spence Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 Think I may have already wrote of this topic a few yrs ago, just in case & AGAIN, PLEASE SEND YOUR OWN COMMENTS PLEEESE!? HOLLYWOODS GOLDEN AGE/STUDIO-SYSTEM-(circa 1925 to 63) ALL-=tIKE GREAT MOVIE COMEDIANS VS TODAYS??? Of course the legendary likes of *CHAPLIN, KEATON, LLOYD, MARX BROS. W.C. FIELDS, A & C, L & H, THREE STOOGES, MARTIN & LEWIS,etc vs what we moviegoers have today like Jack Black, Pauly Shore,etc??? WHAT HAPPENED??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt_Markoff Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 What happened? Well...the Korean War, Vietnam, Watergate, suburban sprawl, the oil crisis, interstate highways, television, drugs, Bay of Pigs, sexual revolution, women's lib, the corporate revolution, recessions, product obsolescence, mass-market consumerism, answering machines, voice-menus, elevator muzak... It's naturally hard to find anything funny in today's America. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spence Posted October 21, 2018 Author Share Posted October 21, 2018 12 minutes ago, Sgt_Markoff said: What happened? Well...the Korean War, Vietnam, Watergate, suburban sprawl, the oil crisis, interstate highways, television, drugs, Bay of Pigs, sexual revolution, women's lib, the corporate revolution, recessions, product obsolescence, mass-market consumerism, answering machines, voice-menus, elevator muzak... It's naturally hard to find anything funny in today's America. But, in my humble opinion they simply just don't have the writers nearly as much, Hence all the current crop of flix? & the magnitude of a *CHAPLIN OR KEATON & THE REST EITHER NOW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spence Posted October 21, 2018 Author Share Posted October 21, 2018 14 minutes ago, Sgt_Markoff said: What happened? Well...the Korean War, Vietnam, Watergate, suburban sprawl, the oil crisis, interstate highways, television, drugs, Bay of Pigs, sexual revolution, women's lib, the corporate revolution, recessions, product obsolescence, mass-market consumerism, answering machines, voice-menus, elevator muzak... It's naturally hard to find anything funny in today's America. Terrific AVATAR of Donlevy in 1939's superb BG In my own "Alt *OSCARS I voted for him but barely over actual winner *Thomas Mitchell in Stagecoach that year. Maybe a downer for you though pal, in all writings,etc Donlevy is listed among HOLLYWOODS most difficult actors! Matter of fact *Ray Milland almost killed him during that shoot & the crew was happy! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spence Posted October 21, 2018 Author Share Posted October 21, 2018 & you 4-get during that once in a cinematic lifetime we were coming of THE GREAT DEPRESSION & DIRECTOY INTO THE WAR! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt_Markoff Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 What do you mean by 'they don't have the writers'? I would think that comedy writers today struggle for lack of material. Popular culture in America romped when the nation was still young and undeveloped; when there was still elbow room and the order of things was not yet settled into a rigid pattern. When most Americans still lived in cities; things were different. The persistence of humorous traditions from the age of vaudeville and Broadway, the influx of humor which came with European immigrants; (Marx Bros for example) the ramshackle days of the early melting pot; everyone working together to build skyscrapers and subways--that was the era that was shoved aside by the onset of automation in the 1950s. We matured overnight. Modern culture today is stagnant in comparison; people stay at home with television sets. Its hard to find genuinely funny individuals --rebels--anymore. Just thinking out loud here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt_Markoff Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 Thanks for the compliment. By the way, I'm wondering how Ray Milland supposedly pricked Brian Donlevy with a prop sword which wouldn't have had any point on it. It's mentioned in the, 'I just saw" thread as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spence Posted October 21, 2018 Author Share Posted October 21, 2018 STILL TRULY THOUGHT MORE WOULD THROW IN THEIR TWO CENTS ON THIS ONE THOIUGH??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt_Markoff Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 "People don't tell jokes like they used to You don't hear many down at the mall No one sits around joshing at the 7-11, You can't repeat the ones on the men's room wall People don't tell jokes the way they used to We used to sit and tell them every night Looked forward each month to Reader's Digest Everyone now's all so self-righteous, I think that's why" --Garrison Keillor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt_Markoff Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 I have a 'pet theory' that the decline of comedy--mirrored by the decline in good crime films, good dramas, etc--matches the retreat-away-from the former sternness in our public institutions like law, military, government, homelife, religion, and education. This is no longer the era of the draft, the electric chair, the exam. As we have moved from a 'strict' society (the 1950s) to a soft one, (one less striated by classes and authority-figures and hierarchical rules); the 'nervous system' of society becomes slack, listless, and torpid. Laughter springs from tension; as does drama. Stiff, rigid, authoritarian societies not only have the most vigorous artistic spirit, but the hardiest overall survival skills, too (versus their lazier, more decadent neighbors). Whereas in an overly-free, lackadaisical, and permissive culture, nervous reflexes wither. As HL Mencken was fond of pointing out, more equality and more democracy leads to more mediocrity. Jean-Jacques Rousseau as well, famously observed this. Look at the career of Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor and George Carlin. They had forces against which to rebel. But in a sense, they were doing really no more than the Marx Bros did. Kafka's 'Penal Colony'--another poignant example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo Posted October 23, 2018 Share Posted October 23, 2018 On 10/21/2018 at 6:30 PM, Sgt_Markoff said: I have a 'pet theory' that the decline of comedy--mirrored by the decline in good crime films, good dramas, Laughter springs from tension; as does drama. Stiff, rigid, authoritarian societies not only have the most vigorous artistic spirit, but the hardiest overall survival skills, too (versus their lazier, more decadent neighbors). Whereas in an overly-free, lackadaisical, and permissive culture, nervous reflexes wither. As HL Mencken was fond of pointing out, more equality and more democracy leads to more mediocrity. Jean-Jacques Rousseau as well, famously observed this. So Sarge. Didn't Orson Welles kind'a sort'a say somethin' very similar to this to Joseph Cotten as they stepped off that Viennese ferris wheel, and when he went on about the Borgias and cuckoo clocks?! (...though I have to admit you've seemed to have put a rather interesting new little spin on this concept) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt_Markoff Posted October 23, 2018 Share Posted October 23, 2018 Quote (...though I have to admit you've seemed to have put a rather interesting new little spin on this concept) You'll grow to love that about me. I promise you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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