Snub Pollard’s bowler and moustache might not be as iconic as Chaplin’s or Oliver Hardy’s, but he’s still a sort of silent comedy totem. That worried little face with the upside-down Kaiser Wilhelm ‘tache is shorthand for a whole genre of delightfully deranged, gag-happy comedies from the early 20s. IT’S A GIFT is an acknowledged classic of surreal gadget comedies, but it’s far from the only great Snub film. He was a busy man, turning out dozens of terrific one and two-reelers for Hal Roach in the early 1920s. Gag-for-gag, these are among the funniest silent comedy shorts, but there’s never been a proper, high-quality collection of his films. Until Now.

Dave Glass’s latest Kickstarter will hopefully change that. It aims to shine a light on our boy Snub, in a packed BluRay collection of some of his best – and rarest – films. A mammoth TWENTY SIX of them, in fact! As well as private collections, many of these come from archivists such as Serge Bromberg, EYE, and The Library of Congress, and they’ll all be restored and scored by some of the finest silent film accompanists around. This is simply an unmissable Kickstarter, and will hopefully give Snub the due he deserves. To take a peek at the riches that will be featured, take a look at Dave’s great little promo video:

As always, when one tugs at a strand in the tangled silent comedy web, one finds it is attached to many others: Charley Chase directed several of these films, James Finlayson shows up in a few, and there’s even a couple of long-unseen Harold Lloyd films included, with Snub as his sidekick. So, this isn’t just for diehard Snub fans, by any means. If you enjoy gagged up silent comedy on any level, you’ll find something to enjoy here. Make sure you don’t miss out: the Kickstarter runs until September 15th. here’s the link. Go go go! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/reelcomedy/snub-pollard-silent-comedian/creator

By the way, if you want more info about Snub, there’s a detailed article about him in issue 13 of THE LOST LAUGH magazine. You can download that for free here: The Lost Laugh magazine.