Hypnotized -- The Two Black Crows -- October 11, 2026

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Halloween is coming. I like to watch a few scary movies during the month of October. Hypnotized scared the heck out of me. 

George Moran and Charles Mack performed in blackface as The Two Black Crows. They were successful in vaudeville, records and radio. They were not successful in movies. 

Educational Pictures signed the act to do a feature and a series of short films. Comedy pioneer Mack Sennett directed.  Sono Art-World Wide Pictures, famous for its logo, released the film. I came across Hypnotized, which I had read about years ago, on YouTube.

Moran (the little guy) and Mack (the big guy) work as the crew for a low-grade circus owned by Charlie Murray. Marjorie Beebe, also in blackface, appeared as a maid. Wallace Ford and Maria Alba were performers. She was supposed to be Hungarian, but she spoke with her usual Spanish accent.

Maria Alba -- listal.com

The scenes in the circus are disjointed, but Wallace Ford, who loves Maria Alba, finds out that he holds a winning ticket in a sweepstake but has to go to London to collect. The whole circus, which is leaking money, winds up on the ocean liner with him. Moran appears to disappear at that point. I never noticed him on the ship.

A crooked hypnotist, played by Ernest Torrence has hypnotized both Mack and Ford. He wants the sweepstake money. All sorts of hard to follow things happen. 

This was a terrible movie, and not just because of the blackface. I suspect that there was supposed to more to the movie than they shot or released. 

To add insult to injury, the next thing that came up on YouTube was the cut-down two-reel version. It omitted the circus scenes entirely, so Moran did not appear at all. It was more disjointed than the feature.