Web Site Logo

This website is made possible, in part, by displaying a few online advertisements to our visitors.
Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker for this site.

Funniest Decade, The

A Celebration of American Comedy in the 1930s

Author: Garry Berman
Paperback: 348 pages
Publisher: BearManor Media (2020)
Avg. Rating: [ Unrated ]
ISBN: 1629336270
In Print? Yes

From the back cover...

"If there was ever a Golden Decade of American comedy, it was the 1930s.  At the dawn of that remarkable, laugh-filled era, comedians had for the first time three performing venues available to them:  the stage, radio and talking films (plus, in the final year of the decade, the arrival of television) resulting in this ten-year span producing the finest performances by the greatest comedians ever to make audiences laugh.  In film, comedy titans Laurel & Hardy, the Marx Brothers and W. C. Fields all reached their creative peaks, as did Mae West, Our Gang (aka the Little Rascals), the Three Stooges, and less-remembered teams such as Wheeler & Woolsey, Clark & McCullough and the Ritz Brothers.

At the same time, radio became a major entertainment force, allowing vaudevillians Jack Benny, Eddie Cantor, Fred Allen, Ed Wynn, George Burns & Gracie Allen, Edgar Bergen, Bob Hope and Abbott & Costello to become national stars.

On the stage, comedians including Bert Lahr, Fannie Brice, Jimmy Durante and Wynn all thrived, while expanding their respective careers into films and radio.

"The Funniest Decade" devotes one chapter to each calendar year of the 1930s, covering the landmark comedy films, radioi programs, and stage performances of each year, while focusing on the individual comedians and comedy teams at key moments in their professional careers, including their first major creative and popular breakthroughs.  Dozens of photos, too!"


Member Reviews


[ Books ]   [ Magazines ]   [ Miscellaneous ]   [ All ]





FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We make such material available in an effort to advance awareness and understanding of the issues involved. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information please visit: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission directly from the copyright owner.