The Comedians
Page 43
Thank you to my parents, whose preference in comedy began and ended with Hee-Haw. Thank you to the Cinefamily Theater and its stewards Hadrian Belove, Bret Berg and Tom Fitzgerald for allowing me to present Mel Brooks and George Schlatter on its stage. Thank you to Jim Pitt and the staff at Conan for putting me in the same room with Mel Brooks in the first place. Thank you to Mel Brooks for being Mel Brooks.
Thank you to those that did the grunt work: my agent Daniel Greenberg, my editor Jamison Stoltz, photographer Jim Herrington and my lawyer Marc Veitenheimer, who desperately wanted a mention of the W. C. Fields film Million Dollar Legs in the book—so here it is.
Thank you to those who lent so much moral support through the entire process, which really started way back in 2007 when I was doing stuff online with no clear purpose. Thank you for your kindness, Victoria Fasano, Sara Bynoe, Brie Eileigh, Alana Purcell, Kristen Rattray, Illeana Douglas—and especially WFMU’s Ken Freedman, for allowing me full creative freedom to grow as a writer, researcher and artist.
NOTES
All page numbers refer to the print edition of The Comedians. Please use the search feature on your reader to locate the text that corresponds to the phrase in the notes entries below.
Introduction
xiii“Just tell the truth”: Seriously Funny by Gerald Nachman, pg 250
xiv“Some of them are in pain”: Ibid., pg 36
xiv“There have been volumes”: Today, Bryant Gumbel interview with Johnny Carson, 1983
xiv“The dusty corners”: “Gripes of Rapp” by Ben Ohmart, pgs 243-244
xv“He’s an actor”: Impolite Interviews by Paul Krassner, pg 15
xv“You could tell a joke”: Marx Brothers Scrapbook by Richard J. Anobile, pg 112
xv“Carl [Reiner] smoked a cigar”: Incredible Mel Brooks: An Irresistible Collection of Unhinged Comedy
xvi“Milton Berle chided me”: Name Dropping by Alan King with Chris Chase, pg 186
xvi“Comedy—every era—as it dies”: Nachman, pg 25
xvi“People say to me”: Ibid., pg 27
xvii“There will never be enough”: Secret Word Is Groucho by Arthur Marks, pg 107
Chapter One: Vaudville Comedians
1“the incubator baby shows”: Vaudeville by Joe Laurie Jr., pg 337
1“Mrs. Keith instigated”: American Vaudeville as Seen by Its Contemporaries edited by Charles W. Stein, pg 254
2“These contracts could be used”: Much Ado About Me by Fred Allen, pg 214
3“Their virtual monopoly”: Stein, pgs 110, 214
3“I toiled when I first started”: Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, interview with Milton Berle
3“It was dollar-and-a-half”: Harpo Speaks by Harpo Marx with Rowland Barber, pg 99
3“It should have been spelled”: World I Lived by George Jessel, pgs 19-20
3“The vaudeville seasons”: Marx Brothers Scrapbook by Richard J. Anobile, pg 13
3“the dressing rooms were unclean”: Moe Howard and the Three Stooges by Moe Howard, pgs 48-50
4“the most miserable [time]”: Stein, pgs 248-249
4“If they ran off”: Ibid.
