Ben Blake Productions
Ben K. Blake started his association with Columbia Pictures in 1935 as a New York based producer and director of the independently produced series VOICE OF EXPERIENCE. This lead to several other series entries (FILM VODVIL, COMMUNITY SING, CANDID MICROPHONE etc) all of which are documented on this site. However, Blake also produced and directed a number of titles consisting of both one and two-reel musical comedies and documentaries that fall under the series titles BROADWAY FOLLIES and BEN BLAKE SPECIALS. Since many of the titles below are similar in nature, we have decided, for easier browsing, to lump them together under the heading BEN K BLAKE PRODUCTIONS. What follows is NOT a complete listing of Blake's Columbia credits. You will find Blake's name as director on several other series pages on this site. You will also see the name George Blake pop up from time-to-time. George was the son of Ben, and he followed in his father's footsteps to helm some productions as well.
We are currently seeking out further production information on these titles, as most are currently unavailable for reappraisal.
PLEASE NOTE: Available titles will be in ITALICS and UNDERLINED
If a title is not in ITALICS and UNDERLINED....I do not have it in my collection.
BROADWAY FOLLIES: ROOFTOP FROLICS (1937) D: Ben K Blake. Kirk Alyn. Occupants of two contrasting rooftops merge to put on a musical show. Representing the tenement roofers are singer Peg La Centra, child accordian player Gina Valenti and the dance team of Selden and Endler, while the swanky apartment building crowd is Al Cooper and his swing band and the high-hat tap dancers, The Debonaires.
BROADWAY FOLLIES: BROKER'S FOLLIES (1937) D: Ben K Blake. Martha Tilton, Roy Campbell and His Royalists, Lewis & Van, The Loria Brothers. A brokerage office is the setting for this short that showcases talent acts that are brought in to pep up the grieved customers.
BROADWAY FOLLIES: TIMBERLAND REVELS (11/15/1937) D: Ben K. Blake. Sid Gary, Val Irving, Neta Carlyle and The Campbell Hussars. This entry in Columbia's "Broadway Follies" gets as far off Broadway as the stock footage will allow, which is in a radio studio-set just off Broadway. Sid Gary sings, Val Irving makes funny, and Neta Carlyle dances, while some Hussars make like lumberjacks. Songs include "I'm Tired Of All The Songs About The South" and "On A Little Ranch With You". Billed as AN ALL-AMERICAN MUSICAL NOVELTY with the tagline "...a radio baritone...a comic...a dancer...and a swingtime idea about Northwest axe-swingers!" (From the original movie poster). Box Office Magazine reviews had this to say: "There isn't much of a chance with this clicking with audiences".
BROADWAY FOLLIES: CUCKOORANCHO (3/25/38) D. Ben K. Blake. Joe Besser. Joe is a wanderer who gets mistaken for an American millionaire by the impoverished owner of a hacienda.
DRUGSTORE FOLLIES (1938) D: Ben K Blake. Texas Jim Lewis, Roscoe Ates, George Moore, Texas Jim Lewis & The Lone Star Cowboys, The Leslies, Carolyn Marsh.Texas Jim and his band perform on a drug store set (hence the title), and includes comic bits by stuttering Roscoe Ates (who enters the drugstore in search of a cure for his lumbago), juggler George Moore, singer Carolyn Marsh (singing "Stardust) and The Leslies, a dancing trio. Box Office Magazine reviewed the short as fair entertainment which starts off promising but ends up the same old way. Billed as a Columbia Variety Favorite. Production number 3952.
The following are all billed as BEN BLAKE SPECIALS
TAKE IT OF LEAVE IT (11/22/1940) D: Ben K. Blake
TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT #2 (11/29/1940) D: Ben K. Blake
TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT #3 (12/23/1940) D: Ben K. Blake
TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT #4 (5/1/1941) D: Ben K. Blake
TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT #5 (7/21/1941) D: Ben K. Blake
LOVE IN GLOOM (8/15/1941) D. Ben K. Blake. Henny Youngman, Al Shean, The Radio Rogues, Elaine Arden, Caryl Gould. Henny Youngman, Efficiency Expert (good role for a one-liner specialist), takes over the "Meet A Mate" agency and immediately begins to revamp the operations in order to increase business. Comedy and music bits contributed by Al Shean and the Radio Rogues. Jules White is often (mistakenly) credited as director of this short.
