Editing Lambchops (film)

{{short description|1929 film}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Lambchops
| image          = Lambchops - Mar 1928 Variety.jpg
| image_upright  = 0.6
| caption        = 1928 advertisement for the vaudeville routine
| director       = Murray Roth (uncredited)
| producer       =
| writer         = [[Al Boasberg]] (uncredited)<br>[[George Burns]] (uncredited)
| narrator       =
| starring       = [[Burns & Allen]]
| music          =
| cinematography =
| editing        =
| studio         = [[Vitaphone Varieties]] #891<br>Presented by [[Vitaphone]]<br>A subsidiary of [[Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc]]
| distributor    = [[Warner Brothers]]
| released       = {{Film date|1929|10}}
| runtime        = 8 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         =
| gross          =
}}

'''''Lambchops''''' is an 8-minute American comedy [[Vitaphone]] [[short subject]] released in October 1929, which depicts a [[vaudeville]] performance by [[Burns and Allen]] of the comedy routine "Lambchops" written by [[Al Boasberg]]. The work's copyright was renewed in 1957, and it entered the American public domain on January 1, 2025.{{Efn|1=Under [https://archive.org/details/catalogofcopyrig3111213li/page/110/mode/1up?view=theater&q=lambchops R196869]}}

==Plot==
{{no plot|date= December 2023}}
[[File:Lambchops (1929).webm|thumb|''Lambchops'' (1929)]]

==Cast==
* [[George Burns]] as George the Boyfriend (as Burns)
* [[Gracie Allen]] as Gracie the Girlfriend (as Allen)

==Production==
The night that they arrived in [[New York City|New York]] after their first tour of [[England]] with their vaudeville routines, [[George Burns]] and [[Gracie Allen]] attended a party where they were approached by their agent Arthur Lyons, who asked if they would be interested in filming a short for [[Warner Brothers]] the following morning.<ref name="burns">{{cite book|last=Burns|first=George |title=I Love Her, That's Why!|publisher=Simon and Schuster.|year=1955|pages=143}}</ref>  Comedian [[Fred Allen]] was slated to film one of his comedy routines but had come down with the flu, leaving the studio in the lurch. Burns was told that the job paid $1,700, so he said yes on the spot. "I'd never heard of $1,700 in my life, especially for nine minutes' work," Burns quipped.<ref name="burns"/>

When they arrived on the set of the Vitaphone studio in Brooklyn the next morning, Burns was shocked to see his childhood buddy [[Murray Roth]], who was directing. Burns did not believe Roth was in [[show business|showbiz]], let alone a film director, so Roth shouted "Lights!" and the set lights come on. "Off!" he shouted, and the stage went black.<ref name="burns" />  This glimpse of the living room set that they'd be shooting on perplexed Burns due to his familiarity with theatre and street performance. His [[toupée]] was still in his luggage, which he had not had time to pick up from the loading dock following their trip.<ref name="burns" />  To explain why he was wearing a hat, he quickly rewrote the comedy duo's "Lambchops" routine to begin with himself and Gracie coming into the room and looking for the audience.

==Reception==
According to George Burns, Warner Bros. was not impressed with the short, which he himself described as, "not the greatest",<ref>{{cite book|last=Burns|first=George |title=I Love Her, That's Why!|publisher=Simon and Schuster.|year=1955|pages=144}}</ref> so they were not asked to shoot any more for the studio. Burns, however was so enamored by the paycheck that he actively sought out more film work and was quickly embraced by [[Paramount Pictures]], with whom Burns and Allen subsequently released a whole series of short subjects.

In 1999 ''Lambchops'' was selected for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|website=Library of Congress|access-date=May 4, 2020}}</ref>

==Home media==
''Lambchops'' was released on [[DVD]] in October 2007, on disc three of a three-disc 80th anniversary edition of ''[[The Jazz Singer]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/16/movies/homevideo/16dvd.html |title=New DVDs: The Jazz Singer  |publisher=[[Dave Kehr|Kehr, Dave]], [[The New York Times]], October 16, 2007 |accessdate=November 17, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.warnerbros.com/studio/news/%E2%80%9C-jazz-singer-80th-anniversary-collector%E2%80%99s-edition%E2%80%9D-dvd-warner-home-video |title='The Jazz Singer 80th Anniversary Collector's Edition' DVD From Warner Home Video |publisher=[[Warner Home Video]], July 9, 2007 |accessdate=November 17, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129020650/http://www.warnerbros.com/studio/news/%E2%80%9C-jazz-singer-80th-anniversary-collector%E2%80%99s-edition%E2%80%9D-dvd-warner-home-video |archive-date=November 29, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* 2007: ''The Jazz Singer'', Three-Disc Deluxe Edition. Burbank, California: [[Warner Home Video]]. {{ISBN|9781419856228}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{notelist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/lambchops.pdf ''Lambchops''] essay by Ron Hutchinson at [[National Film Registry]]
* [https://books.google.com/books/about/America_s_Film_Legacy.html?id=deq3xI8OmCkc ''Lambchops''] essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 {{ISBN|0826429777}}, pages 163-164 
* {{Internet Archive film|lambchops_1929|Lambchops}}
* {{IMDb title|id=0122580|title=Lambchops}}
* {{TCMDb title|id=400734}}

{{Murray Roth}}

[[Category:1929 films]]
[[Category:1929 comedy films]]
[[Category:1929 short films]]
[[Category:1920s American films]]
[[Category:1920s English-language films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:American comedy short films]]
[[Category:English-language comedy short films]]
[[Category:United States National Film Registry films]]
[[Category:Vitaphone short films]]
[[Category:Warner Bros. short films]]