W.C.Fields was one of the comedic geniuses of the dawn of moving pictures.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLLQ1VGK1wQ
He was a gifted juggler, which enabled him to develop the sight gags shown above. He wrote his own lines, under a variety of silly pseudonyms.
His character was often based on a hard drinking reprobate with a particular contempt for children, which people generally believed was his real life personality. Unfortunately, he did succumb to alcoholism which hastened his demise somewhat.
Much of the comedy that followed was inspired by Fields, as well as other luminaries such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy.
Mae West was far removed from her onscreen personna. She was shrewd, intelligent and also did most of her own lines, frequently running foul of America's puritanical censorship restrictions.
Many of her quips and barbed one liners are still quoted today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJS670okmZc
Buster Keaton was yet another innovative genius. He not only wrote and directed his movies, he devised the many stunts, designed the props to create the stunt...and did the stunts himself. As you can see, many were extremely dangerous with no safety equipment. His visual gags have been copied and mimicked ever since, but not with same dare and flair.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J8XM1_rOTg
I don't know any of them.
Charlie Chaplin is to visual slapstick comedy as the Beatles are to modern music. He also developed his own routines and designed the props. His mastery was to convey the comedy without the benefit of sound, using facial expressions and body movements.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17PkUsTVa7g
Quote from: "Shen Li"
See. The Blue Cashew...where learning is FUN!!!
:yahoo:
Laurel and Hardy followed the early comedy genre but created the comedic duo, where one played off the other for the laughs. Their personnas and double teaming routines were copied by many, including Abbott and Costello, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis and Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, with one being the "straight" guy and the other the stooge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDubPEb1OfA
Quote from: "Bricktop"
Quote from: "Shen Li"
See. The Blue Cashew...where learning is FUN!!!
:yahoo:
I'm learning a lot.
:laugh:
Everybody knows Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Laurel&Hardy..
Used to be a great consumer of Laurel&Hardy when I was a kid..
The one with Laurel guarding the trench 20 years after the war had ended...
Abbott and Costello were inspired by Laurel and Hardy...but rather than rely on slapstick and visual gags, they incorporated rapid fire repartee and verbal gags, with this sketch regarded as their finest hour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sShMA85pv8M
Were the Three Stooges classic comedy?
I am into classic sitcoms from the late fifties to the late seventies.
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Were the Three Stooges classic comedy?
Mmm...good question.
The Three Stooges were pure slapstick, visual gags and puns...and were targetted more towards a younger audience with short features rather than full length movies. Parents were always concerned about the violent nature of some of their sketches. The Stooges were considered as milking cheap gags rather than innovative comedians. And that's exactly what they wanted to be seen as. They were the poor man's Marx Brothers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVeDt9zSbr0
The Marx Brothers were the forerunner of the Three Stooges, expanding the Laurel and Hardy duet to a triplet (actually a fourtet...there were 4 brothers in some of their movies). Much of their humour was sharp banter and witticisms with Groucho leading the way. Many of his one-liners are in common usage today. They were masters of the pun and misinterpreted language expressions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPHjJnFqs-s
Quote from: "Bricktop"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17PkUsTVa7g
:laugh3: