Film Clowns Of The Depression

Download Film Clowns Of The Depression full books in PDF, epub, and Kindle. Read online Film Clowns Of The Depression ebook anywhere anytime directly on your device. Fast Download speed and no annoying ads. We cannot guarantee that every ebooks is available!

Film Clowns of the Depression

Author : Wes D. Gehring
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 0786483520
Total Pages : 217 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (864 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Film Clowns of the Depression by : Wes D. Gehring

Download or read book Film Clowns of the Depression written by Wes D. Gehring and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-11-21 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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).

Movie Comedians of the 1950s

Author : Wes D. Gehring
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 1476626928
Total Pages : 210 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (766 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Movie Comedians of the 1950s by : Wes D. Gehring

Download or read book Movie Comedians of the 1950s written by Wes D. Gehring and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2016-10-27 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 1950s were a transitional period for film comedians. The artistic suppression of the McCarthy era and the advent of television often resulted in a dumbing down of motion pictures. Cartoonist-turned-director Frank Tashlin contributed a funny but cartoonish effect through his work with comedians like Jerry Lewis and Bob Hope. A new vanguard of comedians appeared without stock comic garb or make-up--fresh faces not easily pigeonholed as merely comedians, such as Tony Randall, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. Some traditional comedians, like Charlie Chaplin, Red Skelton and Danny Kaye, continued their shtick, though with some evident tweaking. This book provides insight into a misunderstood decade of film history with an examination of the "personality comedians." The talents of Dean Martin and Bob Hope are reappraised and the "dumb blonde" stereotype, as applied to Judy Holliday and Marilyn Monroe, is deconstructed.

Forties Film Funnymen

Author : Wes D. Gehring
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 0786456655
Total Pages : 235 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (864 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Forties Film Funnymen by : Wes D. Gehring

Download or read book Forties Film Funnymen written by Wes D. Gehring and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-01-10 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The twelve classic comedy films examined within these pages are distinguished by an equal number of defining comic performances. Ranging from The Great Dictator (1940) to A Southern Yankee (1948), each film focuses on the most central theme of "clown comedy": Resilience, the encouragement or hope that one can survive the most daunting of life's dilemmas--even during the war-torn 1940s. And each film can be regarded as a microcosm of the antiheroic world of its central clown (or clowns). Among the performers represented are Charlie Chaplin, W.C. Fields, Abbott and Costello, Jack Benny, Eddie Bracken, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, the Marx Brothers, Harold Lloyd and Red Skelton. This lavishly illustrated work includes an introduction by noted film critic and historian Anthony Slide.

Chaplin's War Trilogy

Author : Wes D. Gehring
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 0786474653
Total Pages : 241 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (864 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Chaplin's War Trilogy by : Wes D. Gehring

Download or read book Chaplin's War Trilogy written by Wes D. Gehring and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-09-18 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book examines Charlie Chaplin's evolving perspective on dark comedy in his three war films, Shoulder Arms (1918), The Great Dictator (1940), and Monsieur Verdoux (1947). In the first he uses the genre in a groundbreaking manner but yet for a pro-war cause. In Dictator dark comedy is applied in an antiwar way. In Monsieur Verdoux Chaplin embraces the genre as an individual in defense against a society out to destroy him. All three are pivotal films in the development of the genre in film, with the latter two movies being very controversial for their time.

Laurel & Hardy

Author : Harry Lime
Publisher : Lulu.com
ISBN 13 : 0244163871
Total Pages : 215 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (441 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Laurel & Hardy by : Harry Lime

Download or read book Laurel & Hardy written by Harry Lime and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2019-02-28 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Laurel and Hardy were a comedy duo who performed during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, comprising Englishman Stan Laurel (June 16th, 1890 ? February 23rd, 1965), with American Oliver Hardy (January 18th, 1892 ? August 7th, 1957). They became famous for their slapstick comedy during the late 1920s to the mid-1940s, with Laurel playing the clumsy and childlike friend of the pompous bully Hardy. The duo's signature tune known as "The Cuckoo Song", "Ku-Ku", or "The Dance of the Cuckoos," was played over the opening credits of their movies, having become as emblematic of the duo as their bowler hats.

Buster Keaton in His Own Time

Author : Wes D. Gehring
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 1476633266
Total Pages : 612 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (766 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Buster Keaton in His Own Time by : Wes D. Gehring

Download or read book Buster Keaton in His Own Time written by Wes D. Gehring and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2018-03-16 with total page 612 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Buster Keaton "can impress a weary world with the vitally important fact that life, after all, is a foolishly inconsequential affair," wrote critic Robert Sherwood in 1918. A century later Keaton, with his darkly comic "theater of the absurd," speaks to audiences like no other silent comedian. If you thought you knew Keaton--think again!

