Cantu in Laurel & Hardy short

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Richard Hatch
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Cantu in Laurel & Hardy short

Postby Richard Hatch » October 27th, 2015, 2:23 pm

This clip of Cantu performing in a Spanish language remake of the 1931 Laurel & Hardy short, Chickens Come Home, was posted on youtube recently by Christian de MIEGEVILLE, whose youtube channel has some great magic. I found this clip quite interesting, with gloved card manipulations, a Frakson inspired cigarette sequence, torn and restored newspaper and eggs from hat with the great Ben Turpin as his stooge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIODS_dkYBo
Alas, no dove production for which Cantu became known.

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Re: Cantu in Laurel & Hardy short

Postby Carlo Morpurgo » October 27th, 2015, 2:51 pm

Nice....this must be the only Laurel and Hardy movie I have not seen before. Thanks for posting!
What version of the Torn&Restored newspaper is he performing?
Last edited by Carlo Morpurgo on October 27th, 2015, 10:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Cantu in Laurel & Hardy short

Postby Richard Kaufman » October 27th, 2015, 10:41 pm

I believe that short is covered by copyright: watch it while you can because it might get yanked by the copyright owners.
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Re: Cantu in Laurel & Hardy short

Postby Richard Kaufman » October 27th, 2015, 10:44 pm

Cantu is using Cardini's techniques for the card manipulations at the beginning, years before they were published (the single production appeared in Greater Magic).
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Bill Mullins
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Re: Cantu in Laurel & Hardy short

Postby Bill Mullins » October 27th, 2015, 11:26 pm

I think that the stooge is James Finlayson, not Ben Turpin. Not cross-eyed enough for Turpin. And in addition to Cantu, the film includes footage of Hadji Ali, a regurgitator/water-spewer.

The entire 55 minute film ("Politiquerias") is online at the Internet Archive. The sequence with the regurgitator starts at 28:45 or so.

Here is some background on Spanish versions of early American talkies, including this one. It's worth seeking out the Spanish version of the Tod Browning/Bela Lugosi version of Dracula.

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Re: Cantu in Laurel & Hardy short

Postby Richard Hatch » October 28th, 2015, 12:26 am

Bill, thanks for the correction on Finlayson rather than Turpin!

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Cantu in Laurel & Hardy short

Postby Richard Kaufman » October 28th, 2015, 10:42 am

All of the Spanish-language versions of the Laurel and Hardy shorts were released on DVD at least 10 years ago. L&H spoke no Spanish, and learned their lines phonetically. James Finlayson was one of their most frequent foils, along with Billy Gilbert (most famously in The Piano).
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Brad Ball
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Re: Cantu in Laurel & Hardy short

Postby Brad Ball » October 28th, 2015, 1:38 pm

Thanks for the post it was fun to see. Certainly a Cardini influence as 1931 was a popular year in his career, the unknotting silk looked very much like the one Dick used too.

Wasn't there another Laurel and Hardy film where they performed some magic other than "A Haunting We Will Go", a Canteen of 19__?

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Chas Nigh
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Re: Cantu in Laurel & Hardy short

Postby Chas Nigh » October 31st, 2015, 3:46 am

Carazini's inspiration?

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Re: Cantu in Laurel & Hardy short

Postby Richard Kaufman » October 31st, 2015, 12:24 pm

I'll rescind my previous statement: it appears the copyright holders don't care because there's a ton of L&H on YouTube, with plenty taken right off the restored DVDs.
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Mag Ferran
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Re: Cantu in Laurel & Hardy short

Postby Mag Ferran » April 13th, 2016, 8:01 am

Cantu and Frakson was very close friends, in fact Frakson helped cantu in his dove production routine. He created the holders for the doves.

All the things Cantu perform came from his friend Frakson. The gloved card manipulation came from his friend Frakson, even more before than Cardini do it. I made an investigation about Frakson because I am writing a book about his magic and his life and I have records that he begun to perform gloved card magic in 1913.

The torn and restored newspaper is Frakson version, but without the piece that fall onto the floor. And the final stuff is something that Frakson did when he performed on Spanish vaudeville théâtre with Franklint.

So, all the things Cantu perfrom came from Frakson, but performed with Cantu style, and adapted to the screen.
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