Earl Montgomery

Poster for Vamps and Variety (1919)

Earl Triplett Montgomery (May 24, 1894 – October 28, 1966) was a film director, writer, and comedian who performed in silent films including as the character Hairbreadth Harry. He established the producing company Earl Montgomery Comedy Company.[1] Joe Rock partnered with him at Vitagraph.[2][3][4]

Montgomery was born in Santa Cruz, California.[5] He was a theater actor.[6] Early in his film career he was a stunt man with American Film Company.[5]

As a comedy team with Joe Rock at Vitagraph Studios he appeared in numerous shorts including Hash and Havoc (1916), Stowaways and Strategy (1917), Farms and Fumbles (1918), Harems and Hookum (1919), Zip and Zest (1919), Vamps and Variety (1919), Rubes and Robbers (1919), Cave and Coquettes (1919), Throbs and Thrills (1920), Loafers and Lovers (1920), and Sauce and Senoritas (1920). In the book Comedy is a Man in Trouble: Slapstick in American Movies by Alan Dale, Joe Rock described the two-reelers he made with Earl Montgomery saying, "We always finished our comedies with a shot of us running away from a cop, a schoolteacher, or a principal, and then running smack into them again. If we'd run away from cops, we'd run back into cops."[7] Montgomery acted with the Vitagraph troupe known as Semon's Sea Lions.[8]

He married Vera Reynolds but they divorced.

  1. ^ "The Glass Worker". Commoner Publishing Company. April 8, 1920 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Louvish, Simon (July 8, 2005). Stan and Ollie: The Roots of Comedy: The Double Life of Laurel and Hardy. Macmillan. ISBN 9780312325985 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ Slide, Anthony (January 1, 1987). The Big V: A History of the Vitagraph Company. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810820302 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ "Motography". April 8, 1918 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ a b Massa, Steve (April 8, 2013). "Lame Brains and Lunatics". BearManor Media – via Google Books.
  6. ^ "Motion Picture Studio Directory and Trade Annual. ..." Motion Picture News, Incorporated. April 13, 1921 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ Dale, Alan S. (April 8, 2000). Comedy Is a Man in Trouble: Slapstick in American Movies. U of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9781452904986 – via Google Books.
  8. ^ Sassen, Claudia (October 27, 2015). Larry Semon, Daredevil Comedian of the Silent Screen: A Biography and Filmography. McFarland. ISBN 9781476620275 – via Google Books.