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What s the first horror comedy That acirc euro trade s a matter for debate There were several stage plays in the 1920s like acirc euro oelig The Cat amp the Canary acirc euro acirc euro oelig The Bat acirc euro and acirc euro oelig The Gorilla acirc euro but one could take that even Shakespeare acirc euro trade s acirc euro oelig Tempest acirc euro has some elements of a horror comedy And who knows what else 13 in the ancient history of theater It gets spottier in films because some of those plays were made into movies but they straddled that line between drama and comedy I acirc euro trade m hoping to reveal the defini

ive answer as I set this book but I can assure you that the silent film efforts of Harold Lloyd Buster Keaton Laurel amp Hardy and Our Gang aka The Little Rascals certainly offered up a template for the comedians who followed and that template didn acirc euro trade t change much if at all How are you conducting your search for the book First I should notice that this is not intended to be a scholarly work on the subject There were so many performers writers directors and studios churning these films out that I decided to eschew going that route acirc euro ldquo I conceive it would take years to thoroughly research the backstories on apiece of these films As it is this word may need me one to 3 days to write in the flesh I think it as a lighthearted overview of the genre in the vein of a coffee table book Something anyone can enjoy whether a long time movie aficionado or the casual fan who thinks acirc euro oelig Abbott amp Costello Meets Frankenstein acirc euro is wonderful and only wants to learn about similar films So what we acirc euro trade re left with are my critical assessments on the films written in a way that is conversational and I hope fun for the reader I will pay each take a star rating up to four stars provide a synopsis credits and my review I design to liven things up with icons that will represent the various horror comedy conventions acirc euro ldquo red herrings last will amp testaments spooky servants gorillas etc In each film acirc euro trade s entry you acirc euro trade ll see the corresponding icons Beyond that I will highlight standout gags and dialogue noted cast members and other fun tidbits The blog version of the word will take the added attraction of video clips and informational links Having said all that my main research will be consulting the many classic comedy books in my library as good as experts I know in the field and about of all watching the films themselves You are covering many of the best known comedy duos and trios like Abbott and Costello Three Stooges Laurel and Hardy tell us near the lesser known ones you will be discussing in your book The old saying acirc euro oelig to the master go the spoils acirc euro isn acirc euro trade t always accurate when it comes to movie stars Wheeler amp Woolsey were the 2nd highest grossing comedy team of the 1930s behind Laurel amp Hardy but ahead of The Marx Brothers but are simply known to movie buffs today Hugh Herbert also enjoyed large popularity both as a featured clown and a second banana He made several notable horror comedies teamed with such terrific performers as Allen Jenkins Broderick Crawford and Dudley Dickerson The Ritz Brothers seemed to enjoy great regional success acirc euro ldquo all my aunts and uncles upon acquisition of my heart for classic comedians would ask if I knew the Ritz acirc euro trade s and would receive a blank stare in response Apparently the theaters in Passaic New Jersey ran their films a lot Then there are teams that are noted for being unique acirc euro brvbar or infamous for not being unique Olsen amp Johnson were before of their time acirc euro ldquo their style of corny one liners mixed with absurd sometimes surreal sight gags and blackouts delivered lightning fast with an acirc euro oelig anything goes acirc euro attitude influenced so much comedy that came later from acirc euro oelig Laugh in acirc euro to acirc euro oelig Monty Python acirc euro Wally Brown and Alan Carney were two ex vaudevillians under contract to RKO and when Abbott amp Costello exploded in the early 1940s RKO quickly paired Brown amp Carney hoping to repeat the success of Universal acirc euro trade s Bud amp Lou juggernaut Brown amp Carney were no Abbott amp Costello but ironically they delivered a key film in the horror comedy genre that was in many ways a predecessor to Bud amp Lou acirc euro trade s famous encounter with the Universal Monsters acirc euro brvbar and it even co starred Bela Lugosi And then there acirc euro trade s Mitchell amp Petrillo acirc euro brvbar featuring Sammy Petrillo the notorious Jerry Lewis impersonator nbsp But hey they co