You know you are getting old when:

[GHT]

Wheeler and Woolsey, on the other hand, were geniuses.

It always makes me wonder why so few popular Americans fare less well abroad. Bob Hope proved that comedy has no boundaries, I guess that it could be said that he knew the Brits better than most, as well as being a child emigree, he visited family here, on and off throughout his life.

We here in our press that the comic duo Morcambe & Wise were a pair of genius' but their comedy didn't seem to travel either. Strange.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Jack Benny did surprisingly well in the UK during his various postwar tours, but his comedy was a kind of character-based humor that transcends jokes, boundaries. or the use of "u" in "humour."

On this side of the Pond, I was quite fond of The Two Ronnies as a teenager. "And now, tonight's football. (Puts football on desk and looks at it.)"

 

[3fingers]

In my youth it was Monty Python and other similar acts from your shores. I and many others thought they were hilarious, others did not agree so they were not as popular as I thought they should have been.

 

[ChiTownScion]

A&C have always left me cold -- they were decent technicians for the kind of comedy they did, but they never had any personal chemistry with each other that I could sense at all. I find that their better films were the ones where they had a strong setting to work off -- the Army, Dracula's castle -- or a strong supporting cast, and weren't dependent on their personalities to carry the material. Burlesque comedy in its natural environment didn't need personal chemistry to make it work, but as soon as you take that type of comic off the theatre stage and try to make them carry a story, the thinness of the material becomes very evident.

Ever since I read that Lou Costello ripped off sight gags from Curly Howard, I had no use for them. "A gentleman does not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do," and all that.

"Who's on First?" was a pretty decent bit, but not enough to rate them as comic geniuses. Anyway... that's my view.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Who's on First" wasn't even original to them-- it's based on any number of burlesque and vaudeville bits based on misinterpretation of homonyms. Wheeler and Woolsey do a very similar routine about "Watt Street/What Street?" in a film made seven years before A&C hit it big on radio with "Who's On First?" When you're talking about the comics of that era, there was very little original material being used, especially in burlesque. Everything was seen as a common pool, from which anyone could draw, since very few burlesque comics had anything like a distinctive persona beyond that of the wise guy or the dupe. Put on a derby and a checked sport coat, lift a few gags, and you're a burlesque comic.

Where A&C became prominent where so many others didn't was the sheer forcefulness with which they delivered their material. I think Bud Abbott was actually the more talented of the two -- listen to them doing "Who's On First" and pick up how it seems like he *really believes what he's saying.* That relentless pushing forward with utter nonsense in the face of Costello's mounting confusion is what really carries the bit, and I think this carries thru most of their other work. But that forcefulness is also their weakness in a long-term setting -- they're great doing an eight-minute bit in front of the curtain in a revue, but when they have to carry a whole half-hour radio show or the lead roles in a movie they run out of steam pretty fast.

 

[Zombie_61]

...Where A&C became prominent where so many others didn't was the sheer forcefulness with which they delivered their material. I think Bud Abbott was actually the more talented of the two -- listen to them doing "Who's On First" and pick up how it seems like he *really believes what he's saying.* That relentless pushing forward with utter nonsense in the face of Costello's mounting confusion is what really carries the bit, and I think this carries thru most of their other work...

In my opinion Bud Abbott was one of the best "straight" men in the history of entertainment, and never received enough credit for being the foundation of their act.

 

[2jakes]

In my opinion Bud Abbott was one of the best "straight" men in the history of entertainment, and never received enough credit for being the foundation of their act.

Ditto...

Mr. Oliver Norvell Hardy!

 

[Zombie_61]

I can't say I've ever acquired a taste for Laurel and Hardy, but I'm almost positive this is due to my first exposure to them. When I was in elementary school the "rainy day" schedule was to sequester all of the students in the Kindergarten classroom (the largest room at the facility) and show us movies in lieu of recess. Being a publicly funded school in California, and long before the advent of VCRs and DVD/Blu-Ray players, they had only two or three non-educational movies on hand, one of which was Laurel and Hardy's The Music Box (1932). So every time it rained we were forced to endure the same movies over and over and over. I probably enjoyed it the first time or two, but it wasn't long before I found it tedious so the thought of watching anything featuring Laurel and Hardy has negative connotations in my mind.

 

[2jakes]

I can't say I've ever acquired a taste for Laurel and Hardy, but I'm almost positive this is due to my first exposure to them. When I was in elementary school the "rainy day" schedule was to sequester all of the students in the Kindergarten classroom (the largest room at the facility) and show us movies in lieu of recess. Being a publicly funded school in California, and long before the advent of VCRs and DVD/Blu-Ray players, they had only two or three non-educational movies on hand, one of which was Laurel and Hardy's The Music Box (1932). So every time it rained we were forced to endure the same movies over and over and over. I probably enjoyed it the first time or two, but it wasn't long before I found it tedious so the thought of watching anything featuring Laurel and Hardy has negative connotations in my mind.

Sorry you had to go through that situation.

It was in my teen years and having outgrown A&C that I was introduced
to Laurel & Hardy when my father took me to the theater for a special
showing of this comedy team.
This was one of the rare instances that my father and I
shared something which he enjoyed as a kid.

