The Taxi Boys

A movie I recently watched off the DVR from a TCM airing had a good 20 minutes left over, which was more than enough time for a TCM Extra. In this case it was Taxi for Two.

This was one of the Taxi Boys shorts (I'm not certain what month the TCM page is from), which Hal Roach produced in 1932 and 1933. Ben Blue plays Ben, an incompetent taxi driver who screws up a fare's elopement, and when the taxi breaks down and causes a traffic jam, Ben's partner Billy (Billy Gilbert) comes to "help". Of course he only makes matters worse.

I didn't care for the short; everybody was just too manic and the humor was forced and not particularly funny. I think I had vaguely heard of the Taxi Boys but never actually seen any of the shorts, so I'm glad finally to have seen one even if I didn't particularly like it.

Having looked around, I couldn't find whether any of the shorts are on DVD. You'd think they'd be bonus features somewhere, but since they're Hal Roach shorts I don't know how the DVD rights work. You'll have to look for them on TCM, I guess.