Some Pumpkins (1929) User Reviews

Hill Billy Humor

[boblipton · 6/10 · 2 March 2019]

At a hick town's barn dance, a man and a woman flirt. She doesn't know what he is talking about.

It's another of the short subjects that Vitaphone shot, of variety acts. This example of corn-pone humor is way out of date' it seems to have peaked in the late 1930s and early 1940s, when radio shows like LUM & ABNER and movie stars like Judy Canova were popular. The form declined, held on in combination with country music in TV shows like HEE HAW, and is still regionally popular; I speak as a banjo player myself.

Despite its excellence as an example of a formerly popular genre that has declined, I can't award it points for excellence. I don't care for the slow-reaction comedy of the short. You may.

Unfunny and Dated

[Maliejandra · 2/10 · 21 August 2017]

At a barn dance, a couple steps outside to get some air and banters back and forth. The humor is corny and outdated. Sam Summers is an ignorant hick and Estelle Hunt's high-pitched voice and obnoxious jokes are more annoying than charming. They go through a few "fancy steps" which look like a history lesson today but many of which were outdated even when this film was released.

This dud was shown at Capitolfest in 2017.

Cornpone Short

[GManfred · 19 August 2017]

Comedy short that would be a filler between features (remember double features?) with some backwoods humor. Summers and Hunt were like a countrified Burns & Allen, he the straight man and she gets all the laughs. They stand before the camera with the backdrop a square dance in a barn, and they trade banter in rural accents. Some jokes are very dated but still funny, with some double entendre added for good measure. They are dressed in old fashioned farm-type costumes to heighten the comical milieu.

"Some Pumpkins" is their only short. The couple were married in 1914 and were a vaudeville team even before their marriage. It is harmless fun and Ms. Hunt adds an odd sing-song high pitched voice to make the skit even funnier. It was borrowed from the UCLA Film Archives and shown at Capitolfest, Rome, NY, 8/17.