Director: Alfred J. Goulding (as Alf Goulding)
USA 1928
20 min
A charming Mack Sennett short about female track team preparing to compete with the rival college. (Of course, in the 1920's sports was à la mode!) However, the coach Minnie Marmon (Daphne Pollard) seems to have problems getting her team ready, as her running star Norma Nurmi (Carole Lombard) is a great example of when she the night before the competition tries to sneak out to meet her boyfriend. Read:
"The track team hadn't won a race since the Dead Sea took sick."
This short is really amusing, much for two reasons:
- The explaining text between the film clips almost always have a funny double meaning. For example:
"Norma Nurmi, star athlete --- once ran a mile in almost nothing --- and was nearly expelled for it."
- There is a great chemistry between the two main actors, Lombard and Pollard.
Obviously, Lombard and Pollard were extremely good friends during the time they spent working for Sennett, and any stories about practical jokes they amused themselves with have been written. And aren't they a gorgeous couple? The tall, slender flapper-Lombard and the 4,9" (145 cm), stumbling Pollard ("a one-cylinder model with an underslung chassis" according to the film). It simply can't go wrong!
I am also that strange kind of person who like to watch the IMDb profiles for unknown extras. For example, the big woman playing "large student" in Run, Girl, Run - how was her career?
Her name was Madalynne Field, she was a friend and secretary of Lombard's, and her filmography contains of roles like three times "uncredited", once "extra", once "bit role" and twice "Fat girl".
Enjoy the film!
6 comments:
I saw a condensed version of this short in Robert Youngson's Golden Age of Comedy. As was his wont, Youngson's narration emphasized that Carole Lombard was doomed to die young. His compilation films from the 1950s and 1960s influenced my often bittersweet appreciation of older movies. Thanks for putting this up in something like its original form.
I loved the old Robert Youngson film complilations(When Comedy was King is my fave)They also sparked in me, an early interest into silent films.I was lucky enough to meet Youngson collaborator and author of film books,William K.Everson along with Hal Roach(in his 100th year!)George "Spanky"McFarland and author,Richard Bann,back in the early 90's at the AFI film festival here.One of the most memorable nights of my life for me for sure!
LOL..I saw this Run Girl Run short a few weeks ago..Its really funny!...Carol was a big strappin' gal back then!
Samuel Wilson:
Well, as long as the narrators don't focus too much on actor's/actress's early deaths... Try to watch a James Dean documentary without screaming in agony for information about anything else than his early death!
Good you liked the film! I really enjoy to be able to embed whole films in blog posts.
Christopher:
Yeah, isn't she just charming? Haha, when she puts on make up while she is running - love it.
Wow, fascinating to meet people like that! I had hoped to be able to meet Ingmar Bergman before he died, but I obviously didn't make it... Sigh.
LOL..I saw this Run Girl Run short a few weeks ago..Its really funny!...Carol was a big strappin' gal back then!Mack Sennett encouraged her to add a few pounds to enhance her curves. The sleek Lombard we're more familiar with didn't arrive until she left Sennett in 1929.
A few years later, the masseuse who helped Lombard shed a few pounds wrote an article about it in Photoplay:
http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/110803.html
vp19:
Oh, I think I like Mack Senett... I really thought those extra pounds looked swell on her!
Thanks for the link, really interesting!
I think she looks great like that..she really fills out her regular clothes well..especially in high heels.....lol..I didn't know Senett had her fill out,I just figured it looked like the usual weight for 20's gals...
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