Two Black Crows
Encyclopedia
The Two Black Crows was a blackface
Blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...

 comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 act popular in the 1920s and 30s. The duo appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

, on radio, comedy records, and in film features and shorts.

The act was originated by Charles Mack (1888–1934), who hired actor John Swor as his partner. "Swor & Mack" enjoyed moderate success until Swor left the act. He was replaced by George Moran (1881–1949). The team of Moran and Mack caught on and became major recording stars. "The Two Black Crows" became a weekly radio show in 1928; Moran and Mack also guest-starred on Fred Waring
Fred Waring
Fredrick Malcolm Waring was a popular musician, bandleader and radio-television personality, sometimes referred to as "America's Singing Master" and "The Man Who Taught America How to Sing." He was also a promoter, financial backer and namesake of the Waring Blendor, the first modern electric...

's radio show in 1933.

Although Moran and Mack's gags were mostly corny (and very often non-racial) and the characters were stereotypical (one practical but naive, the other seemingly slow and lazy yet quick with a quip and a certain skewed logic), the relationship depicted plus their laconic delivery made them one of the most successful of comedy teams.

Typical joke:
MACK: On our farm, we had a thousand chickuns, an' 999 o'em laid eggs.
MORAN: What was wrong with de udder one?
MACK: Uh, he was de head man.


Once Moran played a blast on his kazoo
Kazoo
The kazoo is a wind instrument which adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. The kazoo is a type of mirliton, which is a membranophone, a device which modifies the sound of a person's voice by way of a vibrating membrane."Kazoo" was the name given by...

.
MACK (annoyed): Boy, even if dat was good, I wouldn't like it!
MORAN: I can play anything on dis!
MACK: You caint play piano on dat!


And on it went. This shows at least how old the following joke is:
MACK: I'll meet you down by de pig-pen. You better keep yo hat on so's I'll know ya!


Even a watermelon
Watermelon
Watermelon is a vine-like flowering plant originally from southern Africa. Its fruit, which is also called watermelon, is a special kind referred to by botanists as a pepo, a berry which has a thick rind and fleshy center...

 joke, the essence of racial stereotyping, took on a certain surrealist
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....

 air in their hands:
MACK: Wish I had an ice-cold watamelon.
MORAN: Oh lawdy. Me too.
MACK: Wish I had a thousand ice-cold watamelons.
MORAN: Glory be. I bet if you had a thousand ice-cold watamelons, you'd give me one.
MACK: No, no siree! If you are too lazy to wish for your own watamelons, you ain't gon' git none o' mine.


The team was known for two catchphrases. Moran would remind Mack of some unfortunate event, causing Mack to say, "Why bring that up?" Mack frequently would interrupt Moran's description of something with a drawling "What causes that?"

The duo of Moran and Mack appeared in vaudeville with W.C. Fields, on Broadway in the Ziegfeld Follies
Ziegfeld Follies
The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....

of 1920 and in Earl Carroll's Vanities in the mid-1920s. They also appeared in George White's Scandals
George White's Scandals
George White's Scandals were a long-running string of Broadway revues produced by George White that ran from 1919–1939, modelled after the Ziegfeld Follies. The "Scandals" launched the careers of many entertainers, including W.C. Fields, the Three Stooges, Ray Bolger, Helen Morgan, Ethel Merman, ...

and The Greenwich Village Follies.

At the height of their popularity, after completing their first talking feature film, Moran had a salary dispute with Mack and sued him. A judge ruled that Mack legally owned the act and could pay whatever salary he wanted. Moran quit, and was replaced by John Swor's brother, Bert Swor, who adopted the name Moran. The second "Moran and Mack" talkie (without George Moran) faltered at the box office, and the team made no further films until 1933, when the low-budget Educational Pictures
Educational Pictures
Educational Pictures was a film distribution company founded in 1919 by Earle Hammons . Educational primarily distributed short subjects, and today is probably best known for its series of 1930s comedies starring Buster Keaton, as well as for a series of one-reel comedies featuring Shirley...

 studio hired them for a feature film and a series of "Two Black Crows" short subjects.

Charles Mack died in an automobile accident in 1934, effectively ending the act (although George Moran did try to revive it with other partners).

Moran would later appear in three W. C. Fields
W. C. Fields
William Claude Dukenfield , better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler and writer...

films, The Fatal Glass of Beer, My Little Chickadee, and The Bank Dick.

Their catch phrase, "Who wants a worm, anyhow?", was the punch line to a lengthy dialogue that Moran initiated by telling Mack that, "The early bird catches the worm". Mack of course had never heard the expression, so he took it literally, and frustrated Moran by repeatedly asking inane questions about the saying. "Who wants a worm, anyhow?" was the closing statement by the crow in a Warner Bros. cartoon called The Wacky Worm, and parts of the routine appeared in other Warner cartoons.

Films

  • Two Flaming Youths (Paramount, 1927) (as Moran and Mack)
  • Why Bring That Up? (Paramount, 1929)
  • Anybody's War (aka Two Black Crows in the AEF (Paramount, 1930)
  • Hypnotized aka Little Gypsy (World Wide/Educational, 1933)

Short subjects:
  • A Pair of Socks (Educational, 1933)
  • Hot Hoofs (Educational, 1933)
  • Two Black Crows in Africa (Educational, 1933)

Recordings

  • Early Bird Catches the Worm (3/14/1927)
  • All About the Lions (7/18/1927)
  • Curiosities on the Farm (11/14/1927)
  • No Matter How Hungry the Horse Is, He Can't Eat a Bit (11/25/1927; 12/23/1927)
  • B Our Child (12/22/1927) (as Charles E. Mack)
  • Elder Eatmore's Sermon on Throwing Stones (12/23/1927)
  • Two Black Crows Part 1/Part 2 (Columbia #935-D) (1928) (78 RPM)
  • Two Black Crows Part 3/Part 4 (Columbia #1094-D) (1928) (78 RPM)
  • Two Black Crows Part 5/Part 6 (Columbia #1198-D) (1928) (78 RPM)
  • Two Black Crows Part 7/Part 8 (Columbia #1350-D) (1928) (78 RPM)
  • Two Black Crows in the Jailhouse Part 1/Part 2 (Columbia #1560-D) (9/8/1928) (78 RPM)
  • Two Black Crows in Hades Part 1/Part 2 (11/14/1928)
  • Courthouse Bump - Jelly Roll Morton's Orchestra (7/9/1929)
  • Foolishments (6/5/1929)
  • Esau Buck (6/4/1929)
  • Drag 'Em - Mary Lou Williams (piano) (12/1930)
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