Btw:
I developed a dislike for the taste of Lifebuoy soap and an animosity
towards nuns during my first years in school.

I hated first grade elementary and those pale-face wrinkled
women dressed in black which reminded me of penguins.

Today I prefer...Irish Spring.

 

[Fading Fast]

I can't say I've ever acquired a taste for Laurel and Hardy, but I'm almost positive this is due to my first exposure to them. When I was in elementary school the "rainy day" schedule was to sequester all of the students in the Kindergarten classroom (the largest room at the facility) and show us movies in lieu of recess. Being a publicly funded school in California, and long before the advent of VCRs and DVD/Blu-Ray players, they had only two or three non-educational movies on hand, one of which was Laurel and Hardy's The Music Box (1932). So every time it rained we were forced to endure the same movies over and over and over. I probably enjoyed it the first time or two, but it wasn't long before I found it tedious so the thought of watching anything featuring Laurel and Hardy has negative connotations in my mind.

We had something similar, but it was all public safety or health movies which are boring the first time and only get more boring on subsequent viewing. I think about his when I see a minivan with kids in the back seat each watching his or her own video. In forty, really only about thirty, years we went from a few selections, watch-what's-on world to everyone being able to select from an incredible set of options for themselves.

 

[ChrisB]

I hated first grade elementary and those pale-face wrinkled
women dressed in black which reminded me of penguins.

When I was in catechism, the nuns came in two varieties: Maria von Trapp or Attila the Nun.

 

[2jakes]

When I was in catechism, the nuns came in two varieties: Maria von Trapp or Attila the Nun.

I was six and my world was surrounded mostly by folks with dark brown eyes.

Reflecting back, I recall one young nun
who had the face of an angel.
This was my first time I had seen blue eyes
and rosy complexion.
She was nice to me which made up for the
others who weren't.
I remember her telling me I had the longest eyelashes and lovely dark eyes
she had ever seen.
Not knowing about life, I was puzzled and curious why I felt warm or excited when she gave me a hug when I was crying because the other nun had taken a ruler to punish me for not reciting the prayer correctly.

 

[Zombie_61]

We had something similar, but it was all public safety or health movies which are boring the first time and only get more boring on subsequent viewing...

The closest we got to anything like that was this silly movie called Stop Look and Listen:

The school staff would occasionally show us this instead of The Music Box, and I can only assume there was some form of trade agreement between the local elementary schools.

 

[GHT]

I was six and my world was surrounded mostly by folks with dark brown eyes.

Reflecting back, I recall one young nun
who had the face of an angel.
This was my first time I had seen blue eyes
and rosy complexion.
She was nice to me which made up for the
others who weren't.
I remember her telling me I had the longest eyelashes and lovely dark eyes
she had ever seen.
Not knowing about life, I was puzzled and curious why I felt warm or excited when she gave me a hug when I was crying because the other nun had taken a ruler to punish me for not reciting the prayer correctly.

Well you see, God is love and you need to be taught that God is love, that's why you need to be beaten with a twelve inch ruler for not reciting your prayers correctly, you little heathen.
One of our masters used to thrash small boys with the edge of a ruler if they didn't get a religious question right, word perfect right. Many years later I met him again and called him an abusive bully. He denied that he hit me. Perhaps I should have thrashed him with the edge of a twelve inch ruler because God doesn't like lies.

 

[2jakes]

Well you see, God is love and you need to be taught that God is love, that's why you need to be beaten with a twelve inch ruler for not reciting your prayers correctly, you little heathen.
One of our masters used to thrash small boys with the edge of a ruler if they didn't get a religious question right, word perfect right. Many years later I met him again and called him an abusive bully. He denied that he hit me. Perhaps I should have thrashed him with the edge of a twelve inch ruler because God doesn't like lies.

Thrashing is "nun'' of my business!

 

[scottyrocks]

Thrashing is "nun'' of my business!

View attachment 135043

 

[2jakes]

View attachment 135044

Silence is Golden!

 

[GHT]

Thrashing is "nun'' of my business!

View attachment 135043

 

[2jakes]

_

 

[LizzieMaine]

Laurel and Hardy are an acquired taste for a lot of people, especially women -- many of whom are critical of the misogyny they perceive in their films. I find that issue a bit more complex: I think the kind of stuff L&H did reflects the rampaging insecurity many American men felt in the 1920s and 1930s in the face of the increasing empowerment of women, a manifestation which is very common in the comedy of the period, especially comic strips -- where the prevailing image of The American Man was a chicken-chested, slope-shouldered, splay-footed, bald-headed, potato-nosed, scribbly-moustached thoroughly-emasculated Henry Tremblechin type of character, constantly under the thumb of his wife. The domestic comedies of L&H, with the ever-scowling likes of Mae Busch and Anita Garvin as their wives, are simply another aspect of what was a common trope thruout that period of popular culture.

As for me personally, I get more enjoyment out of L&H's non-domestic films, where they're just a dumb guy and a dumber guy against the world. Their concept of "reciprocal destruction" is a pretty hilarious and unique reversal of the usual slapstick routine, and it gets funnier the longer it goes on. "Big Business" makes me laugh out loud no matter how often I see it.