Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-248) and index.
Contents:
Introduction: "Someone like me for a member": classic Hollywood comedians and buffoonish masculinity -- "Novelties and notions": Mae West meets W. C. Fields -- Con men and henpecked husbands: W. C. Fields as masculine icon -- "Whitefacing" the nebbish: Eddie Cantor's assimilation and influence -- Queered radio / Queered cinema: Jack Benny's mediated voice -- Queering the fraternity: Laurel and Hardy and heterosexual brotherhood -- Military disservice: Wheeler and Woolsey and Abbott and Costello join the army -- Conclusion: Beyond classic Hollywood /beyond buffoonish masculinity.
Summary:
Film scholars and fans have used distinctive terms to describe the Classic Hollywood comedian: He is a "trickster," a "rebel," or a "buffoon." Yet the performer is almost always described as a "he." In Buffoon Men: Classic Hollywood Comedians and Queered Masculinity, Scott Balcerzak reads the performances of notable comedians such as W. C. Fields, Eddie Cantor, Jack Benny, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey, and Bud Abbott and Lou Costello through humor and queer theory to expose a problematic history of maleness in their personas. He argues that contrary to popular notions of Classic Hollywood history, these male comedians rearranged or, at times, rejected heteronormative protocols. -- Publisher website.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.