YOO HOO GENERAL (3/12/1942) D: Ben K. Blake. Billy Vine
MY WIFE'S AN ANGEL (6/11/1943) D: Ben K. Blake. Allen Jenkins, Arthur Horan, Katherine Givney, Jerry Cooper, The Delta Rhythm Boys, The Carters, Rolfe Sedan. 23 minute Musical comedy short produced in New York. TRIVIA: This title is one of only a few non-Jules White/Hugh McCollum produced Columbia two-reelers that was included in the original Screen Gem's 1959 HILARIOUS HUNDRED television package.
VINE, WOMEN, AND SONG (1946) D. Ben K. Blake. Billy Vine and Nan Wynn
KEHOE'S MARIMBA BAND (9/2/1944) D: Ben K. Blake. Blake went out his way to ensure that vaudeville wouldn't die, and his series of film shorts virtually guaranteed it would. This one features Reg Kehoe and his All-Girl Marimba Band, the three dancing Winters Sisters, and The Modernaires. Oh, almost forgot that Andy and Florence Mayo got into their two-piece costume and kept the career of Pansy the Dancing Horse alive.
DESIGNS FOR LOVING (11/3/1944) D: Ben K. Blake
FILM NOVELTY: AREN'T WE ALL? (11/27/1947) D: George Blake.
Colonel Lemuel Q. Stoopnagel (F. Chase Taylor) recounts and enacts the human foibles of people when they go out to dine. These include the chair-hopper who can never get comfortable; the diner who can't choose, or stay with his choice from the menu; and the female ash-tray emptier.
A VOICE IS BORN: THE STORY OF NIKLOS GAFNI (12/26/1947) D: George Blake.This short tells the story of the Hungarian tenor, Miklos Gafni, who learned to sing while being confined in a Nazi slave-labor/concentration camp during World War II, and who had just made a successful New York City concert-hall debut. Mr. Gafni sings "The Return to Sorrento," "Vesti la Guiba," and an Hungarian love song. Nominated for an Academy Award
AMERICAN HERITAGE OF HOSPITALITY (12/9/1949) D: Ben K. Blake. Written by Gerry Kirk. Narration by Joan Martin. The different regional dishes and cuisines of the United States are featured, along with the contributions that foreign-born citizens have made. (Technicolor)
Vine, Women And Song ([Blake Prod.]- Ben K. Blake) bw-(2R)-(M: Ben Blake Special)-Sep 6, 1945
We are currently seeking out further production information on these titles, as most are currently unavailable for reappraisal.
PLEASE NOTE: Available titles will be in ITALICS and UNDERLINED
If a title is not in ITALICS and UNDERLINED....I do not have it in my collection.
BROADWAY FOLLIES: ROOFTOP FROLICS (1937) D: Ben K Blake. Kirk Alyn. Occupants of two contrasting rooftops merge to put on a musical show. Representing the tenement roofers are singer Peg La Centra, child accordian player Gina Valenti and the dance team of Selden and Endler, while the swanky apartment building crowd is Al Cooper and his swing band and the high-hat tap dancers, The Debonaires.
BROADWAY FOLLIES: BROKER'S FOLLIES (1937) D: Ben K Blake. Martha Tilton, Roy Campbell and His Royalists, Lewis & Van, The Loria Brothers. A brokerage office is the setting for this short that showcases talent acts that are brought in to pep up the grieved customers.
BROADWAY FOLLIES: TIMBERLAND REVELS (11/15/1937) D: Ben K. Blake. Sid Gary, Val Irving, Neta Carlyle and The Campbell Hussars. This entry in Columbia's "Broadway Follies" gets as far off Broadway as the stock footage will allow, which is in a radio studio-set just off Broadway. Sid Gary sings, Val Irving makes funny, and Neta Carlyle dances, while some Hussars make like lumberjacks. Songs include "I'm Tired Of All The Songs About The South" and "On A Little Ranch With You". Billed as AN ALL-AMERICAN MUSICAL NOVELTY with the tagline "...a radio baritone...a comic...a dancer...and a swingtime idea about Northwest axe-swingers!" (From the original movie poster). Box Office Magazine reviews had this to say: "There isn't much of a chance with this clicking with audiences".
