The Glenroy Brothers perform a portion of their vaudeville act, "The Comic View of Boxing: The Tramp & the Athlete".The Glenroy Brothers perform a portion of their vaudeville act, "The Comic View of Boxing: The Tramp & the Athlete".The Glenroy Brothers perform a portion of their vaudeville act, "The Comic View of Boxing: The Tramp & the Athlete".
Storyline
Did you know
- ConnectionsFeatured in Edison: The Invention of the Movies (2005)
Featured review
Pretty Good Comedy, Especially For Its Time
The Glenroy Brothers' comic boxing routine works quite a bit better on the silent screen than most of the other vaudeville acts of the era did. Many popular stage acts of the 1890s appeared in early movies, and all are of interest historically, but this is one of the few that works well in its own right. On the stage, there were probably sound effects and/or dialogue that made it even better, but even just the visual portion is entertaining and is still worth seeing, even though only brief footage of it survives.
Their act is called 'The Tramp & the Athlete'. One brother dresses in all-white clothing, as 'the Athlete', and tries to fight in a classic boxing style. The other brother dresses in shabby dark clothing as 'The Tramp'. He performs cartwheels, twirls around, and generally makes himself completely unpredictable. It has some funny moments, and on a very rudimentary level it reminds you of the kinds of comic boxing routines that Chaplin and Arbuckle performed years later.
There is unfortunately a lot of confusion about the Glenroy Brothers' movies, because a number of films of genuine boxing matches from the same era have at times been erroneously titled by modern compilers or exhibitors as Glenroy Brothers movies. The only genuine Glenroy Brothers feature that appears to be readily available today is this second one, and this (or any other genuine Glenroy Brothers movie) is actually fairly easy to recognize, because it is impossible to mistake it for a real boxing match, due to the Tramp's antics.
In one of Kino's otherwise excellent compilations of early films, they included the movie "The Hornbacker-Murphy Fight" (1894), and erroneously titled it as "Glenroy Brothers (Comic Boxing)". The other review that is posted here to this title (at least as of the time of this writing) thus actually describes this other movie, not the Glenroy Brothers, who are much more entertaining. Many other sources, especially on the internet, also have this same misidentification, undoubtedly based on the same original mistake in the video collection.
This genuine Glenroy Brothers movie, titled "No. 2", is now included in a newer Kino DVD collection of Edison movies, which was compiled with the assistance of film historian Charles Musser, an expert on Edison films. The newer collection also includes the Hornbacker-Murphy footage under its correct title, which should help to clear up some of the confusion. The Glenroy Brothers were in some respects just a typical vaudeville act of the era, but they had some good comic skills, and they deserve to be given proper credit for their work.
Their act is called 'The Tramp & the Athlete'. One brother dresses in all-white clothing, as 'the Athlete', and tries to fight in a classic boxing style. The other brother dresses in shabby dark clothing as 'The Tramp'. He performs cartwheels, twirls around, and generally makes himself completely unpredictable. It has some funny moments, and on a very rudimentary level it reminds you of the kinds of comic boxing routines that Chaplin and Arbuckle performed years later.
There is unfortunately a lot of confusion about the Glenroy Brothers' movies, because a number of films of genuine boxing matches from the same era have at times been erroneously titled by modern compilers or exhibitors as Glenroy Brothers movies. The only genuine Glenroy Brothers feature that appears to be readily available today is this second one, and this (or any other genuine Glenroy Brothers movie) is actually fairly easy to recognize, because it is impossible to mistake it for a real boxing match, due to the Tramp's antics.
In one of Kino's otherwise excellent compilations of early films, they included the movie "The Hornbacker-Murphy Fight" (1894), and erroneously titled it as "Glenroy Brothers (Comic Boxing)". The other review that is posted here to this title (at least as of the time of this writing) thus actually describes this other movie, not the Glenroy Brothers, who are much more entertaining. Many other sources, especially on the internet, also have this same misidentification, undoubtedly based on the same original mistake in the video collection.
This genuine Glenroy Brothers movie, titled "No. 2", is now included in a newer Kino DVD collection of Edison movies, which was compiled with the assistance of film historian Charles Musser, an expert on Edison films. The newer collection also includes the Hornbacker-Murphy footage under its correct title, which should help to clear up some of the confusion. The Glenroy Brothers were in some respects just a typical vaudeville act of the era, but they had some good comic skills, and they deserve to be given proper credit for their work.
helpful•50
- Snow Leopard
- Nov 29, 2005
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Glenroy Brothers, No. 2
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 minute
- Color
- Sound mix
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content