I watched the hour-long Vitaphone Shorts on Turner Classic Movies last night which showed a cast of vaudevillian talent shot in 1928. It's sort of ironic that the emergence of "talkies" would help lead to the demise of Vaudeville as a form of entertainment. It was almost like the film maker has the foresight to get these type of acts on film before they completely disappeared. Vaudeville was still strong during the silent era I suppose because it was inexpensive, live, and - unlike silent films - you could hear the performers. Once talkies entered, people could at least get two out of three for their money. Of the several shorts shown on the program, "Shaw and Lee, the Beau Brummels" stood out the most. I'm not sure if it was their deadpan delivery, or their hilarious faces. It wasn't because of their jokes and one-liners, which are so awful they will make you groan. Then again, I found myself laughing at some parts of their performance. I realized that THIS is an example of what people went to see for comedy entertainment at the beginning of the last century. I have a feeling that the film short, while interesting, doesn't come close to conveying what it must have been like to seeing these guys live during a time before television and the entry of the cynical and too often profane humor we see today. Shaw and Lee were probably a lot funnier as a comedy duo on a stage in front of a packed house instead of in front of a camera, but I am still glad I watched this.