Another Fine Mess: A History of American Film Comedy

529 Pages·2010·40.99 MB·English

by  Saul Austerlitz

film
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“An affectionate chronicle of a century of laughs from the silver screen [and] a com- S
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pulsively readable reference for the confirmed comedy fan. . . . The author provides a E
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delightful roll call of the funny men and women who have distinguished the cinema L
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of laughter, and an indispensible listmaking tool for the Netflix generation in search of
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a good guffaw. An enthusiastic, well-observed, fresh look at old favorites that makes a
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compelling case for the genius of American film comedy. —Kirkus Reviews
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“Only the fearless spring into the canonical underpinnings of film comedy, a genre
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little understood and often, well, laughed at. Saul Austerlitz has thrillingly built a I
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canon of artists, defending and critiquing their careers (is there anything of merit to TO
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be learned from Duck Soup? Yes! Meet the Fockers? Oh, yes!) with the acute binocular
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vision of a scholar and a fan. I was enrapt, argumentative, gobsmacked, amused, and
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ready to rethink what I know about American film comedy. Crack this book open and H
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let the debate—and the flying pies—begin. F
ANOTHER FINE MESS
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—Glen David Gold, author of Sunnyside and Carter Beats the Devil A
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A HISTORY OF AMERICAN FILM COMEDY
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Conventional wisdom holds that analyzing comedy is a thankless task—who’s to C
say what’s funny, and why kill the fun of it?—but Saul Austerlitz’s wide-ranging survey AI
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of American film comedy is both illuminating and hugely enjoyable. With its sharp

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insights and vivid biographical sketches, it’s first-rate film criticism and a terrific E
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resource to boot. —Dennis Lim, editor of The Village Voice Film Guide
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SAUL AUSTERLITZ’s work has been published in the New York Times, the Los Angeles M
Times, the Boston Globe, Slate, and other publications. He is the author of Money for ES
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Nothing: A History of the Music Video from the Beatles to the White Stripes. S
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$24.95 (CAN $27.95)
ISBN 978-1-55652-951-1
52495
9 781556 529511 SAUL AUSTERLITZ
Another Fine Mess

a history of american film comedy
Saul Austerlitz
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Austerlitz, Saul.
Another fine mess : a history of American film comedy / Saul Austerlitz. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-55652-951-1
1. Comedy films—United States—History and criticism. I. Title.
PN1995.9.C55A97 2010
791.43'6170973—dc22
2010009010
Cover and interior design: Sarah Olson
Cover images: The Marx Brothers (The Kobal Collection); The Life Aquatic with
Steve Zissou (Touchstone Pictures/The Kobal Collection/Philippe Antonello).
Interior images: p. 1 © Roy Export SAS; p. 27 © The Harold Lloyd Trust; p. 39 © RHI
Entertainment Distribution, LLC; pp. 51, 63, 75, 101, 163, 293, 319, 369 © Universal Studios,
Inc.; pp. 87, 115, 229, 307, 333 © Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.; pp. 127, 189, 203, 255
© Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc.; pp. 139, 151, 241 © Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios,
Inc.; p. 175 © Paramount Pictures Corp.; pp. 215, 345 © Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.;
p. 281 © Home Box Office, Inc.; p. 357 © DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC
Portions of this book have previously been published in the Boston Globe,
Moving Image Source, and MyJewishLearning.
© 2010 by Saul Austerlitz
All rights reserved
First edition
Published by Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
814 North Franklin Street
Chicago, Illinois 60610
ISBN 978-1-55652-951-1
Printed in the United States of America
5 4 3 2 1
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To Becky, who always makes me laugh
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contents
Acknowledgments · ix
Introduction · xi
1 CHARLIE CHAPLIN: The Most Famous Man on Earth · 1

2 BUSTER KEATON: The Camera Man · 15

3 HAROLD LLOYD: The Striver · 27

4 LAUREL & HARDY: Straight Man and Little Boy · 39

5 THE MARX BROTHERS: Brothers of Anarchy · 51

6 W. C. FIELDS: The Juggler · 63

7 MAE WEST: “It’s All Been Done Before, but Not the Way I Do It” · 75

8 ERNST LUBITSCH: The Touch · 87

9 PRESTON STURGES: The Cockeyed Caravan · 101

10 CARY GRANT: The Picture of Archie Leach · 115

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11 KATHARINE HEPBURN: Spencer’s Rib · 127