4“There never seemed to be”: Allen, pgs 186-187
4“Looking back”: Stein, pg 286
4“along with midgets”: King of Comedy by Mack Sennett and Cameron Shipp, pg 27
4“prostitutes, pimps, touts, beggars”: Ibid., pg 38
5“You could buy anything”: Laurie Jr., pg 283
5“Late night work made me”: Variety, May 28, 1924
5Narcotics addiction was so common: 50 Years of American Comedy by Bill Treadwell, pg 14
5“but none of the imitators”: Pittsburgh Press, March 7, 1915
5Ray Ripley was: Variety, July 8, 1921
5Comic Joe Perryfi dealt: Ibid., May 21, 1924
5“Prohibition posed great problems”: Allen, pg 221
6“alcoholics of all sizes”: Stein, pg 257
6“burlesque people, pimps”: Bud and Lou by Bob Thomas, pg 53
6Abbott started the Columbia Wheel: Ibid., pg 25
6“would be mauled”: The American Burlesque Show by Irving Zeidman, pg 182
6“rampaging husbands and racial caricature”: Ibid., pgs 202-203
6“The old vulgar gag”: Treadwell, pgs 20-21
6“The aggravation we had”: Minky’s Burlesque by Morton Minsky and Milt Machlin, pg 30
7“Mayor Jimmy Walker”: Show Biz: From Vaude to Video by Joe Laurie Jr. and Abel Green, pg 348
7“on the Sabbath”: Stein, pg 325
7“A man with a hoop”: Raised Eyebrows by Steve Stoliar, pg 78
8“We were pelted with sticks”: Stein, pg 286
8“Sunday Nite—Amateur Nite”: Laurie Jr., pg 272
8“consisted of several cats”: Stoliar, pg 78
9During one performance: My Wonderful World of Slapstick by Buster Keaton and Charles Samuels, pg 22
9“What most burned up Pop”: Ibid., pg 33
9“There was not one word”: Ibid., pg 32
10“Hide your children”: Let ’Em Eat Cheesecake by Earl Wilson, pg 46
10“nobody took exception”: Laurie Jr., pg 81
10“The Sandy McPhersons”: Laurie Jr. and Green, pgs 7-8
11“We knew we had three strikes”: Stein, pg 286
11“There were the hate towns”: Come Backstage with Me by Benny Rubin, pg 199
11“But it wasn’t like”: Laurie Jr., pg 139
11“I missed the streetcar”: John Barbour Show, December 1975
12“I loved his style.”: Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, interview with Milton Berle
12“We did a thirty-foot dive”: Howard, pg 21
12“That was the Three Stooges”: Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, interview with Milton Berle
12“Not only was the Gardens”: Howard, pg 36
12“Mr. Healy is one”: New York Times, May 22, 1927
12“While under the influence”: Howard, pg 103
13“What the hell”: Jessel, pg 85
13“We found Ted”: Howard, pg 57
13“Drinking up a storm,”: Ibid., pg 103
13“chronic alcoholism”: The Three Stooges by Jeff Forrester and Tom Forrester, pg 67
13“Police are not investigating”: The Fixers by E. J. Fleming
13“It can’t be”: Forrester and Forrester, pg 69
14“Fay pioneered the emcee”: No People Like Show People by Maurice Zolotow, pg 213
14“Fay needs a good”: Ibid., pg 210
15“I learned that”: Treadwell, pg 230
15“I never attack”: No Applause—Just Throw Money by Trav S.D., pg 233
15In a business: The Jack Benny Show by Milt Josefsberg, pg 314
15“I reached out”: An Autobiography by Milton Berle, pg 101
15“The last time”: S.D., pg 234
16“Fay forgot to mention”: Zolotow, pg 211
16“He was just a sensational man”: John Barbour Show, December 1975
16“That’s where Harpo appeared”: Anobile, pg 14
16“It was a real dump.”: Ibid.
17“As a result”: Marx with Barber, pg 130
17“She was impressed”: Sunday Nights at Seven by Jack Benny and Joan Benny, pg 11
17“We weren’t very close”: Anobile, pgs 13, 44
17“For thirty solid weeks”: Marx with Barber, pg 138
17“The thing was”: Anobile, pg 44
18“Too late, we learned”: Marx with Barber, pg 155
18“His humor was based”: The Palace by Marian Spitzer, pg 25
18“The thing that impressed me”: Laughter Is a Wonderful Thi
ng by Joe E. Brown, pg 175
18“Evidently he has seen Julius”: “It Happened Last Night,” Earl Wilson, March 29, 1963
18In order to appease them: Benny and Benny, pg 17
19“Benny says that he is”: Written By, April 2002
20“egotism and aloofness.”: Natural Selection by Gary Giddins, pg 28
