- Paperback: 196 pages
- Publisher: Scholarly Book Services Inc (Jun 27 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0878057250
- ISBN-13: 978-0878057252
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 386 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
Before Groucho Marx and W.C. Fields, comedy was innocent. After they left their hilarious smudges on the genre, it was anything but. Groucho Marx the leering, wise-cracking, pseudo-intellectual (c.1890-1977) together with his brothers Chico, Harpo, Gummo, and Zeppo, first performed on Broadway in 1924 and took it by storm in The Coconuts (1925) and more memorably Animal Crackers (1928) which was filmed the following year. Moving to Hollywood with the advent of "talkies" for such classics as Monkey Business (1931), Duck Soup (1933) and A Night at the Opera (1935), Groucho developed his own hilarious brand of farce poking fun at convention and confronting audiences with a wealth of double-entendres. W.C. Fields "..never act with dogs or children!" (1879-1946) began his stage life as a juggler on the vaudeville circuit. By his early 20s he was already a top-billed star who performed alongside the renowned Ziegfield Follies on Broadway. His first film was Pool Sharks (1915) but it was his appearance in D.W. Griffith's Sally of the Sawdust (1925) which established him in Hollywood at the relatively late age of 46. This is a tribute to the pair and the art of filmflam comedy with both Groucho and Fields revealed as trail-blazers who dared depart from the paths laid down by the comedy of innocence.
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
GOOD FOR DIE-HARD FANS & SCHOLARS, BUT NOT FOR GENERAL FANS,
By A Customer
This review is from: Groucho and W.C. Fields: Huckster Comedians (Hardcover)
Gehring's book is like a text book. Like a thesis. It's good on that level; but there's always the ultimate question: Why analyze comedy at all? Once you start to explain it on a serious, scientific level, you've drained it from all it's fun. This book will help understand W.C. Fields & Groucho's worth in the history of Comedy and Satire, but it won't win them new fans. I love Groucho & W.C. Fields; I think they were brilliant, geniuses and true artists. But this book with it's text book, scientific style, is drab and makes you wonder what is so funny about them. If you really want to know and enjoy W.C. Fields & Groucho, watch their films.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review) 6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
GOOD FOR DIE-HARD FANS & SCHOLARS, BUT NOT FOR GENERAL FANS,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Groucho and W.C. Fields: Huckster Comedians (Hardcover)
Gehring's book is like a text book. Like a thesis. It's good on that level; but there's always the ultimate question: Why analyze comedy at all? Once you start to explain it on a serious, scientific level, you've drained it from all it's fun. This book will help understand W.C. Fields & Groucho's worth in the history of Comedy and Satire, but it won't win them new fans. I love Groucho & W.C. Fields; I think they were brilliant, geniuses and true artists. But this book with it's text book, scientific style, is drab and makes you wonder what is so funny about them. If you really want to know and enjoy W.C. Fields & Groucho, watch their films.
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