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ix Acknowledgments Like many first books, this work represents a long journey through various universities, libraries, conferences, and classrooms. Foremost, I am indebted to Maureen Turim, who saw early on that my obsession with Classic Hollywood comedians masked possibly a greater obsession with the limitations of gender labels.During my time at the University of Florida,her mentorship was invaluable . I also wish to thank Susan Hegeman, whose notes helped to develop this from a dissertation into a book manuscript, as well as Scott Nygren and Nora Alter,who both championed the project from its earliest stages.Other scholars warrant thanks as well, including Kathryn Fuller-Seeley,Vincent Brook, Lynne Joyrich, Sara Levavy, Neil Verma, Michael Dwyer, Steven Carr, Michael Rennett , Lester Friedman, Kyle Stevens, John Nelson, Robin Andersen, and Jason Sperb (who, among other things, accompanied me on a cold March visit to Waukegan, Illinois, to see a statue of Jack Benny). I also wish to thank all those who taught me film over the years—including Turim, Nygren, Alter, Robert Ray, Mark Reid, Leonard Leff, Hugh Manon, and Jeffery Walker (a man even more Jack Benny obsessed than this author).Staffs of the libraries and archives I visited for this project deserve recognition as well, in particular the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research in Madison, Wisconsin. I also need to acknowledge Henry Jenkins,whose What Made Pistachio Nuts? Early Sound Comedy and the Vaudeville Aesthetic (1992) still proves the gold standard in comedian studies and very much inspired me, and the late Alexander Doty, whose pioneering work in queer studies and cinema laid the foundation for much of this scholarship. I am also very grateful to the academic departments and institutions that provided additional support as I developed this book. The University of Florida ’s Alumni Graduate Fellowship funded me as I finished my graduate work and began this project as a dissertation. The Georgia Institute of Technology’s x | acknowledgments Marion L. Britain Postdoctoral Fellow greatly helped me as I worked on the early revisions. Most importantly, Northern Illinois University’s Department of English provided me support as I expanded Buffoon Men,including funding my visits to conferences as well as libraries and archives. I am grateful to my colleagues at NIU, who have been especially supportive—in particular, Philip Eubanks,Amy Levin,Tim Ryan,and Robert T.Self.I also have special gratitude for the students of two classes that I had the good fortune to teach. During the spring of 2008 at UF, the undergraduates of Classic Hollywood and Comedy were wonderfully enthusiastic about watching old comedians and reading gender theory,which motivated me in developing the foundations of this book. Also, my NIU graduate seminar Comedy: Culture, Theory, and Performance during the fall of 2010 allowed me to partake in enlightening discussions of my research with a talented group of young scholars. Special thanks are in order for Barry Keith Grant, whose interest in the original proposal allowed this book to find a home at Wayne State University Press. Also, his own work in masculinity studies and insights on the manuscript helped to improve my work. Editor Annie Martin was a wonderfully patient guide throughout the publication process. Copyeditor Dawn Hall, design director Maya Whelan, and production manager Kristin Harpster helped immeasurably in the book’s production. I also wish to thank the anonymous reviewers of the original manuscript, whose expertise in gender and queer theory were greatly appreciated during the revision process. Finally,I want to thank my friends and family: in particular,my late father, whose devotion and work ethic still inspire me, and my mother, from whom I inherited my love of Abbott and Costello—along with my love for everything else that matters in life. ...

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