Joe Franklin's Encyclopedia of Comedians
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Comedy Is a Grim Business
The Making of IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD
| Author: | James Curtis |
|---|---|
| Paperback: | 412 pages |
| Publisher: | Emmarac Editions (2026) |
| Avg. Rating: |  [ Unrated ] |
| ISBN: | 979-8990372160 |
| In Print? | Yes |
Promotional review...
“The audacity of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World—the 1963 feature film featuring an all-star cast of comic actors—has been obscured by time. The initial idea, conceived by husband-and-wife screenwriters William and Tania Rose and producer-director Stanley Kramer, was a comedy on a grand scale: a four-hour, two-intermission epic featuring every significant comedy figure then alive. As Curtis writes in his prologue, the film was meant to be “the comedy to end all comedies…the Ben-Hur of slapstick, the Gone With the Wind of frantic chase adventures.” Though shrunk down somewhat from its initial design, the movie succeeded in its aim, marking the apotheosis of the slapstick genre just before cinematic comedy turned toward the new ironic mode exemplified by Dr. Strangelove (released the next year). With this definitive history, the author tells the unlikely story of how such a monumental project came to be. Readers will meet Kramer, an unlikely choice to helm such a movie, given his reputation for the dramatic “message picture,” as well as the remarkable Tania Rose, who served in Britain’s Ministry of Information during the Second World War and was the perfect writing partner for her depression-prone husband, Bill. Their quest to juggle the greatest comedy cast of all time proved as madcap and messy as anything that made it on screen. “All together, I find them a little indigestible,” quipped cast member Terry-Thomas of his co-stars. “One at a time they’re delicious.”
In addition to the production of the film, Curtis covers, among other topics, the film’s controversial editing—United Artists cut the movie down against Kramer’s wishes—and its premiere at Hollywood’s brand-new Cinerama Dome on the same day as the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
Rich in detail and behind-the-scenes color, the book offers a look at the making of a singular movie and a film industry caught in the midst of a generational transition.”
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