Clarence Kolb makes pompous authority funny without making it harmless. We value his bluster and bewilderment in supporting parts, though the succession of judges, mayors and businessmen leaves little room for surprise.
Fi1m perspective
With his silver hair and imposing height, Clarence Kolb looks ready to tell everyone else how things are going to be. The tycoons, judges and mayors he played are often blustering enough to make that prospect unappealing, which is where his comedy begins. His timing came from vaudeville with Max Dill, before a move into regular film work in the mid-1930s. Merrily We Live (1938), with Kolb as the exasperated wealthy father Henry Kilbourne, made good use of that preparation.
Howard Hawks gives that authority a nastier use in His Girl Friday (1940), casting him as the corrupt Mayor. Kolb's fast-talking bluster belongs comfortably in a newspaper comedy where quickness and decency seldom go together. We rate the film highly for its precision, and his contribution helps explain why: he can join the clamour without making the official seem merely ridiculous. Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell lead the sparring, but Kolb gives us someone whose authority deserves the film's suspicion.
In George Cukor's Adam's Rib (1949), he is Judge Reiser, and the bewildered face matters more than the bluster. We laughed at his confusion, because the judge looks less equipped for the argument than the people having it. His reactions give the comedy another place to land while Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn do the verbal work. The film sometimes gives the husband an easier hearing than the wife, a weakness his comic support cannot correct. Still, there is pleasure in watching Kolb make something of a part that requires him to react rather than lead.
The limitation is repetition: these authority figures leave little room for surprise. We would not pretend the familiar bluster is a fresh discovery each time, though his flustered reactions keep the type from becoming entirely mechanical. His final screen appearance, as himself in Man of a Thousand Faces (1957), returned him to the vaudeville partnership with Dill. For Kolb at his most useful, start with the disagreeable Mayor of His Girl Friday.
Biography
Clarence Kolb was an American actor. He began his career in vaudeville as half of the comedy team Kolb and Dill, which performed stage routines and appeared in a small number of early films before he returned to the stage.
Kolb resumed film work in the late 1930s and appeared in dozens of features, often cast as politicians or businessmen. He played the mayor in His Girl Friday (1940), Henry Kilbourne in Merrily We Live (1938), Judge Reiser in Adam's Rib (1949) and Mr Honeywell in the television series My Little Margie (1952–1955). His final screen appearance was as himself in Man of a Thousand Faces (1957). He died in 1964.
