In this Book
Hokum!: The Early Sound Slapstick Short and Depression-Era Mass Culture
Book
2017
Published by:
University of California Press
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
summary
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Hokum! is the first book to take a comprehensive view of short-subject slapstick comedy in the early sound era. Challenging the received wisdom that sound destroyed the slapstick tradition, author Rob King explores the slapstick short’s Depression-era development against a backdrop of changes in film industry practice, comedic tastes, and moviegoing culture. Each chapter is grounded in case studies of comedians and comic teams, including the Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, and Robert Benchley. The book also examines how the past legacy of silent-era slapstick was subsequently reimagined as part of a nostalgic mythology of Hollywood’s youth.
Hokum! is the first book to take a comprehensive view of short-subject slapstick comedy in the early sound era. Challenging the received wisdom that sound destroyed the slapstick tradition, author Rob King explores the slapstick short’s Depression-era development against a backdrop of changes in film industry practice, comedic tastes, and moviegoing culture. Each chapter is grounded in case studies of comedians and comic teams, including the Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, and Robert Benchley. The book also examines how the past legacy of silent-era slapstick was subsequently reimagined as part of a nostalgic mythology of Hollywood’s youth.
Table of Contents
Cover
Publisher
pp. a-a
Publisher acknowledgements
pp. b-b
Half Title
pp. i-ii
Title Page
pp. iii-iii
Copyright
pp. iv-iv
Dedication
pp. v-vi
Table of Contents
pp. vii-viii
List of Illustrations and Audiovisual Media
pp. ix-x
Acknowledgments
pp. xi-xiii
Introduction
pp. xiv-17
PART I. CONTEXTS
pp. 18-19
1.âââThe Cuckoo Schoolâ: Humor and Metropolitan Culture in 1920s America
pp. 20-54
2.ââThe Stigma of Slapstickâ: The Short-Subject Industry and Its Imagined Public
pp. 55-91
PART II. CASE HISTORIES
pp. 92-94
3.âââThe Spice of the Programâ: Educational Pictures and the Small-Town Audience
pp. 95-124
4.ââI Want Music Everywhereâ: Music, Operetta, and Cultural Hierarchy at the Hal Roach Studios
pp. 125-156
5.âââFrom the Archives of Keystone Memoryâ: Slapstick and Re-membrance at Columbia Picturesâ Short-Subjects Department
pp. 157-190
Coda: When Comedy Was King
pp. 191-200
List of Abbreviations
pp. 201-201
Notes
pp. 202-244
Index
pp. 245-254
| ISBN | 9780520963160 |
|---|---|
| Related ISBN(s) | 9780520288119 |
| DOI | 10.1353/book.63378 |
| MARC Record | Download |
| OCLC | 1139836360 |
| Pages | 272 |
| Launched on MUSE | 2020-02-11 |
| Language | English |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Creative Commons | CC-BY-NC-ND |
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