This unusual 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 Will Rogers, Groucho Marx and W.C. Fields. Six comic film genres are indentified as outgrowths of a national tradition of cracker barrel philosophers and country store raconteurs—personality comedy, populism, parody, screwball comedy, romantic comedy and dark comedy. Tracing a rambling lineage from Ben Franklin to Mark Twain to Bob Hope to Steve Martin, the author presents a genealogy of glib antiheroes blowing raspberries at the world.

Wes D. Gehring is a distinguished professor of film at Ball State University and associate media editor for USA Today magazine, for which he also writes the column “Reel World.” He is the author of 40 film books, including biographies of James Dean, Carole Lombard, Steve McQueen, Robert Wise, Red Skelton and Charlie Chaplin.

Wes D. Gehring
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages:
Bibliographic Info: ca. 35 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2023
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8899-2
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5049-4
Imprint: McFarland