Dorothy DeBorba

The story of the short film from the beginning of the movies in the 1890s, when all movies were shorts, through the 1950s when short subjects virtually disappeared from theaters.

Steve Allen hosts this collection of clips of some of the greatest comedy teams in movie and television history, including Our Gang, Laurel and Hardy, The Marx Brothers, Burns and Allen, The Three Stooges, The East-Side Kids, Abbott and Costello, and Martin and Lewis.

A truant officer spots the kids in an amusement park. They try to escape him.

While the rest of the gang goes fishing, Spanky gets stuck babysitting.

When Cap's back pension finally comes in, he treats the gang to a day at an amusement park.

A glamorous film star rebels against the studio, her pushy press agent and a family of hangers-on.

The gang goes to a circus sideshow to visit Dickie, Dorothy, and Spanky's uncle, mistakenly believing he is "The Wild Man from Borneo."

The gang finds what they think is a magic lamp.

The gang, while playing firemen, come upon a real fire.

Stymie takes Dickie for a ride in his runaway car and cures his stiff neck.