So You Want to Play the Piano (1956) User Reviews

The Things We Do For Love Of Comedy

[boblipton · 7/10 · 11 July 2020]

Phyllis Coates is spending all of her time at the new neighbor's house. He's a concert pianist, and George I'Hanlon isn't getting his meals ormarital attention. So he tries to learn to play the piano.... and discovers that everyone else, from moving men to cleaning lady can make the keys shimmy like your sister Kate.

It's a typically absurd and funny episode in the long-running series for Warner Brothers..There were 65 short comedies beginning with SO YOU WANT TO GIVE UP SMOKING in 1942, and ending with SO YOUR WIFE WANTS TO WORK in 1956..... plus reteamings between Bare and O'Hanlon in television. I guess so they wanted to keep on working.

McDoakesius Penultimatus (scientific name)

[redryan64 · 8/10 · 12 January 2012]

SURELY BY THE time of this short's release in May of 1956, the McDOAKES creative team of Writer/Director Richard L. Bare and Writer/Star George O'Hanlon were well aware that the end of the line was near. Soon, whenever a audience would prepare for a good 10 minutes of laughter with the sight of Joe emerging from behind the "Old Eight Ball";that it would be a re-run.

THAT THIS MOST unpretentious of Comedy Shorts Series had lasted as it did was truly remarkable and a tribute to the Bare/O'Hanlon team. While the series was never a critically acclaimed body of work, It was well received. Much like a couple of other short subject laugh makers, namely LAUREL & HARDY and The 3 STOOGES, the McDOAKES Series had real staying power. as it has been said before (by Drama Critic, Walter Kerr, we believe), ...... "No one liked them except the Public!"

IN TODAY'S SUBJECT title, "SO YOU WANT TO PLAY THE PIANO", we have no indication that there is any cutting back of the already rather Spartan budget; nor was there any indication that certain shortcuts were taken as far as the preparation and subsequent staging of any of the gags that would comprise the next to last 10 celluloid minutes of what was the screen life of Joe McDoakes.

IN ESSENCE, WHAT was and had been done during the entire run of JOE McDOAKES was no different than that of an animated cartoon. Hence, once a subject matter had been chosen, all that was needed was to give the protagonist a series of about a half-dozen gag situations; as well as some proper and obvious antagonists. Start the action and give it a finish which will provide the movie going public with one more good belly laugh before the feature film comes on.

HAVING THE LUXURY that we have today of being able to screen any or all of the series gives us a great advantage in both dissecting the evolutionary process of series characterizations; as well as being able to find otherwise insignificant clues, which could tip us off about just when a series will have run its course.* Oddly enough, we found no such evidence in this shirt, nor the next or any episodes that were made around that last year of the run.

SO WE WERE witness to the rapidly approaching last days of the McDOAKES phenomena. It was a happy ending to what we consider our favourite comedy series. As a tribute to George O'Hanlon's bumbling everyman, the short had its usual fine supporting cast. This time it consisted of Phyllis Coates (Alice McDoakes), Ralph J. Sandford,Jess Kilpatrick, Syd Tomack double-Frank J. Scannell and Hal Roach Studios' veteran, Charlie Hall. It was the diminutive Mr.Hall who had performed so many times in distinguished support of Laurel & Hardy, Our Gang, Charley Chase, Thelma Todd-Patsy Kelly-Zasu Pitts, etc., etc.,etc.

AS FOR THE team of Bare and O'Hanlon, they both went on to bigger things. Richard Bare went into Warner Brothers Production and George O'Hanlon became known for his roles as Calvin Dudley on THE LIFE OF RILEY, the voice of George Jetson on THE JETSONS as well as many supporting parts on TV and the movies.

NOTE: * As a good example of this degenerative process, just look at some of the earliest episodes of "BATMAN" TV Series(Greenway Prod./20th Century-Fox/ABC TV,1966-68) and contrast them to the next season and the final season. It will reveal how cut backs in on screen processes and a more loose management of the writing will create downward trends that only add to problems and hasten the finale.

Did the director simply not care??!!

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 21 February 2018]

Alice loves it when men play the piano. Unfortunately, when Joe buys one, he finds it's not nearly as easy as everyone else makes it out to be.

This is the second to last of the Joe McDoakes shorts. Considering how many they'd made, when you compare this to earlier ones it sure looks as if the director (Richard Bare) and writer (George O'Hanlon) didn't care any more. This is because in the piano playing sequences, it's VERY obvious some of the folks playing aren't playing at all...as their fingers aren't even touching the keys and the viewer can clearly see this. As for the writing, this one wasn't funny...and little attempt was made to make this as funny as the previous shorts. A real shame but fortunately, the next (and last) is significantly better.

Not Too Many Laughs

[Michael_Elliott · 11 February 2011]

So You Want to Play the Piano (1956)

** (out of 4)

Joe (George O'Hanlon) comes home from work one day and notices that Alice hasn't cooked him dinner or cleaned up the house. It turns out she's been over to the neighbors house who just happens to be a famous piano player. The jealous Joe decides to buy a piano and teach his wife a lesson. This was the next to last entry in the Joe McDoakes series and unfortunately it's not one of the better entries. There are a couple decent moments but overall the film is burdened with a rather weak screenplay that doesn't offer us anything fresh or original. The movie pretty much goes through the motions as our hero Joe makes an idiot out of himself and tries to become some great piano player but he makes one mistake after another. There's even a sequence where just about everyone who walks into the house jumps on the piano and does better than Joe even though he's been practicing for weeks. O'Hanlon certainly has the energy for the role but you can still tell that he apparently knew things were coming to an end. Phyllis Coates is back as Alice and it was good to see her back but the screenplay doesn't give her that much to do. The 9-minute running time is a tad bit slow and that's not a good thing so this one here is certainly for fans only.