The Clown

Author : Heinrich Boll
Publisher : Melville House
ISBN 13 : 1935554859
Total Pages : 258 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (355 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Clown by : Heinrich Boll

Download or read book The Clown written by Heinrich Boll and published by Melville House. This book was released on 2010-12-15 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Acclaimed entertainer Hans Schneir collapses when his beloved Marie leaves him because he won’t marry her within the Catholic Church. The desertion triggers a searing re-examination of his life—the loss of his sister during the war, the demands of his millionaire father and the hypocrisies of his mother, who first fought to “save” Germany from the Jews, then worked for “reconciliation” afterwards. Heinrich Böll’s gripping consideration of how to overcome guilt and live up to idealism—how to find something to believe in—gives stirring evidence of why he was such an unwelcome presence in post-War German consciousness . . . and why he was such a necessary one.

Will Cuppy, American Satirist

Author : Wes D. Gehring
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 1476601917
Total Pages : 223 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (766 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Will Cuppy, American Satirist by : Wes D. Gehring

Download or read book Will Cuppy, American Satirist written by Wes D. Gehring and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2013-10-11 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Back in the golden age of humor books (late 1920s-early 1950s), when wits of the pantheon like Robert Benchley, James Thurber, and S.J. Perelman were producing their signature works, there was another singular satirist who more than held his own with such fast company: Will Cuppy (1884-1949). This factual funnyman's metier is dark comedy that flirts with nihilism. His agenda is baldly stated in such classic Cuppy book titles as How to Be a Hermit (1929), How to Tell Your Friends from the Apes (1931), and The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody (1950). This biography doubles as a critical study of a satirist whose shish-kebabing of humanity was often done through the veiled anthropomorphic use of animals. For a biographer, Will Cuppy represents a treasure trove of possibilities. He was a great humorist, and most of his best work is still in print, but until now he has never been the subject of a book-length study. His mesmerizingly complex and eccentric private life almost trumps the comic accomplishments of his public persona.

Hitchcock and Humor

Author : Wes D. Gehring
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 147667356X
Total Pages : 291 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (766 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Hitchcock and Humor by : Wes D. Gehring

Download or read book Hitchcock and Humor written by Wes D. Gehring and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2019-05-13 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Woody Allen's Manhattan Murder Mystery has been described as "a kind of Rear Window for retirees." As this quote suggests, an analysis of Alfred Hitchcock's methodical use of comedy in his films is past due. One of Turner Classic Movies' on-screen scholars for their summer 2017 online Hitchcock class, the author grew tired of misleading throwaway references to the director's "comic relief." This book examines what should be obvious: Hitchcock systematically incorporated assorted types of comedy--black humor, parody, farce/screwball comedy and romantic comedy--in his films to entertain his audience with "comic" thrillers.

Genre-Busting Dark Comedies of the 1970s

Author : Wes D. Gehring
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 0786495421
Total Pages : 251 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (864 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Genre-Busting Dark Comedies of the 1970s by : Wes D. Gehring

Download or read book Genre-Busting Dark Comedies of the 1970s written by Wes D. Gehring and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2016-03-29 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This examination of dark comedies of the 1970s focuses on films which concealed black humor behind a misleading genre label. All That Jazz (1979) is a musical...about death--hardly Fred and Ginger territory. This masking goes beyond misnomer to a breaking of formula that director Robert Altman called "anti-genre." Altman's MASH (1970) ridiculed the military establishment in general--the Vietnam War in particular--under the guise of a standard military service comedy. The picaresque Western Little Big Man (1970) turned the bluecoats vs. Indians formula upside-down--the audience roots for the Indians instead of the cavalry. The book covers 12 essential films, including Harold and Maude (1971), Slaughterhouse-Five (1972), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and Being There (1979), with notes on A Clockwork Orange (1971). These films reveal a compounding complexity that reinforces the absurdity at the heart of dark comedy.

Red Skelton

Author : Wes Gehring
Publisher : Indiana Historical Society
ISBN 13 : 0871953552
Total Pages : 397 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (719 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Red Skelton by : Wes Gehring

Download or read book Red Skelton written by Wes Gehring and published by Indiana Historical Society. This book was released on 2013-09-10 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For more than twenty years, Hoosier comic Red Skelton entertained millions of viewers who gathered around their television sets to delight in the antics of such notable characters as Freddie the Freeloader, Clem Kaddiddlehopper, Cauliflower McPugg, and Sheriff Deadeye. Noted film historian Wes D. Gehring examines the man behind the characters—someone who never let the facts get in the way of a good story. Gehring delves into Skelton's hardscrabble life with a shockingly dysfunctional family in the southern Indiana community of Vincennes, his days on the road on the vaudeville circuit, the comedian's early success on radio, his up-and-down movie career with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and his sometimes tragic personal life.

