles). Jack could be considered a frustrated patsy, but I don't think of the rest of the cast as necessarily blocking characters--more colorful schtick characters.

[Gumlegs]

Chung Ling Soo, a possible inspiration for the film.