This text aims to demonstrate the immigrant and ethnic vision that informed Hollywood comedies, and by extension American mass culture, of the 1920s and 1930s. Beginning with a pre-history of American comedy that ranges from the Spanish explorers to Moss Hart, the author then discusses the refashioning of slapstick, team, and romantic comedy by an immigrant Hollywood for a predominantly urban, ethnic audience. With observations on more than 300 films - many of which have never been studied - the three main chapters uncover ...
Read More
This text aims to demonstrate the immigrant and ethnic vision that informed Hollywood comedies, and by extension American mass culture, of the 1920s and 1930s. Beginning with a pre-history of American comedy that ranges from the Spanish explorers to Moss Hart, the author then discusses the refashioning of slapstick, team, and romantic comedy by an immigrant Hollywood for a predominantly urban, ethnic audience. With observations on more than 300 films - many of which have never been studied - the three main chapters uncover an unexamined immigrant and ethnic aesthetic in the films of Chaplin, the Marx Brothers, and William Powell and Myrna Loy. In the process, Winokur employs a broad range of contemporary concepts in film history and culture studies, while intertwining subjects as diverse as Balkan politics, Art Deco, the Jewish landsmanshaft, psychoanalysis, vaudeville, Sicilian peasant life, orientalism, the stage Irishman and "body" criticism. Winokur includes over 50 black and white photos, stills and reprints of promotional pieces that illustrate and complement his analysis of Hollywood film in the 1920s and 1930s.
Read Less
Add this copy of American Laughter: Immigrants, Ethnicity and 1930s to cart. $17.26, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by Palgrave MacMillan.
Add this copy of American Laughter: Immigrants, Ethnicity, and 1930s to cart. $50.96, very good condition, Sold by Book Alley rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Pasadena, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1995 by St. Martin's Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very Good jacket. First Edition. A very good first edition hardcover in a very good dust jacket. Appears to be unread. No markings. Pasadena's finest new and used bookstore since 1992.
Add this copy of American Laughter: Immigrants, Ethnicity, and 1930s to cart. $97.10, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hialeah, FL, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by St. Martin's Press.
