Columbia Goes To The Mat

First Of A Comedy Action Series: Glove Slingers (1939)

There were, they say, twelve in this series of boxing shorts, Glove Slingers being a first. Somebody wrote that it's one of the very best comedies Columbia ever made, which makes me despair for others I'm committed to watch. Noah Beery, Jr. is the working stiff with an Irish Ma who becomes a fight champ, sort of a light serving of Body and Soul at seventeen minutes. When feature naïf's like Jim Cagney climbed into rings, there'd be eyes put out with pine rosin and resolve to quit the dirty game, but here it's bloodless knock-outs and Shemp Howard for a manager. Glove Slingers tries less to be funny than to drive a story, Beery more character than comedian and Shemp downsizing comedy to be more of a character. Audiences enjoyed doses of boxing action for its own sake, and Columbia's wasn't the only series that traded on that fascination. Glove Slingers is part of the Three Stooges "Rare Treasures" DVD set, well-named as there are twenty-eight till now unavailable shorts, plus two features and three cartoons.