On the surface it may seem slightly surprising that a master of verbal humour should also be a devotee of silent comedy, but Paul Merton is completely passionate about the early days of Hollywood comedy and the comic geniuses who dominated it. His knowledge is awesome - as anyone who watched his BBC 4 series Silent Clowns or attended the events he has staged nationwide will agree - his enthusiasm is infectious, and these qualities are to be found in abundance in his book. Starting with the very earliest pioneering short films, he traces the evolution of silent comedy through the 1900s and considers the works of the genre's greatest exponents - Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy and Harold Lloyd - showing not only how each developed in the course of their career but also the extent to which they influenced each other. At the same time, Paul brings a comedian's insight to bear on the art of making people laugh, and explores just how the great comic ideas, routines, gags and pratfalls worked and evolved. His first book for ten years, this is destined to be a classic.

An encyclopedic look at silent film comedy that covers all the greats, from the Keystone Kops to Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Buster Keaton, as well as myriad lesser-known figures. Readers will delight in reacquainting themselves with the movies that first made audiences laugh.

A survey of more than 375 silent movies--from 1902 to 1936--giving an account of the story line along with an examination of and special indexing for the directing, cinematography, editing, screenwriting, performing, and the history of all early studios.

This guide discusses laughter in the cinema, from "Airplane!" to "Withnail and I" and from John Belushi to Billy Wilder.

This lavishly illustrated collection of essays recalls the movies that over the past century have created never-ending waves of hilarity. Their authors include such prominent critics as James Agee, J. Hoberman, Robin Wood, David Thomson and Jonathan Rosenbaum. Beginning as the book does with the Silent Era, it also features Louella Parsons writing about Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton writing about, more or less, himself.

"Immortal Comedy is the first book to "think" philosophically about the comic phenomenon in general. This book is a deep meditation on the subject of the comic form in film, literature, and life. In it, Agnes Heller takes us on a journey through theories of comedy, beginning with classical thought. She then detours through foundational political thinkers who refer to, for instance, laughter and power. We are also introduced to several approaches to thinking comedy: modern systematic approaches, psychological approaches, and existential approaches."--BOOK JACKET.

MacCann features Mack Sennett, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Harry Langdon in this guide to the lives and works of the most important silent comedy movie-makers in America_the fourth in his acclaimed series, American Movies: The First Thirty Years. In twenty-eight articles reprinted from various sources, twenty-five contributors show how these five artists struggled in early years to find themselves, rise above limited circumstances, and make their entries into production at a time when Hollywood was the new frontier of the twentieth century. For each artist, MacCann includes some kind of statement by the artist himself about comic goals and methods. Contributors include James Agee, Samuel Gill, Penelope Houston, Theodore Huff, Janet E. Lorenz, Donald McCaffrey, Charles J. Maland, Daniel Moews, Graham Petrie, David Robinson, Michael Roemer, Robert E. Sherwood, Anthony Slide, William Schelly, and others. MacCann's introduction eloquently discusses the value of comedy and laments the critical tendency to prefer tragedy: '...the jolly fat clowns of comedy must more than ever be critically stretched to conform with lanky and lugubrious Hamlets in order to be worthy of praise. The celebration of the sad clown is a triumph of philosophy over art.'

This book presents a combined biographical, critical, and bibliographical estimate of Laurel and Hardy's significance in film comedy, the arts in general, and as popular culture icons. The book features biographical information on the public and privates lives of Laurel and Hardy, a critique of four broad influences of Laurel and Hardy, and a bibliographical essay, assessing key reference materials and locating research collections open to the student and/or scholar.