A Popular Person-Oddity: Broadway Farmer

Transcript (Download)

This bucolic scene, Nick Johnson, take a powder.

That folks was is Chick Johnson of Olsen and Johnson's Nut Factory and this was is his Connecticut farm.

The zany costar of the laugh hits Hell's a Poppin' and Laughin' Room Only has decided to call up a pickerel.

Back at the old man's, old man's Johnson's, Mrs.

J works her fingernails to the bone keeping the little home together.

Johnson doesn't make much money.

Olsen keeps the books.

So the Johnson's have to furnish the cottage with a few little old antiques.

Yep folks, Johnson claims all these valuable pieces belong to him.

But you know what a comedian he is.

The Johnson's pool their resources and install this outdoor bathtub.

The size of the guest house at Winter Garden Farms is an indication of the warm hospitality dished out by the old farmer.

Like the farm, the playhouse is named after the theater where Olsen and Johnson have staged their laugh riots.

Any old time Johnson has to face the music he can rush right out here and boy will he get the works.

Well anyway, like all comedians, Johnson wants to play Hamlet.

So we dim the foots and with the audience sitting on their hands in anticipation we await the entrance of the great tragedy.

Never mind the phone folks, this is a modern version.

Hmm, if this is Hamlet, it must be like Shakespeare said, a foul play.

Now that the eggs are ripe, Johnson's gathering them for his next audience.

This is an imitation of a customer receiving a favor from Chief Big Heart.

If Chick wants you in the audience, you'd better get there.

Always a stickler for correct form, Chick will not even extract the lacteal fluid without reaping the hirsute harvest.

Everybody wants to get in the act.

Take care bossy, this genial jokester Johnson is a great actor.

Now, one last word from Johnson, we'll have the last word.

Fitting corrective shoes to customers feet sometimes grows a little monotonous.

Fields of Philadelphia varies the daily routine by collecting non -corrective shoes.

In the past 20 years he has collected more than 400 examples of the most ill -fitting footwear to be found in this world.

This might have been one of Cinderella's, except that it is made of bisque instead of glass.

Materials range through silver, pewter, leather, wood, Dresden china, bisque and majolica.

Fields' collection has been gathered from all over the world.

No ration coupons are needed for these models, but this extensive collection represents a cash outlay of more than $5 ,000.

Inlaid with silver and pearls, rain slippers from Persia build on stilts to keep the wearer dry, also to add height and dignity.

Sometimes other items besides shoes creep into the collection, but they all have a shoe motif.

This big pewter stein is decorated with shoes and the figure of a shoemaker at his bench.

It was presented to a Viennese shoemaker in 1713 in honor of his skilled workmanship.

Worth $500, this Russian boot is one of Mr.

Fields' prizes.

He's one man who gets a kick out of collecting shoes.

Remember that old tongue twister, she sells seashells by the seashore? Couldn't do it again, but well, anyway, Mrs.

Mildred Cannon of Eldred, Florida does just that.

But the shells she sells, try it sometime, are more than just ordinary shells.

They are shells with a purpose.

True enough, most of them are the ordinary shells gathered by Mrs.

Cannon along the Florida shore.

Some were received before the war, from Pacific Atolls, the Solomons, the Reds, the Reds, the Reds, the Reds, the Reds.

But by and large, they wash up on the beach near Mrs.

What makes these shells odder than other crustacean curiosities is that Mrs.

Cannon fashions them into artistic novelties designed by herself.

This doll delights her young neighbors, Vivian and Libby Lou Smith.

And despite the promise of Florida sunshine, well, who knows? Rose cockle shells form the wisest of owls.

Cannon, by the way, knows the names of more than 100 different kinds of shells she uses to produce these entrancing creations.

Figurines, toys, statuettes, and jewelry are all part of the output of this clever artist.

Pipe cleaners bent to shape and fixed to the shells with cement form arms, wings, legs, and other anatomical appurtenances.

Base shells are filled with plaster to supply sturdy supports.

It's not a racket, it's a fascinating shell game.

