The Installment Collector (Fred Allen short, 1929)

25 years prior to appearing on Goodson-Todman game shows, and 5 years prior to the premiere of his long-running radio show, Fred Allen starred in this unremarkable one-reeler most likely shot in the Kaufman-Astoria studios in New York (one wonders if he dropped by the set of The Marx Brothers' Cocoanuts!). The early sound era was full of one-shot comedy shorts provided by virtually every vaudeville entertainer of the day. This is Fred Allen's first on-screen appearance and I wouldn't be surprised if film audiences thought they were seeing Al St. John, as Fred bares a striking resemblance to him.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Fred
• Allen
• 1929
• Installment
• Collector

[kes1963]

It's a shame that Fred Allen never found his niche in TV, he was hilarious on the radio

[ACcountryFan]

another one...

Imitation is the most sincerest form of television

He also changed some of those medium references around...I recall this one...

Q: You know why they call television a medium?

A: Because it's rare that anything on it's well-done.

I found this one on-line...

"Television is a device that permits people who haven't anything to do, watch people who can't do anything.".

[TheMoviefan1996]

Do you possibly have the 1930 short Fred made.

[nuts4clara]

@ACcountryFan XD

[nuts4clara]

Fred Allen in a comedy short? That's a new one on me! =D Thanks for posting this clip!

[jimaroo100]

any idea who played the collector? His voice is very familiar.

[fromthesidelines]

Fred was supposed to appear in another "two-reeler" for Warner Bros./Vitaphone in New York that same year, but bowed out at the last minute. George Burns & Gracie Allen replaced him {performing their famous vaudeville routine, "Lambchops"}...and it was THEIR first screen appearance. The only other short Fred appeared in, as far as I know, was 1930's "The Still Alarm" (based on a one-act George S. Kaufman stage play). This is a mid-'30s reissue print [the music sounds "too modern" for '29].

[ACcountryFan]

Fred seemed to do well on WHAT'S MY LINE because all of the attention wasn't on him until it came his turn. i think he was just as funny on TV with a lot of his witty remarks but because TV is a visual thing, viewers tend to only hear what people on TV are saying instead of listening to what people on TV are saying. A lot of Fred's quips and one-liners and quotes are ahead of their time.

[twindowlicker]

Boy, you're right, he was the spitting image of Al St. John When He was young!

[Wehategod]

Man Jack Benny Eddie Cantor and Fred Allen my top three favorite Comedians