Educational Pictures

Educational Pictures, also known as Educational Film Exchanges, Inc. or Educational Films Corporation of America, was an American film production and film distribution company founded in 1916 by Earle (E. W.) Hammons (1882–1962). Educational primarily distributed short subjects; it is best known for its series of comedies starring Buster Keaton and the earliest screen appearances of Shirley Temple (1932–34). The company ceased production in 1938, and finally closed in 1940 when its film library was sold at auction.

Hammons established the company to make instructional films for schools, but making comedies for theatrical release proved more lucrative. Educational did issue many educational, travelogue, and novelty shorts, but its main enterprise became comedy. Educational's heyday was the 1920s, when the popular silent comedies of Al St. John, Lupino Lane, Lige Conley, Lloyd Hamilton, and Monty Collins complemented many a moviehouse bill as "the spice of the program." During the 1920s, most of the comedies were produced by Jack White. In 1924 Educational quietly hired two leading figures in the comedy community who had been disgraced in a scandal: comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle (who became a director at Educational under the pseudonym William Goodrich) and director Fred Fishback (under the pseudonym Fred Hibbard).

Educational also released silent cartoons, including the Felix the Cat series. In 1930, cartoonist Paul Terry signed with Educational to distribute his Terrytoons animated cartoons in America and British countries.

Educational made a smooth transition to sound movies by handling the early talking comedies of pioneer producer Mack Sennett. Sennett also introduced singing star Bing Crosby to movie audiences. Most of Educational's silent stars made only a few talkies for the studio: Lupino Lane left the company in December 1929, followed by Lloyd Hamilton and Al St. John in 1931. Most of the earliest Educational talkies feature silent-comedy veterans with stage experience: Vernon Dent, Harry Gribbon, Raymond McKee, Edward Everett Horton, Daphne Pollard, and Ford Sterling. Educational's most prolific comedian in the 1930s was the Sennett star Andy Clyde, who made 54 comedies.

Sennett's releasing arrangement with Educational drew to a close in 1932. Jack White, who had been Educational's leading producer, explained, "We put Mack Sennett out of business. Theaters had [our] comedies booked solid. Sennett was very temperamental and wanted the exhibitor to do certain things, but they wouldn't stand for it. Sennett wouldn't stand for Hammons not telling him how much [money] he was cutting out of the grosses for himself. Sennett told him to go to hell."

Earle Hammons replaced the Sennett films with star-name comedians. Educational took over the Andy Clyde series; Clyde and Harry Langdon led Educational's release schedule for a few years.

Buster Keaton, despite a successful feature-film career, had experienced personal problems and was fired from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1933. He accepted offers to make two films in Europe, in 1934. Meanwhile, Educational's headline comedians Andy Clyde and Harry Langdon both left the company to join the new two-reel-comedy department at Columbia Pictures, and Hammons needed a comedy star to replace them. He hired Buster Keaton for two-reel comedies but, given Keaton's track record of unreliability at MGM, he wouldn't sign Keaton to a long-term contract. Instead, Hammons signed Keaton for only two shorts, with an option for four more. When the shorts proved popular, Hammons renewed each short-term option. Keaton ultimately made 16 shorts for Educational.

Most of the Keaton Educationals are simple visual comedies, with many of the gags supplied by Keaton himself, often recycling ideas from his family vaudeville act and his earlier films. The high point in this series is Grand Slam Opera (1936), featuring Buster in his own screenplay as an amateur-hour contestant.