This fun size little flick is another one-shot nonentity that features a hapless looking duo on a small vaudeville stage. Their act comprises almost entirely of one member of the duo knocking the other one about for no apparent reason. Even for the early years of cinema this one's fairly unimaginative,and the audience - staged or otherwise - obviously agree because within a minute they're pelting the woeful pair with rotten fruit. The film was apparently shot by Griffith's German cameraman Billy Bitzer but, this being the primitive movie-making year of 1903, there is little - well, no, actually - evidence of the professionalism he would later bring to Griffiths' classics.
4 Reviews
Sod 'em and begorrah!
F Gwynplaine MacIntyre10 July 2007
When a movie has a title like 'Levi and Cohen, the Irish Comedians', I'm willing to watch it but I won't have very high expectations. Even so, this movie disappointed me.
Quite a few early vaudeville turns recorded their acts for the motion-picture camera, but this usually required the artistes to report to Edison's (or some other entrepreneur's) film studio. Bringing the act to the camera made more sense than trundling the heavy and unwieldy movie camera to a vaudeville theatre. As such, we have very few films of vaudeville acts photographed in their native habitat, the two-a-day stage.
'Levi and Cohen' starts with a pageboy crossing a stage proscenium to remove one act's card from an easel and to reveal the card for the next act. I was very excited by this prosaic detail, as it indicated that I was about to witness an actual vaudeville performance in a vaudeville house, 1903 vintage. This being a silent film, I did rather wonder how a turn with the bill matter 'The Irish Comedians' (implying heavy reliance on brogues and stage Irish) would convey the flavour of their act with no soundtrack to record the cross-talk.
Two men enter 'in one', in front of a painted backcloth. They're both wearing outrageous 'Oirish' costumes and make-up, including elaborate side-whiskers. One 'Irishman' repeatedly slaps the other. In 1903 (and for some years afterwards), one of the most popular comedy teams in America were Weber and Fields, their act consisting largely of Lew Fields pushing and slapping the much smaller Joe Weber. Audiences enjoyed this, just as they later enjoyed seeing Abbott slap Costello. So, I figured that the appeal of Levi and Cohen depended on one of them smacking the other.
Apparently not. The slapping persists for a few seconds, and then the audience (apparently having known in advance what to expect) start baptising Levi and Cohen with spoilt foodstuffs and eggs, which they've conveniently brought into the theatre. I can't guess how much of this movie was staged. There actually were some vaudeville acts so famously dreadful that the audience armed themselves with rubbish-tip artillery before entering the theatre. Most notoriously, when Willie Hammerstein booked the Cherry Sisters, he set up a stand outside the theatre, selling rotten fruit ... so that audiences could buy some to throw at the Cherry Sisters!
I would love to know whether this film constitutes an actual performance of Levi and Cohen, with a genuine audience revealing an authentic reaction to this comedy team, or whether what we see here has been staged for our benefit. I was surprised to learn that veteran cameraman 'Billy' Bitzer photographed this short movie; he certainly never described it in his memoirs. As I can't tell what this film is actually depicting, I shan't even rate it.
Quite a few early vaudeville turns recorded their acts for the motion-picture camera, but this usually required the artistes to report to Edison's (or some other entrepreneur's) film studio. Bringing the act to the camera made more sense than trundling the heavy and unwieldy movie camera to a vaudeville theatre. As such, we have very few films of vaudeville acts photographed in their native habitat, the two-a-day stage.
'Levi and Cohen' starts with a pageboy crossing a stage proscenium to remove one act's card from an easel and to reveal the card for the next act. I was very excited by this prosaic detail, as it indicated that I was about to witness an actual vaudeville performance in a vaudeville house, 1903 vintage. This being a silent film, I did rather wonder how a turn with the bill matter 'The Irish Comedians' (implying heavy reliance on brogues and stage Irish) would convey the flavour of their act with no soundtrack to record the cross-talk.
Two men enter 'in one', in front of a painted backcloth. They're both wearing outrageous 'Oirish' costumes and make-up, including elaborate side-whiskers. One 'Irishman' repeatedly slaps the other. In 1903 (and for some years afterwards), one of the most popular comedy teams in America were Weber and Fields, their act consisting largely of Lew Fields pushing and slapping the much smaller Joe Weber. Audiences enjoyed this, just as they later enjoyed seeing Abbott slap Costello. So, I figured that the appeal of Levi and Cohen depended on one of them smacking the other.
Apparently not. The slapping persists for a few seconds, and then the audience (apparently having known in advance what to expect) start baptising Levi and Cohen with spoilt foodstuffs and eggs, which they've conveniently brought into the theatre. I can't guess how much of this movie was staged. There actually were some vaudeville acts so famously dreadful that the audience armed themselves with rubbish-tip artillery before entering the theatre. Most notoriously, when Willie Hammerstein booked the Cherry Sisters, he set up a stand outside the theatre, selling rotten fruit ... so that audiences could buy some to throw at the Cherry Sisters!
I would love to know whether this film constitutes an actual performance of Levi and Cohen, with a genuine audience revealing an authentic reaction to this comedy team, or whether what we see here has been staged for our benefit. I was surprised to learn that veteran cameraman 'Billy' Bitzer photographed this short movie; he certainly never described it in his memoirs. As I can't tell what this film is actually depicting, I shan't even rate it.
About as Irish as Gefilte fish!
planktonrules31 March 2014
As is the case with most very early films, this one is only about a minute long and so giving it a numerical rating seems difficult, if not impossible.
Levi & Cohen—two very un-Irish sounding names! Calling them 'Irish Comedians' was obviously meant as a joke and these two Jewish stage actors wear garb to make them look stereotypically Irish. And, as they are walking stereotypes, they do what the negative stereotype of the Irish at that time was—they begin fighting for no apparent reason. In fact, that's all there is to the act. BUT, in a nice twist, you can see the audience—and they are not impressed either and begin pelting this bad act with vegetables. This makes the film bearable but it's certainly not a must-see film.
Levi & Cohen—two very un-Irish sounding names! Calling them 'Irish Comedians' was obviously meant as a joke and these two Jewish stage actors wear garb to make them look stereotypically Irish. And, as they are walking stereotypes, they do what the negative stereotype of the Irish at that time was—they begin fighting for no apparent reason. In fact, that's all there is to the act. BUT, in a nice twist, you can see the audience—and they are not impressed either and begin pelting this bad act with vegetables. This makes the film bearable but it's certainly not a must-see film.
Pass the Eggs
Michael_Elliott6 August 2015
Levi & Cohen, the Irish Comedians (1903)
Two Irish men walk onto a stag and begin their act, which includes slapping one another. Pretty soon members of the audience begin to throw eggs and other items at them. There's certainly nothing ground- breaking to be found in this film but it's mildly entertaining in its own way and is worth watching if you enjoy watching these early movies. I think the highlight is without question when the eggs start flying as the actors really try to avoid getting hit. It's also worth noting that the camera-work here is downright horrible as it seems the cameraman was struggling with holding it because it's constantly shaking. You could almost sell this as a found footage movie it's so bad.
Two Irish men walk onto a stag and begin their act, which includes slapping one another. Pretty soon members of the audience begin to throw eggs and other items at them. There's certainly nothing ground- breaking to be found in this film but it's mildly entertaining in its own way and is worth watching if you enjoy watching these early movies. I think the highlight is without question when the eggs start flying as the actors really try to avoid getting hit. It's also worth noting that the camera-work here is downright horrible as it seems the cameraman was struggling with holding it because it's constantly shaking. You could almost sell this as a found footage movie it's so bad.
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