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Strikes and Spares

15 votes

This short features professional bowler Andy Varipapa. He first shows the correct way to grip a bowling ball and the proper form for delivering the ball down the alley. He then performs several trick shots.

Status: Released

Released Date: 1934-10-20

Runtime: 8 mins

Director: Felix E. Feist

Spoken language: English

Genres: Comedy

Original title: Strikes and Spares

Production Companies: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Production Countries: United States of America

Cast

Narrator (voice)

Pete Smith

Himself - World's Greatest Bowling Fixture

Andy Varipapa

Little Bald-Headed Man (uncredited)

Buster Brodie

Pin Boy (uncredited)

Ray Turner

Reviews

Geronimo1967

Did you know that ten pin bowling shoes have one rubber sole and one leather one? Well that’s just one of the plethora of explanatory comments we learn from Pete Smith in this idiots guide to the intricacies of the bowling alley. Thanks to the assistance of local expert Andy Varipapa, we learn a little of the technique involved in keeping the ball out of the gutter as it hurtles along towards the pins, too. Realising, thankfully, that this might make for quite a boringly repetitious feature, we now see one poor hapless fellow who couldn’t hit a barn door with a shovel have a go before the accomplished Mr. Varipapa demonstrates some quite impressive, if perhaps a little chauvinistic, trick shots that marry precision with a bit of flair. This production is also a little more sophisticated with a little more on-screen animation and even some slo-motion replays to guild it a little. There’s plenty of pith from Smith and it’s an easy watch.

2025-06-27

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