12 BILLY WILDER: “Nobody’s Perfect!” · 139

13 MARILYN MONROE: Funny Blonde · 151

14 DORIS DAY: Battle of the Sexless · 163

15 JERRY LEWIS: They’re Crazy About Him in France · 175

16 PETER SELLERS: The Man Behind the Masks · 189

17 DUSTIN HOFFMAN: Stardom, Revised · 203

18 ROBERT ALTMAN: Overlapping Dialogue · 215

19 MEL BROOKS: The 2000-Year-Old Parodist · 229

20 WOODY ALLEN: Hope and Bergman · 241

21 RICHARD PRYOR: Rebel Without a Pause · 255

22 ALBERT BROOKS: The Return of Sully Sullivan · 269

23 STEVE MARTIN: The Jerk and the Genius · 281

24 EDDIE MURPHY: Incredible Shrinking Comic · 293

25 BILL MURRAY: Just the Usual Comic Inspiration—

Frustration, Loss, and Death · 307
26 THE COEN BROTHERS: Oddball America · 319

27 CHRISTOPHER GUEST: The Baron of the Mockumentary · 333

28 BEN STILLER: Good Jewish Boys · 345

29 WILL FERRELL: “A Pretty Nice Little Saturday” · 357

30 JUDD APATOW: Peter Pans and Frat Brothers · 369

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SHORT ENTRIES · 381
Abbott & Costello · 381 Blake Edwards · 407
Wes Anderson · 382 Nora Ephron · 407
Jennifer Aniston · 383 Bobby & Peter Farrelly · 408
Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle · 384 Tina Fey · 409
Jean Arthur · 385 Whoopi Goldberg · 410
Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers · 386 Elliott Gould · 411
Lauren Bacall · 387 Jean Harlow · 412
Anne Bancroft · 388 Howard Hawks · 412
Drew Barrymore · 388 Ben Hecht · 413
Noah Baumbach · 389 Amy Heckerling · 414
Ralph Bellamy · 390 Audrey Hepburn · 416
John Belushi · 391 Alfred Hitchcock · 417
Humphrey Bogart · 392 Judy Holliday · 418
Bugs Bunny · 393 Bob Hope · 419
Frank Capra · 394 Edward Everett Horton · 420
Jim Carrey · 395 John Hughes · 420
Chevy Chase · 396 Jim Jarmusch · 422
Cheech & Chong (Cheech Marin Chuck Jones · 422
and Tommy Chong) · 397
Garson Kanin & Ruth Gordon · 423
Maurice Chevalier · 398
Charlie Kaufman · 424
Claudette Colbert · 399
Diane Keaton and Mia Farrow · 425
Gary Cooper · 399
Stanley Kubrick · 426
Bill Cosby · 400
Harry Langdon · 427
Billy Crystal · 401
Spike Lee · 428
George Cukor · 402
Mitchell Leisen · 429
Cameron Diaz · 403
Jack Lemmon & Walter Matthau · 430
Marlene Dietrich · 404
Richard Linklater · 431
Stanley Donen · 405
Carole Lombard · 432
Margaret Dumont · 406
Myrna Loy · 433
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Shirley MacLaine · 433 Morrie Ryskind, Bert Kalmar &
Harry Ruby, George S. Kaufman,
Jayne Mansfield · 434
and S. J. Perelman · 456
Dean Martin · 435
Adam Sandler · 457
Elaine May · 436
Mack Sennett · 458
Leo McCarey · 437
Neil Simon · 459
Joel McCrea · 438
Kevin Smith · 459
Lorne Michaels · 439
Steven Soderbergh · 460
Mike Myers · 440
Barbara Stanwyck · 461
Mike Nichols · 441
James Stewart · 462
Jack Nicholson · 442
Whit Stillman · 463
Alexander Payne · 443
Meryl Streep · 464
Tyler Perry · 444
Barbra Streisand · 465
Pixar · 445
Quentin Tarantino · 466
Harold Ramis · 446
Frank Tashlin · 466
Tony Randall · 447
The Three Stooges · 467
Samson Raphaelson · 447
Vince Vaughn · 468
Carl Reiner · 448
John Waters · 469
Rob Reiner · 449
Keenen Ivory Wayans · 470
Hal Roach · 450
John Wayne · 471
Julia Roberts · 451
Gene Wilder · 472
Will Rogers · 452
Robin Williams · 472
Paul Rudd · 452
Renée Zellweger · 474
David O. Russell · 453
Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams,
Rosalind Russell · 454
and David Zucker · 474
Winona Ryder · 455
• • •
Top 100 American Comedies · 477
Bibliography · 481
Index · 485
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acknowledgments
Many friends and family members generously offered their assistance
with this book. My father, Michael Austerlitz, and my father-in-law,
Dan Silber, gave generously of their capacious movie collections, making the
research process that much easier. Margaret Miller watched and discussed
movies with me, and Ali Austerlitz, Reuben Silberman, and Dr. Ari Vander-
walde edited drafts of the book and offered their sage advice. Others provided
comfort of a more intangible, but no less valuable, sort: Annie Austerlitz,
Lisa Choueke Blank, Ari Holtzblatt, Jesse Kellerman, Josh Olken, Eli Segal,
Carla and Dan Silber, Abby Silber, Rabbi Daniel Smokler, Adi Weinberg, Zev
Wexler, and Aaron Zamost. Professor Michael Roemer of Yale University
was, unbeknownst to him, the inspiration for this book, his mind-expanding
course on the American comedy (which I took as a senior in college) first
opening my eyes to the glories of the subject. My agent, William Clark, saw
this project through from the original kernel of an idea, which began to form
as my mind wandered during Rosh Hashana services back in 2007. My sin-
cere thanks to Yuval Taylor, Mary Kravenas, Devon Freeny, and the entire
staff at Chicago Review Press. My appreciation, as well, to the New York Pub-
lic Library and Brooklyn Public Library for providing research materials, and
a comfortable, quiet place to work. As always, none of this could have hap-
pened without the love and encouragement of my parents, Michael and Sarah
Austerlitz. My deepest thanks go to my wife, Becky Silber. Her unfailing
love and support, and invaluable pro bono service as a freelance repository of
ideas, saw me through the oft-trying process of writing. This book is for her.
ix
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