BROADWAY FOLLIES: CUCKOORANCHO (3/25/38) D. Ben K. Blake. Joe Besser. Joe is a wanderer who gets mistaken for an American millionaire by the impoverished owner of a hacienda.
DRUGSTORE FOLLIES (1938) D: Ben K Blake. Texas Jim Lewis, Roscoe Ates, George Moore, Texas Jim Lewis & The Lone Star Cowboys, The Leslies, Carolyn Marsh.Texas Jim and his band perform on a drug store set (hence the title), and includes comic bits by stuttering Roscoe Ates (who enters the drugstore in search of a cure for his lumbago), juggler George Moore, singer Carolyn Marsh (singing "Stardust) and The Leslies, a dancing trio. Box Office Magazine reviewed the short as fair entertainment which starts off promising but ends up the same old way. Billed as a Columbia Variety Favorite. Production number 3952.
The following are all billed as BEN BLAKE SPECIALS
TAKE IT OF LEAVE IT (11/22/1940) D: Ben K. Blake
TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT #2 (11/29/1940) D: Ben K. Blake
TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT #3 (12/23/1940) D: Ben K. Blake
TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT #4 (5/1/1941) D: Ben K. Blake
TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT #5 (7/21/1941) D: Ben K. Blake
LOVE IN GLOOM (8/15/1941) D. Ben K. Blake. Henny Youngman, Al Shean, The Radio Rogues, Elaine Arden, Caryl Gould. Henny Youngman, Efficiency Expert (good role for a one-liner specialist), takes over the "Meet A Mate" agency and immediately begins to revamp the operations in order to increase business. Comedy and music bits contributed by Al Shean and the Radio Rogues. Jules White is often (mistakenly) credited as director of this short.
YOO HOO GENERAL (3/12/1942) D: Ben K. Blake. Billy Vine
MY WIFE'S AN ANGEL (6/11/1943) D: Ben K. Blake. Allen Jenkins, Arthur Horan, Katherine Givney, Jerry Cooper, The Delta Rhythm Boys, The Carters, Rolfe Sedan. 23 minute Musical comedy short produced in New York. TRIVIA: This title is one of only a few non-Jules White/Hugh McCollum produced Columbia two-reelers that was included in the original Screen Gem's 1959 HILARIOUS HUNDRED television package.
VINE, WOMEN, AND SONG (1946) D. Ben K. Blake. Billy Vine and Nan Wynn
KEHOE'S MARIMBA BAND (9/2/1944) D: Ben K. Blake. Blake went out his way to ensure that vaudeville wouldn't die, and his series of film shorts virtually guaranteed it would. This one features Reg Kehoe and his All-Girl Marimba Band, the three dancing Winters Sisters, and The Modernaires. Oh, almost forgot that Andy and Florence Mayo got into their two-piece costume and kept the career of Pansy the Dancing Horse alive.
DESIGNS FOR LOVING (11/3/1944) D: Ben K. Blake
FILM NOVELTY: AREN'T WE ALL? (11/27/1947) D: George Blake.
Colonel Lemuel Q. Stoopnagel (F. Chase Taylor) recounts and enacts the human foibles of people when they go out to dine. These include the chair-hopper who can never get comfortable; the diner who can't choose, or stay with his choice from the menu; and the female ash-tray emptier.
A VOICE IS BORN: THE STORY OF NIKLOS GAFNI (12/26/1947) D: George Blake.This short tells the story of the Hungarian tenor, Miklos Gafni, who learned to sing while being confined in a Nazi slave-labor/concentration camp during World War II, and who had just made a successful New York City concert-hall debut. Mr. Gafni sings "The Return to Sorrento," "Vesti la Guiba," and an Hungarian love song. Nominated for an Academy Award
AMERICAN HERITAGE OF HOSPITALITY (12/9/1949) D: Ben K. Blake. Written by Gerry Kirk. Narration by Joan Martin. The different regional dishes and cuisines of the United States are featured, along with the contributions that foreign-born citizens have made. (Technicolor)
Vine, Women And Song ([Blake Prod.]- Ben K. Blake) bw-(2R)-(M: Ben Blake Special)-Sep 6, 1945
