The Fuller Gush Man (1934) User Reviews

Bust A Gush

[boblipton · 7/10 · 20 September 2023]

Walter Catlett tells his girl he wants to ask her father for permission to marry her, so she calls home to tell them to say no. When Catlett shows up, they act crazy.

It's the funny creation of Al Boasberg, a vaudevillian and comedy writer, who had teamed up with Jack Benny early on. He specialized, as can be seen here, in absurdity, with practiced performers, including Lew Kelly, Zeffie Tillbury, and Vivien Oakland uttering such insane tosh that it's hard to imagine anyone keeping a straight face.

Boasberg wrote and directed this, and also continued writing, including uncredited gigs on Marx Brothers movies. He died at the age of 45, the day after he wrote Eddie Anderson's introduction to the Jack Benny show as Rochester.

One joke...and it's spread awfully thin.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 27 November 2023]

The beginning of this short is unusual because the star of the show (Walter Catlett) introduces himself, the other actors as well as the crew.

Walter asks a woman to marry him. However, after telling him to go to ask her father for permission, she phones home and tells her family that under no circumstances tell Walter it's okay to marry her. Instead of just doing this, the entire family acts insane and confuse Walter until he finally gives up and leaves.

The short didn't work for me because it was a one-joke comedy and that one joke wore very thin very quickly. Not a terrible short....but not a very good one either due to the writing, though the actors try their best with the material they were given.

A hilarious short

[Paularoc · 9/10 · 2 April 2013]

To begin the short, Walter Catlett introduces not only the actors but the crew and then says of the crew: "They could all be actors but they prefer steady work." Walter Catlett plays the blustering Harry Judson who asks his girlfriend if it would be okay if he asked her father for her hand in marriage. She says okay and as soon as he leaves, she phones her dad and tells him to under no circumstances say yes when Judson asks his permission to marry her. The entire family then plays the role of batty relatives for Judson's benefit. The dad, mom, grandmother and other relatives are all wacky much to Hudson's consternation. At one point the mother receives a telegram from Aunt Rosa. Hudson notes that the envelop is empty. The mother replies: "My Aunt Rosa and I aren't speaking." There are a number of what are probably old vaudeville jokes including my favorite: All flies are blind - they left their specs on the window. Walter Catlett was great in this short.