Focus On: 100 Most Popular Vaudeville Performers

Author : Wikipedia contributors
Publisher : e-artnow sro
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 1438 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Focus On: 100 Most Popular Vaudeville Performers by : Wikipedia contributors

Download or read book Focus On: 100 Most Popular Vaudeville Performers written by Wikipedia contributors and published by e-artnow sro. This book was released on with total page 1438 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Bad Clowns

Author : Benjamin Radford
Publisher : UNM Press
ISBN 13 : 0826356672
Total Pages : 217 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (263 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Bad Clowns by : Benjamin Radford

Download or read book Bad Clowns written by Benjamin Radford and published by UNM Press. This book was released on 2016-04-01 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bad clowns—those malicious misfits of the midway who terrorize, haunt, and threaten us—have long been a cultural icon. This book describes the history of bad clowns, why clowns go bad, and why many people fear them. Going beyond familiar clowns such as the Joker, Krusty, John Wayne Gacy, and Stephen King’s Pennywise, it also features bizarre, lesser-known stories of weird clown antics including Bozo obscenity, Ronald McDonald haters, killer clowns, phantom-clown abductors, evil-clown panics, sex clowns, carnival clowns, troll clowns, and much more. Bad Clowns blends humor, investigation, and scholarship to reveal what is behind the clown’s dark smile.

Buffoon Men

Author : Scott Balcerzak
Publisher : Wayne State University Press
ISBN 13 : 0814339662
Total Pages : 270 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (143 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Buffoon Men by : Scott Balcerzak

Download or read book Buffoon Men written by Scott Balcerzak and published by Wayne State University Press. This book was released on 2013-10-01 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fans and scholars of film history, gender studies, and broadcast studies will appreciate Balcerzak's thorough exploration of the era's fascinating gender constructs.

The Politics of Petulance

Author : Alan Wolfe
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022655516X
Total Pages : 221 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (265 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Politics of Petulance by : Alan Wolfe

Download or read book The Politics of Petulance written by Alan Wolfe and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2018-10-03 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did we get into this mess? Every morning, many Americans ask this as, with a cringe, they pick up their phones and look to see what terrible thing President Trump has just said or done. Regardless of what he’s complaining about or whom he’s attacking, a second question comes hard on the heels of the first: How on earth do we get out of this? Alan Wolfe has an answer. In The Politics of Petulance he argues that the core of our problem isn’t Trump himself—it’s that we are mired in an age of political immaturity. That immaturity is not grounded in any one ideology, nor is it a function of age or education. It’s in an abdication of valuing the character of would-be leaders; it’s in a failure to acknowledge, even welcome the complexity of government and society; and it’s in a loss of the ability to be skeptical without being suspicious. In 2016, many Americans were offered tantalizingly simple answers to complicated problems, and, like children being offered a lunch of Pop Rocks and Coke, they reflexively—and mindlessly—accepted. The good news, such as it is, is that we’ve been here before. Wolfe reminds us that we know how to grow up and face down Trump and other demagogues. Wolfe reinvigorates the tradition of public engagement exemplified by midcentury intellectuals such as Richard Hofstadter, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Lionel Trilling—and he draws lessons from their battles with McCarthyism and conspiratorial paranoia. Wolfe mounts a powerful case that we can learn from them to forge a new path for political intervention today. Wolfe has been thinking and writing about American life and politics for decades. He sees this moment as one of real risk. But he’s not throwing up his hands; he’s bracing us. We’ve faced demagogues before. We can find the intellectual maturity to fight back. Yes we can.

Charlie Chaplin and A Woman of Paris

Author : Wes D. Gehring
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 147667244X
Total Pages : 261 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (766 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Charlie Chaplin and A Woman of Paris by : Wes D. Gehring

Download or read book Charlie Chaplin and A Woman of Paris written by Wes D. Gehring and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2021-01-15 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charlie Chaplin's A Woman of Paris (1923) was a groundbreaking film which was neither a simple recycling of Peggy Hopkins Joyce's story, nor quickly forgotten. Through heavily-documented "period research," this book lands several bombshells, including Paris is deeply rooted in Chaplin's previous films and his relationship with Edna Purviance, Paris was not rejected by heartland America, Chaplin did "romantic research" (especially with Pola Negri), and Paris' many ongoing influences have never been fully appreciated. These are just a few of the mistakes about Paris.

Kinds of American Film Comedy

Author : Wes D. Gehring
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 1476688990
Total Pages : 243 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (766 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Kinds of American Film Comedy by : Wes D. Gehring

Download or read book Kinds of American Film Comedy written by Wes D. Gehring and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2024-02-14 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This groundbreaking film study begins with a survey of American print humorists from eras leading up to and overlapping the advent of film--including some who worked both on the page and on the screen, like Robert Benchley, Will Rogers, Groucho Marx and W. C. Fields. Six comic film genres are identified as outgrowths of a national tradition of Cracker Barrel philosophers, personality comedy, parody, screwball comedy, romantic comedy and dark comedy. Whether it is Mark Twain or a parody film involving Steve Martin, comedy is most often about blowing "raspberries" at the world, and a reminder you are not alone.