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Clip description
After capturing an escaped chicken, stagehand Joe Blake (George Wallace) becomes an unwitting magician’s assistant, on stage with a frustrated Mysto (Alec Kellaway). Joe tells Mysto a story about his prize bull Stanley, from back home on the farm.
Curator’s notes
'Stanley the bull’ was one of Wallace’s most famous routines, from his vaudeville days. This clip is effectively designed to establish the innocence of his character, Joe Blake, by pairing him with a man who specialises in fakery and trickery. Alec Kellaway’s performance as Mysto has its own rich levels of comic invention, with his whispered stage 'asides’ and his simpering smiles at the audience. As in many of Ken Hall’s films, it’s a clash between country honesty and city sophistication – which is, by definition, dishonesty in a Cinesound film.