The legend of Buffalo Bill never dies.

And one of the men who keeps it alive is H .H.

Zeitz of Denver, Colorado.

Cutting Buffalo steaks for favorite guests in his popular steakhouse, Mr.

Zeitz is, at the age of 80, the only living member of that famous band of scouts that roamed the plains with Buffalo Bill Cody.

On his trophies and his collection of guns, Scout Zeitz carries insurance totaling half a million dollars.

But in the many years it has taken to form the collection, the scout has lived a full life.

A cowboy at 13, he killed his first cattle rustler at 15.

He has been a pal of sitting bull and a friend to many other Indians.

And here he remembers the days when, with Buffalo Bill, he shot buffaloes by the hundred to feed construction crews rushing our transcontinental rails ever westward.

Each year Shorty, as Buffalo Bill called him, goes to pay his respects at the grave of his former comrades.

Buffalo Bill died in 1917, closing a memorable chapter in the life of the wild and bully west.

And though his fame may dim with times passing, there is one sure thing.

As long as Shorty lives, the great tradition will continue.

Of all the morale builders of global war, the ones the Doughboy liked most are the Pin Up Riddies.

The ones that adorn his temporary shelter, whether barracks, pup tents, ship, or slit trench.

And one of the most prolific suppliers of these captivating cuties is Miss Hazel, Chick for short, Collier of Houston, Texas.

The whole idea started when Chick sent a letter illustrated with one of her pin ups to her brother, Sergeant Donnie Collier, now overseas.

The news spread from camp to camp and finally reached the front lines.

Then the obliging Chick had to really get busy with her correspondence.

Not all of Miss Collier's letters from servicemen contained requests for pin ups.

A great many of them are thank you notes or requests for personal advice.

Many of Chick's cuties are portrait sized, but most of them adorn envelopes and note paper.

In any case, they're just what our soldiers and sailors whistle for.

And, yes, she never had an art lesson.

Even Sad Sack would cheer up at the sight of this pin up.

And what's more, Miss Collier pays for her own materials and posters.

She says, the pleasure is all hers.

Identifier

F.2012-03-0038

Date Of Production

1945

Abstract

The film explores examples of artists and collectors through a series of five vignettes.

Description

The film’s beginning segment tours a cottage in Kent, New York belonging to comedian Chic Johnson (of Olsen and Johnson) and Mrs. Johnson, as well as the adjoining Winter Garden Farm named after the Broadway theater.

H.G. Fields of Philadelphia shows off a shoe collection boasting more than 400 examples of “ill-fitting footwear” including designs made from silver, pewter, wood, and majolica.

Mrs. Mildred Canon of Eldred, Florida displays a multitude of seashells which she methodically fashions into novel figurines and toys. She reportedly knows the names of over 100 kinds of shells that she forges into her creations.

H.H. Zietz, proprietor of the Buckhorn Exchange Steakhouse in Denver, Colorado, is known as the last surviving member of Buffalo Bill’s band of scouts. His taxidermy and gun collections total half a million dollars in insurance.

The concluding segment presents Ms. Hazel “Chick” Collier of Houston, Texas who handcrafts pin-ups that she supplies to GI troops. Through return correspondence, she has also amassed a collection of thank-you notes and requests for personal advice.

Run Time

0:09:48

Format

16mm

Extent

300 feet

Color

B&W

Sound

Optical

Reel/Tape Number

1/1

Has Been Digitized?

Yes

Language Of Materials

English

Element

Print

Genre

Biography
Documentary

Form

Short

Subject

Art
Processes and techniques
Decorations
Design
Creativity

Related Collections

SERIES II: Collected Films

Related Places

North America ➜ United States ➜ Pennsylvania ➜ Philadelphia

North America ➜ United States ➜ New York

North America ➜ United States ➜ Florida

North America ➜ United States ➜ Colorado

North America ➜ United States ➜ Texas

Additional Credits

Sweeney, James (is editor)

Shaindlin, Jack (music)

Kelly, Frank (is writer)

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