The Photo-Play Journal (Jul 1919-Feb 1921)

20 P h o t o P I a x Journal Getting the Laughs "According to Hoyle" How the Apparently Spontaneous Screen Comedy of Harold Lloyd Appears to Conform to the Traditions of the -Comic Stage and Justify in Practice All the Carefully Considered Analyses of Scientists and Philosophers Showing What is Funny and What Isnt, and Why By CURTIS DUNHAM UNDOUBTEDLY it is a source of great satisfaction to a professional fun-maker to know that his efforts have the approval of the professors, that his methods of inciting laughter are purely scientific. This triumph is all the greater in the case of the purveyor of the comic who relies wholly upon the motion picture screen for the presentation of his wares to the public. The screen as a medium for expression in art and literature has not hitherto enjoyed the highest esteem of academicians. Possibly the present writer is the first to suggest that successful motion pictures can, and in certain instances do, conform to the traditions of the comic stage and justify in practice all the carefully considered analyses of scientists and philosophers showing what is funny and what isn't, and why. But it is only recently that the comic screen has advanced to a stage where its offerings serve to illustrate the conclusions of scientific writers on this subject, as do the old Italian comedies and those of Moliere. These are classics worthy to be cited because, within an effective art form, they reflect the comic in character and in* situations that are familiar in real life. Up to a few years ago, producers of screen entertainment specializing in the comic limited themselves to material of the most elementary sort. Lacking comic manuscripts capable of such visualization they adopted the policy of "safety first," meaning profits. There was no doubt about the laughter-producing power of the custard pie expertly administered externally. A few ingenious actors developed the comic possibilities of a hat, a pair of trousers, or a pair of shoes to a point that insured storms of laughter whenever they appeared on any screen. The story didn't matter. The comic side of human life and character in general — that inexhaustible fountain of the richest comedy — remained untouched. Even Aristotle, most insatiable of all searchers after the hidden springs of nature and art, would have found the comic screen field barren, its public patrons throwbacks to^ the age of the troglodytes. Another type of comedians, however, were proving faithful to their screen allegiance. It was though they were saying to themselves : "If Moliere could do it on the stage, we can do it on the screen." Moliere, of course, being a symbol standing for proved and successful achievement on the highest plane of comedy — comedy that is inherent in the life of the people; not one whose definite successes of a period long past were to be studied as comedy models for all time — as the philosophers utilize them in illustrating their analyses of the comic. These thoughtful developers Harold F.loxd of screen comedy simply stood firm on fundamental principles and proceeded to present a definite and complete action with "a beginning, a middle, and an end." This story, or drama tnnn, which had endured the test of centuries, it was their task to fill and to enrich with all the appropriate comic devices at their command; for success would rest upon a single i ■ ffect — laughter. It was a perilous enterprise at the start. One reel of comedy, requiring less than fifteen minutes for projection upon the screen, allowed insufficient time in which to establish a new set of characters, develop the essential comic "gags," and round out the story to an effective finish. Two reels occupying the screen for about half an hour really were needed — and, in fact, this length for pictures avowedly comic and having a story was to become an accepted standard. Now, to provoke uninterrupted laughter by legitimate comedy methods during the period of thirty minutes demands little short of genius on the part of the director and leading comedians. The 'comedy that lies in spoken words and in comic inflections of the human voice was an important advantage denied to them. The entire impression upon the audience must be visual, including the few words used explanatory of bits of the action. And throughout, the action must produce the effect of spontaneity in an art in which actual spontaneity is a myth, every effect being the result of the nicest calculation. Naturally, these budding Molieres, bent on elevating the custard pie screen, had to proceed at their own expense and peril. It costs anywhere from one thousand to one hundred thousand dollars to produce a worthy two-reel comedy. And that was only the painful beginning. The picture must be released for exhibition to paying audiences — which meant that the powerful concerns controlling that important branch of the motion picture industry must first be induced to see it themselves. Consider the numbing effects of the usual verdict of that period : "Why, you're crazy. Your comedians are mere actors. Where's your comedy hat and trousers and shoes ? Where's your pie? Our theatres demand custard pie — and here you go shoving Shakespeare at 'em ! Good-NIGHT !" To the foregoing effect testifies one of the most successful pioneers who stuck to the task of lifting screen comedy out of the custard pie epoch — Hal Roach, who directs the production of the Lloyd comedies. Harold Lloyd, a young comedian whose apprenticeship on the legitimate stage would have seemed to insure his remaining unspotted by the world of films, was Mr. Roach's principal pioneer confederate in the early film days. They stuck together through thick and Photo by Sarony, .V. Y