20“If a comedian was original”: Allen, pgs 246-247
20The vaudeville term: Spitzer, pg 97
20“Before the members vacated”: Allen, pg 248
21“The raids on vaudeville talent”: Laurie Jr. and Green, pg 160
21“Ziegfeld loathed comedians”: Life, July 26, 1948
21Comedy writer Gene Buck: Banjo Eyes by Herbert G. Goldman, pg 52
21“Cantor’s humor is painted”: B.S. I Love You by Milton Berle, pg 92
21“I can replace every one”: S.D., pg 11
21“best Negro comedian”: The Way I See It by Eddie Cantor, pg 113
22In 1911, when Walker died: Goldman, pg 59
22“Before I got through”: Stein, pg 242
22“This was made evident”: Laurie Jr. and Green, pg 325
23“beautiful lobbies with oil paintings”: Laurie Jr., pg 346
23“Sometimes, at the five o’clock”: Gracie by George Burns, pg 73
24Phil Baker got five thousand: There’s Laughter in the Air by Jack Gaver and Dave Stanley, pg 235
24It was a time: US Government Census, 1923-1926
24“Movies, vaudeville, burlesque”: Burns, pg 86-87
24Weekly attendance was: Stein, pg 371
24“It did away with cumbersome”: I Looked and I Listened by Ben Gross, pg 74
24“born of military establishment”: Tube of Plenty by Erik Barnouw, pgs 56-57
25His masterwork: Treadwell, pg 166
25“They flocked to watch”: Laurie Jr. and Green, pg 355
25“Most of the houses”: American Burlesque Show by Irving Zeidman, pgs 238-239
25“This was no living”: This Laugh Is On Me by Phil Silvers, pg 44
Chapter Two: Radio
26“Possibly because there was”: Ohmart, pg 49
26“Eddie Cantor was very important”: It’s Good to Be King by James Robert Parish, pgs 28, 237
27“Laughs were mystifying”: Ohmart, pg 49
27In response Gross and Greenberg: Gross, pg 136
27“The cast of the Eddie Cantor”: Jack Benny by Irving Fein, pg 129
27“He begged for laughs”: Raised on Radio by Gerald Nachman, pg 44
27“And he liked to goose”: Goldman, pg 232
27“He was chasing women”: Nachman, pg 43
28“The world’s greatest professional”: Ohmart, pg 49
29“The owners always thought”: Laugh Crafters by Jordan R. Young, pg 8
29He was a marginal figure: Variety, January 15, 1945
29“The Vallee fans”: Gross, pg 80
29“That was none of his doing”: Young, pg 31
29“He had absolutely no talent”: Ibid., pg 106
29“We once wrote”: Laughs, Luck and Lucy by Jess Oppenheimer with Gregg Oppenheimer, pg 100
30“He got so scared”: Ed Wynn’s Son by Keenan Wynn, pg 89
30“When I was on Kate Smith”: Fresh Air, interview with Henny Youngman, 1992
31“They were working in burlesque”: Take My Wife . . . Please! by Henny Youngman as told to Carroll Carroll, pg 154
31“Lou Costello was one”: Bud and Lou by Bob Thomas, pg 11
31“While minstrel-style wordplay humor”: The Original Amos ’n’ Andy by Elizabeth McLeod
32“Similar protests have been received”: Radio Digest, June 1930
32“I am glad to know”: Inside Facts of Stage and Screen, May 23, 1931
32“gross libel on the Negro”: Cold War, Cool Medium by Thomas Doherty, pg 77
33“His client wanted”: Benny and Benny, pg 40
33Canada Dry eventually objected: Josefsberg, pg 322
34“He may be the only”: Giddins, pg 25
34Eddie Anderson was hired: Benny and Benny, pgs 100-101
34“Jokes of that insensitive sort”: Josefsberg, pg 85
34“During World War II”: Benny and Benny, pg 108
34In the 1960s: Giddins, pg 35
35“He was at the center”: Vanity Fair, December 6, 2012
35“Jack and I were charged”: Burns, pgs 230-231
35“his name at the moment”: Los Angeles Times, December 14, 2008
36“pale and nervous”: U.P., January 11, 1939
36“They kept talking”: Benny and Benny, pg 171
36According to Benny: Josefsberg, pg 377
36“They were very tough”: Young, pgs 278, 282
37The American Tobacco Company: Goldman, pg 187
37“After the conclusion”: FBI internal correspondence, April 10, 1939
37“murderer, kidnapper”: Goldman, pg 198
37“We are all of the opinion”: Nachman, pg 45
37“that even those in”: New York Times, March 13, 1933
