Who are these two schlamiels anyway?
It’s amazing how much a film buff can learn when watching old movies on TV. Thank heaven for Turner Classic Movies, one of the cable channels which runs not just classics, but old movies of every stripe.
A few weeks ago we caught up with a 1944 film called Seven Days Ashore. It’s a programmer from RKO, featuring Dooley Wilson (of Casablanca fame) and Virginia Mayo (one of the sexiest film fatales ever) and stars the comedy team of Brown and Carney.
Who, you ask?
Wally Brown (pictured above right) and Alan Carney! RKO’s answer to Abbott and Costello. But unlike Bud and Lou, Brown and Carney are almost totally forgotten today. In fact, until now Frank had never heard of either one. (Neither did he recognize the name of Freddie Slack and the Orchestra, also appearing in Seven Days Ashore. Who is Freddie Slack?)
At any rate, it’s no wonder. Carney and Brown weren’t very good as a comedy team and their material was even worse — not exactly stuff for the ages. Here’s a sample. Carney to Brown: There’s certainly a lot of stupid people in this world. Brown to Carney: You can say that again! Carney to Brown: There’s certainly a lot of stupid people in this world.
Each man had had a solo career and was fairly successful. Brooklyn-born Carney (ne David Boughai) performed for years in vaudeville specializing in comic dialects. Late in his career he appeared in a number of pictures including 1963’s It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and 1961’s The Absent-Minded Professor.
Brown came from rural Massachusetts, and was the more “actorly” of the two. His credits include Alfred Hitchcock’s superb 1946’s thriller Notorious starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. He and Carney were teamed for roughly three years in the mid-Forties, but they just had no chemistry together.
What was RKO — a studio we otherwise love — thinking???
(Hint: by 1942, Abbott and Costello at rival Universal were Hollywood’s No. 1 box office attraction.) Well, then, as now, film execs saw a successful idea and thought they could duplicate it. 
Not so fast.
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello (above) had been in burlesque together, in vaudeville AND had been big stars on radio before they entered the movies. They had had years to perfect their routines and timing.
In fact being on radio even provided them with one of their signature trademarks, Costello’s squeaky, high pitched voice. (Their voices were too similar over the airwaves so he decided to change his.)
They remain American comedy immortals.
Their hilarious Who’s On First? routine, introduced in vaudeville in the late Thirties, lives on and is still celebrated at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. Who’s On First? is well worth a look on the internet. Laughs guaranteed.
ZOMBIES ON BROADWAY is probably their best or second best Film, which really isn’t saying much!
In my opinion, these guys don’t even look funny! RKO really missed the mark with this “alleged” comedy duo! Abbott & Costello were far better (obviously!), and Laurel & Hardy, better than that!
CHEERS!
ZOMBIES ON BROADWAY was probably their best Film, which isn’t really saying very much! On the plus side, this entry did feature Bela Lugosi and future Television giant, Sheldon Leonard, and was also directed by sometime Hal Roach Studios Director Gordon Douglas (‘Our Gang’ Comedies; Laurel & Hardy’s Roach Swansong, SAPS AT SEA.).
The main problem, as addressed in the above article, was of course the complete lack of chemistry between Wally Brown & Alan Carney (Who doesn’t even look at all photogenic to my eyes!), which I agree with! In my opinion, it’s too bad that Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy didn’t sign with RKO instead of 20th Century Fox, as Brown & Carney’s services then might not have been required, and Stan & Ollie’s early to mid 1940’s output may also have fared better, though even the worst of those were still several times better than Brown & Carney’s best!
Interestingly, according to IMDB.com, Alan Carney & Wally Brown both appeared in the 1961 Disney Feature THE ABSENT-MINDED PROFESSOR and in IT’S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD (Though Wally had died nearly 2 years before the latter Film was released!), both of these being many years after the end of their (mercifully) brief teaming!
CHEERS!