Selected Short Subjects: Tireman Spare My Tires (1942)

Directed by Jules White. Cast: Harry Langdon, Louise Currie, Emmett Lynn, Bud Jamison, Eddie Laughton. Released June 4, 1942. Two Reels.

Harry Langdon was one of the masters of silent comedy, offering a slow-paced surreal manner that resulted in some of the most brilliant comedies of the 1920s. He was less effective in talkies, and often his Columbia shorts are considered the nadir of his career. Perhaps it is due to the way the culture has evolved, but Langdon’s Columbia shorts usually hold up well, and often have some amusing moments, and “Tireman Spare My Tires” is a typical example.

Harry is a befuddled innocent who gets mixed up with a runaway heiress whom he picks up as a hitchhiker. They end up having to play husband and wife in a travel lodge when a sheriff stops him to requisition the new tires on his car for the war effort. What follows is a series of gags and the laughs come from Harry’s reactions.

First, the film’s premise offers a historical context to the proceedings. There was a rubber shortage during the war, so acquiring good tires for a car was nearly impossible. Of course it is outrageous that someone as ordinary as Harry would have them on his car (he states he paid 60 dollars for them, which would be the equivalent of around $950 nowadays). So, Harry spending an exorbitant amount for tires is funny within this historical context. And certainly in those days nobody stopped a car and insisted on acquiring the rubber for government purposes, so that compounds the inherent humor in the situation.

Once Harry and the runaway heiress set up housekeeping, there are some vague similarities to the Oscar winning classic “It Happened One Night” which was helmed by Harry’s former director Frank Capra (there is even a “wall of Jericho” between their beds).

The gags are mostly mechanical, but there is a real art to Harry’s reaction to eating a botched meal, stepping on tacks with bare feet while trying to sneak away at night, and responding to the other, similar slapstick situations. Harry was always very relaxed in pace during his silent films, and that was what defined his comic method. By the time he made this Columbia short, he had managed to adapt his style to the louder, faster, more forceful slapstick as per Columbia producer-director Jules White’s vision (The 3 Stooges are a good checkpoint). Langdon was dismissive of these films, calling them “ooh ow ouch comedies" and stating that he was no more than “an animated suit of clothes.” But the fact is, Langdon was able to effectively utilize his expertise with physical humor within the Columbia-style slapstick, at least as well as Buster Keaton did in the same situation.

And in each Columbia short, Langdon offers at least some moments of nuance. During the short’s opening scene, Harry is in a diner having breakfast, but preoccupied with his newspaper. He starts pouring the syrup meant for his pancakes down his sleeve. He slowly looks up, blinks, and realizes what he is doing. Although older, his baby face creased with age, this reaction was a fascinating and amusing throwback to his silent screen method.

“Tireman Spare My Tires,” despite some amusing ideas and good performances, is not a particularly strong short. There are a number of good laughs, but a comic eating sequence goes on too long, and the film ends abruptly with no conclusion (a problem of many Columbia shorts). But for those who appreciate Harry Langdon as one of the truly original comedians of the silent screen, it is impressive to see how effectively his professionalism approaches this very different method of slapstick during the sound era.