The Great Comic Artists of the 20th Century
by Hilary Hersh
Those who enjoy comedy got plenty of laughs in the one-week course entitled The Great Comic Artists of the 20th Century. Along with clips of some of the actors' most hilarious scenes, the course provided brief video biographies explaining how each of the performers honed their skills and achieved their fame.
Those who enjoy comedy got plenty of laughs in the one-week course entitled The Great Comic Artists of the 20th Century. Along with clips of some of the actors' most hilarious scenes, the course provided brief video biographies explaining how each of the performers honed their skills and achieved their fame.
Proceeding in chronological order, the class began with the silent movie era geniuses Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd. Students viewed scenes depicting Chaplin's Tramp character in groundbreaking films like "The Tramp," "The Circus," and "Modern Times," as well as his parody of Adolph Hitler in the 1940 classic "The Great Dictator." We saw Keaton's and Lloyd's daring stunts, including Lloyd's iconic clock dangling scene from the movie "Safety Last."
Great collaborations were next, featuring The Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, and The Three Stooges. Among the bits we watched were Laurel and Hardy's portrayal of fumbling piano movers in "The Music Box," winner of the 1932 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Comedy, the Marx Brothers' bed changing scene in "A Night at the Opera," the Stooges' antics in "Disorder in the Court," and the wonderful "Who's on First?" from Abbott and Costello. The class ended with the incomparable Lucille Ball in such masterful scenes as the chocolate factory and the Vitameatavegamin commercial.
Of course, the class didn't cover all of the great comic actors. There just wasn't enough time. But students got the main idea: In life, you can never have too much laughter.
