Feeling better by the dozen

I RECENTLY FINISHED WRITING A TEXT on film comedians from the Depression decade of the 1930s. The study filters its analysis through 12 pivotal pictures. Each represents a mini-microcosm of the comic world of its focus funny person or persons. The classic dozen are "City Lights" (1931, Charlie Chaplin), "The Kid From Spain" (1932, Eddie 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" (1934, Joe E. Brown), "A Night at the Opera" (1935, Marx Brothers), "Modern Times" (1936, Charlie Chaplin), "Way Out West" (1937, Laurel and Hardy), and "The Cat and the Canary" (1939, Bob Hope).

Though the personality comedian component constitutes the main thrust of the individual chapters, this is not to suggest that all clown films exist independent of other comedy genres. Indeed, there are few pure examples of any phenomenon. Personality comedians often have an affinity for thematic comedies. Such ties actually are born out of the clown personae itself. For example, the comic absurdity of the Marxes sometimes lends itself to dark comedy, such as the war-related scenes of "Duck Soup." The folksy crackerbarrel axioms of Rogers celebrates feel-good populism, especially in "Judge Priest." Hope's flip-flops between comic antihero and egotistical wise guy are nicely attuned to spoofing, such as the horror film reaffirmation parody nature of "The Cat and the Canary." Reaffirmation is an edgier, more subtle approach to parody, and West also explores this genre as it relates to melodrama in "She Done Him Wrong." Finally, Laurel and Hardy embrace the more traditional broad-based type of parody in "Way Out West," which comically derails the Western.

While this text keys upon the comedy stars of these pantheon pictures, "success," as the old axiom goes, "often has many parents." Thus, in three cases, a now-celebrated director undoubtedly helped elevate a vehicle to memorable movie status. Leo McCarey directed "The Kid From Spain" and "Duck Soup." When one factors in that McCarey also teamed and molded Laurel and Hardy in the late 1920s, with "Sons of the Desert" closely following a McCarey scenario (though he was not tied directly to the picture), one feels as if Leo should receive special billing with the comedians. After all, McCarey is the only director ever to put a personal stamp on a Marx Brothers movie, while still making it easily their best picture. "Duck Soup" also is arguably the most acclaimed of the films examined herein, with the American Film Institute calling it one of the five funniest movies ever made.

In keying upon the 12 focus films, the best of the personality comedian crop from the 1930s, a significant picture or two by the same comic or team often came under special scrutiny. One such example is the Will Rogers-John Ford trilogy. A better analysis of the central "Judge Priest" is achieved by an awareness of the two other collaborations--"Dr. Bull" (1933) and "Steamboat Round the Bend" (1935). Along similar lines, a critique of Joe E. Brown's inspired "Alibi Ike" is enriched by comparisons with his two other excellent baseball comedies--"Fireman, Save My Child" (1932) and "Elmer the Great" (1933). Conversely, the comic range of an artist likewise can be gauged by the diversity of parts over a small window of time. For instance, the chapter on Fields' greatest film, his antiheroic classic, "It's a Gift," also examines how the comedian's best huckster (his other persona) picture, "The Old-Fashioned Way" (1934), opened in the same calendar year.

Given comedy's tendency to be escapist, of the 12 pivotal pictures, only Chaplin's "Modem Times" deals directly with the Depression and related themes, such as unemployment and street violence between the police and left-wing workers. However, this is not to imply the other focus films are without realistic flourishes. West's "She Done Him Wrong" is highlighted by her signature sexuality--as well as veiled references to prostitution. "Sons of the Desert" and "It's a Gift" explore the world of henpecked husbands with such attention to detail that the pictures are both funny and unexpectedly poignant.

Finally, one should hasten to add that the greatest gift one receives from personality comedy--the ritualistic capacity which repeatedly brings the viewer back to the performer's works--has a special relevance to the Depression. Cinema clown comedy of any age is about resilience--physical and spiritual. That is, funny characters laughingly comfort us in our short lives with their comeback comedy. This can embrace the cinematic slapstick of a character flattened one moment, only to be totally revived in the next film frame, or can be applied to tragic tendencies in the real life of the comedian. To fashion laughter from personal pain may be the ultimate act of courage.