Film Clowns of the Depression: Twelve Defining Comic Performances / Edition 1

by Wes D. Gehring

Overview

The 1930s are routinely considered sound film's greatest comedy era. Though this golden age encompassed various genres of laughter, clown comedy is the most basic type. This work examines the Depression decade's most popular type of comedy—the clown, or personality comedian. Focusing upon the Depression era, the study filters its analysis through twelve memorable pictures. Each merits an individual chapter, in which it is critiqued. The films are deemed microcosmic representatives of the comic world and discussed in this context.

While some of the comedians in this text have generated a great deal of previous analysis, funnymen like Joe E. Brown and Eddie Cantor are all but forgotten. Nevertheless, they were comedy legends in their time, and their legacy, as showcased in these movies, merits rediscovery by today's connoisseur of comedy. Even this book's more familiar figures, such as Charlie Chaplin and the Marx Brothers, are often simply relegated to being recognizable pop culture icons whose work has been neglected in recent years. This book attempts to address these oversights and to re—expose the brilliance and ingenuity with which the screen clowns contributed a comic resiliency that was desperately needed during the Depression and can still be greatly appreciated today. The films discussed are City Lights (1931, Chaplin), The Kid From Spain (1932, Cantor), She Done Him Wrong (1933, Mae West), Duck Soup (1933, Marx Brothers), Sons of the Desert (1933, Laurel and Hardy), Judge Priest (1934, Will Rogers), It's a Gift (1934, W.C. Fields), Alibi Ike (1935, Brown), A Night at the Opera (1935, Marx Brothers), Modern Times (1936, Chaplin), Way Out West (1937, Laurel and Hardy), and The Cat and the Canary (1939, Bob Hope).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786428922
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date:	02/16/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.42(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Wes D. Gehring is the Distinguished Professor of Film at Ball State University, and the author of 44 books, keying on biographies of film comedians and comic genres. Their reception has resulted in speaking engagements from the Paris—Sorbonne University to New York's Museum of Modern Art. He has periodically been one of Turner Classic Movies' on—screen scholars for their summer online classes.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Foreword by Ray E. Boomhower     
Preface     
Introduction     

1. Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights (1931)     
2. Eddie Cantor’s The Kid from Spain (1932)     
3. Mae West’s She Done Him Wrong (1933)     
4. The Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup (1933)     
5. Laurel and Hardy’s Sons of the Desert (1933)     
6. Will Rogers’ Judge Priest (1934)     
7. W.C. Fields’ It’s a Gift (1934)     
8. Joe E. Brown’s Alibi Ike (1935)     
9. The Marx Brothers’ A Night at the Opera (1935)     
10. Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times (1936)     
11. Laurel and Hardy’s Way Out West (1937)     
12. Bob Hope’s The Cat and the Canary (1939)     

Epilogue     
Filmography     
Chapter Notes     
Bibliography     
Index     

Editorial Reviews

Gehring remains supreme in film comedy scholarship”—Choice; “Just about anything with film historian and media writer Wes D. Gehring’s name on it will be of quality.”—Cinema Retro.

From the Publisher