37Cohn was so impressed: Movies and Methods, Volume Two edited by Bill Nichols, pg 103
38They formed RAM: Variety, October 7, 1937
38“As our trademark”: Hollywood Speaks by Mike Steen, pg 370
38“I gave a large party”: Ibid., pg 370
38“red and gold metal cloth”: Variety, September 29, 1937
38“from a business and diplomatic”: Ibid., October 7, 1937
38Charlie Chaplin, Joan Crawford: Ibid., October 9, 1937
38Mussolini’s trip was cut short: Ibid., October 7, 1937
38However, when the United States: Ibid., February 9, 1938
38“a good dictator”: Steen, pg 369
39“I had a very large”: Anobile, pgs 174-176
39“So suddenly there was”: King with Chase, pg 33
39“For this reason a lot”: Marx with Barber, pg 416
41“You Americans are such children”: Radio and Television Mirror, June 1949
41“I never for a moment”: Ibid., April 1935
41He sent word back to Boston: Variety, February 5, 1935
41The film studio had plans: Ibid., April 9, 1936
42In spring 1936: Los Angeles Times, May 31, 1936
42A romance blossomed: New York Times, February 8, 1937
43Originally a summer replacement: Variety, August 9, 1945
43It featured fine comic actors: Ibid., October 22, 1947
43“It’s funny. Not inspired”: Billboard, November 1, 1947
43He checked in to Cedars: Variety, August 28, 1947
43“All he intended to do”: Radio and Television Mirror, June 1949
43He invested in: Variety, November 15, 1946
43He incorporated an independent: Ibid., February 10, 1947
43He partnered with New York philanthropist: Ibid., July 10, 1947; August 7, 1947
43He planned a record: Ibid., April 29, 1947
44“He was so sick . . .”: Vanity Fair, January 2013
44Inactive, he took up coin: Variety, November 14, 1946
44Jackie Gleason: Ibid., January 4, 1956
44Tony Martin: Ibid., June 7, 1954
44George Raft: Ibid., January 25, 1956
45“Put his head down!”: Ibid., November 26, 1958
45“He was beside himself”: Mean, May-June 2000
46“He could have died”: Ibid.
46“Radio is a repugnant medium”: Zolotow, pgs 270-271
46“a bitter, frustrated and unhappy”: Nachman, pg 108
46“The worst thing that ever happened”: Ibi
d., pg 103
47“The only way”: Ibid.
47“Radio comedy is the most painful”: Zolotow, pgs 270-271
47“Fred was better”: Young, pg 167
48“The main thing in radio”: Ace, 1959
48“More and more things”: There’s Laughter in the Air! by Jack Graver and Dave Stanley
48“Men who ran oil companies”: Treadmill to Oblivion by Fred Allen, pg 13
48“Practically everything is taboo”: Nachman, pg 105
48“immoral overtones”: Zolotow, pg 273
48“Radio’s slogan is”: Variety, September 30, 1948
48“Their gags were more”: Laurie Jr. and Green, pg 538
49“Little or no regard”: Ohmart, pgs 153-154
49Morgan was as much : Variety, November 6, 1940
49“If children eat enough”: Life, April 14, 1947
50“[He] did a goofy yarn”: Variety, November 6, 1940
50“Thank goodness the contract”: Ibid., January 29, 1941
51its version of Henry Morgan: Ibid., January 29, 1941
51“a female Henry Morgan”: Ibid., February 17, 1943
51“in the Henry Morgan fashion”: Ibid., February 19, 1947
51When future Match Game host: Ibid., April, 14, 1948
52in February 1948: Ibid., January 7, 1948
52“He was very difficult”: Nachman, pg 121
52“I grew up thinking”: Ibid., Nachman, pgs 121-123
Chapter Three: Nightclubs
53“If they didn’t”: Jessel, pg 83
54“A horrendous blow struck him”: The Joker Is Wild by Art Cohn
54“Jack [McGurn] sent me”: Double Cross by Sam Giancana and Chuck Giancana, pg 168
56“[Mobster] Marty Krompier”: Berle, pg 133
56“His penis had been cut off”: The Show Business Nobody Knows by Earl Wilson, pg 133
56“In my time”: George Raft by Lewis Yablonsky, pg 246
57“When a well-dressed guest arrives”: Life, March 3, 1941
57“No small part”: 52nd Street by Arnold Shaw
57He honed his insult shtick: Variety, November 26, 1969
58“the first Don Rickles”: Rubin, pg 63
58“Every time someone like Frankie”: New York, September 1985
61It called for an investigation: Kefauver by Joseph Bruce Gorman, pg 74