starred with Bela Lugosi 13 too One of my favorite comedy teams is Olsen and Johnson How do they project into Hollywood s 13 horror comedies They did a little bit in their film acirc euro oelig All Over Town acirc euro where they were terrified by disembodied voices and the Frankenstein Monster made a cameo in the filmed adaptation of 13 their Broadway smash acirc euro oelig Hellzapoppin acirc euro but they tackled the genre head on in their acclaimed acirc euro oelig Ghost Catchers acirc euro This movie was done for Ecumenical and came right after the team acirc euro trade s most well known films acirc euro oelig Hellzapoppin acirc euro trade acirc euro and acirc euro oelig CrazyTown acirc euro That pair of films managed to get the outrageous unpredictability of their stage revues and acirc euro oelig Ghost Catchers acirc euro followed suit by turning the trappings of horror comedies upside down and mercilessly skewering them An example 13 of the Olsen amp Johnson approach reasoning that a ghost from the early 13 1900s must be a square the duo decides to hire a swing band and swing dancers 13 to acirc euro oelig hip acirc euro him out of the haunted house Besides Abbott amp Costello Meet Frankenstein what other horror comedies stand out in your judgment as good examples of the genre Truth be told I love just about all of them to some extent even the ones that pulling out the same clich Atilde copy s over and over That acirc euro trade s why I acirc euro trade m writing the book Laurel amp 13 Hardy Our Gang The Little Rascals The 3 Stooges Abbott amp Costello Bob 13 Hope and The East Side Kids Bowery Boys really excelled in spooky settings Audiences loved seeing their favorite funny folks being scared silly no matter how repetitious the films could get Sometimes these classic clowns would spice up the material by adding some new job or institution but still when they didn acirc euro trade t they managed to take the entries entertaining regardless of how many times they visited the material before Let acirc euro trade s face it acirc euro ldquo it doesn acirc euro trade t get much funnier than seeing Stan Laurel Curly Howard or Lou Costello scared Having said that what really gets me going are those films that offer a little something extra For example the Hugh Herbert Allen Jenkins film acirc euro oelig Sh The Octopus acirc euro doesn acirc euro trade t take aim at a haunted house but at a haunted lighthouse instead acirc euro brvbar and features a genuinely shocking and surprising unmasking of the culprit Brown amp Carney acirc euro trade s acirc euro oelig Zombies on Broadway acirc euro is not just a goofy horror comedy acirc euro ldquo it actually borrows actors settings and scenarios from the serious Val Lewton thriller acirc euro oelig I Walked with a Zombie acirc euro making it an unofficial sequel to that classic nbsp It also plays the 13 zombie menace straight a rule that would go in spades when Abbott amp 13 Costello met Dracula the Savage Man and the Frankenstein Monster nbsp And I acirc euro trade ve already talked about Olsen amp Johnson acirc euro trade s acirc euro oelig Ghost Catchers acirc euro Even the Bowery Boys whose many forays into the genre follow similar trajectories surprised a sentence or two acirc euro oelig Spook Busters acirc euro climaxes with a slow motion fist fight brought on by ether while acirc euro oelig Ghost Chasers acirc euro features a real friendly ghost named Edgar who befriends Huntz Hall acirc euro trade s good natured Sach character One film that I will necessarily fall under attack for championing is acirc euro oelig Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla acirc euro This one features Duke Mitchell amp Sammy Petrillo Their call to fame was that Petrillo did a spot on replication of Jerry Lewis acirc euro trade act while Duke was a dark haired crooner like Jerry acirc euro trade s partner Dean Martin It acirc euro trade s not a great film acirc euro ldquo in many 13 ways it acirc euro trade s a bad film acirc euro ldquo but I know it because of the audaciousness of Petrillo acirc euro trade s 13 performance as well as its probably unintentional send up of the many mad scientist gorilla on the loose movies that came before I love Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein but do you think it might have put a boom in the casket of Universal s chief horror franchises I think that acirc euro trade s become a commonly held misconception and an idle one First we want to consider that the popularity of the Universal monsters never faded acirc euro ldquo it just shifted to another audience and another avenue Once the Shock Theater package of classic Universal horrors hit TV in 1957 these icons found whole new audiences acirc euro brvbar and a bigger percentage