A Ton Of Fun (also called Tons Of Fun) was a comedy team who appeared in a series of slapstick silent short films for FBO from 1925 to 1927. The three heavy actors Frank "Fatty" Alexander, Hilliard "Fat" Karr, and Kewpie Ross were each over 300 pounds. Karr was also billed as Fatty Karr. Their first film together was Tailoring in 1925. The last "A Ton Of Fun" film was A Joyful Day in 1928. Ross retired from films after their last film, while Alexander went to work for Hal Roach Studios and Karr appeared in four more films for FBO and RKO.
Excerpts from the movies were shown on Howdy Doody in the early 1950s, credited as "The Tons of Fun," with the characters named Vic, Clint, and Bullet (also named Buffalo Vic, Buffalo Clint, and Buffalo Bullet) by Bob Smith, who narrated the movie excerpts during the show.
Tom Tyler was an American actor known for his leading roles in low-budget Western films in the silent and sound eras, and for his portrayal of superhero Captain Marvel in the 1941 serial film The Adventures of Captain Marvel. Tyler also played Kharis in 1940's The Mummy's Hand, a popular Universal Studios monster film.
Joe Rock was an American film producer, director, actor, and screenwriter. He produced a series of 12 two reel short subject comedies starring Stan Laurel in the 1920s.
Ford Sterling was an American comedian and actor best known for his work with Keystone Studios. One of the 'Big 4', he was the original chief of the Keystone Cops.
Charles R. Bowers was an American cartoonist and slapstick comedian during the silent film and early "talkie" era. He was forgotten for decades and his name was notably absent from most histories of the Silent Era, although his work was enthusiastically reviewed by André Breton and a number of his contemporaries. As his surviving films have an inventiveness and surrealism which give them a freshness appealing to modern audiences, after his rediscovery his work has sometimes been placed in the "top tier" of silent film accomplishments. In comic style, he probably modelled himself after both Harry Langdon and Buster Keaton and was known to the French as "Bricolo."
Frank Dwight Alexander was an American silent film comedian and actor. He was occasionally billed as Fatty Alexander.
Film Booking Offices of America (FBO), registered as FBO Pictures Corp., was an American film studio of the silent era, a midsize producer and distributor of mostly low-budget films. The business began in 1918 as Robertson-Cole, an Anglo-American import-export company. Robertson-Cole began distributing films in the United States that December and opened a Los Angeles production facility in 1920. Late that year, R-C entered into a working relationship with East Coast financier Joseph P. Kennedy. A business reorganization in 1922 led to its assumption of the FBO name, first for all its distribution operations and ultimately for its own productions as well. Through Kennedy, the studio contracted with Western leading man Fred Thomson, who grew by 1925 into one of Hollywood's most popular stars. Thomson was just one of several silent screen cowboys with whom FBO became identified.
Slim Summerville was an American film actor and director best known for his work in comedies.
Walter Hiers was an American silent film actor.
Jay Wilsey was an American film actor. He appeared in nearly 100 films between 1924 and 1944. He starred in a series of very low-budget westerns in the 1920s and 1930s, billed as Buffalo Bill Jr.
Dorothea "Dot" Farley was an American film actress who appeared in 280 motion pictures from 1910 to 1950. She was also known as Dorothy Farley.
William Merrill McCormick was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 250 films between 1916 and 1953.
Hermon Reed Howes was an American model who later became an actor in silent and sound films.
Producers Distributing Corporation (PDC) was a short-lived Hollywood film distribution company, organized in 1924 and dissolved in 1927. In its brief heyday, film director Cecil B. DeMille was its primary talent and owner of its Culver City–located production facility.
Kewpie Morgan was an American silent film comedian who also performed in a few early sound films. He appeared in 99 films from 1915 to 1936. He appeared in the films of such comedians as Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy. He posthumously appeared in Robert Youngson compilations of the 1960s highlighting silent film comedy.
Hermann Picha was a German stage and film actor. Picha was extremely prolific, appearing in over 300 short and feature films during the silent and early sound eras. Picha played a mixture of lead and supporting roles during his career. He played the title role in the 1920 film Wibbel the Tailor, directed by Manfred Noa. He appeared in Fritz Lang's Destiny.
Richard William "Fatty" Lamb was an Australian racing cyclist who competed on both road and track, as was typical of Australian cyclists of the era such as Hubert Opperman. Throughout his career, Lamb was associated with Malvern Star Bicycles and Bruce Small.
Ken Gordon Ferndale Ross (1900–1974) was an Australian road and track cyclist. His best results were achieved in the Goulburn to Sydney, where he set the fastest time on three occasions and in the Sydney Six-day race which he won three times.
Hilliard Karr was an American comedic actor. He appeared in a series of short films with fellow heavyweights Frank Alexander and Bill "Kewpie" Ross.
Harold "Josh" Binney was an actor, film producer, film company executive, and film director in the United States. He worked as an actor before establishing the Florida Film Company in Jacksonville, Florida in 1918 and produced and producing their films through his Harold J. Binney Productions division. He moved on to Canada and then Sonoma, California.
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