of children than they probably ever had on the big screen Of course this was still nine years after acirc euro oelig A amp C Meet Frankenstein acirc euro So if Bud and Lou didn acirc euro trade t hold the monster acirc euro trade s theatrical onslaught what did Well in my opinion if you remove acirc euro oelig A amp C Meet Frankenstein acirc euro from the equation acirc euro ldquo pretend it never existed acirc euro ldquo then you even hold the same inevitable outcome Because the movie audience was moving on They wanted something new something they hadn acirc euro trade t seen before For older viewers Hammer delivered horror in a more sophisticated vein acirc euro ldquo with more psychological underpinnings the best to cause post viewing nightmares and with lurid color the best to show blood and nubile young starlets the best to show 13 plunging necklines For teens nothing skeeved out a guy acirc euro trade s date more than an icky insect made more so by being giganticized due to nuclear radiation So those films served a definite purpose as gals clung to their guys acirc euro trade arms at the drive in The classic monsters became anachronisms Only Ed Wood and a few other z budget filmmakers were treading the same reason as Ecumenical by the mid 50s For really little children I think acirc euro oelig A amp C Meet Frankenstein acirc euro was the ritual of passage before graduating to the scarier monsters At least through the 1970s my experience with kids born from the acirc euro tilde 80s on is that they acirc euro trade re none too frightened of the Universal gang acirc euro ldquo they acirc euro trade ve already seen all sorts of spooky stuff in Star Wars and Spielberg films and those don acirc euro trade t look all acirc euro oelig old acirc euro and dark and clean to them If you were to ask most monsterkids I think many of them would cite it as being the acirc euro oelig bridge acirc euro film their acirc euro oelig safe acirc euro introduction to the monsters because of the reassurance that Abbott amp Costello acirc euro trade s comic relief brought to the mix Tell us near the monsterkid in you growing up I was a latecomer to the monsters acirc euro ldquo I was more of a superheroes and goofy animated animals like Bullwinkle and Top Cat kind of a kid I started showing some concern in high school then a bit more in college and finally full blown after college At least in price of the legitimate monsters acirc euro ldquo the Universal Monsters Hammer Vincent Price But before so I was invariably a fan of the silly monsters I grew up on the Munsters Addams Family Milton the Monster Groovie Goolies and the original live action Saturday morning Ghostbusters show with Larry Storch and Forrest Tucker And all the Abbott amp Costello acirc euro oelig Meet acirc euro monster films of course Do you let any other horror comedy projects in the works I recently researched and edited a paperback compilation of spooky Archie Comics stories of recent vintage It is tentatively titled acirc euro oelig Archie Comics Haunted House acirc euro subject to change and should be available sometime in 2010 I acirc euro trade m also developing a graphic novel with my friends Tom Hall Robot 13 and Chris Allan Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles called acirc euro oelig Benny on the Backlot acirc euro It acirc euro trade s the history of a boy who stumbles upon a defunct acirc euro oelig poverty row acirc euro movie studio that acirc euro trade s z grade budget for anyone unfamiliar with the term acirc euro ldquo the cheapest of the cheap only to form an unexpected 13 discovery Folks who know anything Monogram or PRC ever did not to mention the atomic age cheapos like acirc euro oelig The Killer Shrews acirc euro and the acirc euro oelig Giant Gila Monster acirc euro should know this It takes office in that same early 1960s period as Joe Dante acirc euro trade s tribute to William Castle acirc euro oelig Matinee acirc euro and will have similar dynamics What s the one question you d love to be asked and what s your answer Q Which movie monster do you wish for the most A This one is tricky because both The Frankenstein Monster and The Wolf Man are very 13 sympathetic nbsp But in the end The Frankenstein Monster wins for me because no matter how sorry I feel for Larry Talbot his hairy alter ego really needs a chill pill What are you doing this Halloween Launching my blog I acirc euro trade ll post my first review of acirc euro oelig Abbott amp Costello Meet Frankenstein acirc euro naturally at Midnight nbsp And I acirc euro trade ll be giving out comic books including acirc euro oelig Archie acirc euro trade s Weird Mysteries acirc euro to magic or treaters throughout the day

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