Ahhhhh yes ...

[ericcoleman]

"Whilst traveling through the Andes Mountains, we lost our corkscrew. Had to live on food and water for several days!"

Happy Birthday to William Claude Dukenfield.

So let's go back to the 30s and 40s. Who is your favorite comedian? I'm not talking teams, I'll do that in a moment. For me it would have to be Fields. There is a sublime, lovable nastiness to him that has never been matched.

Comments

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

At the moment, Harold Lloyd. Although by the 30s and 40s his best work was behind him.

[archiver-tim.livejournal.com]

I have great respect and admiration for Will Rodgers.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

I'm tempted to say Bob Clampett or Ernst Lubitcsh, but that bends your rules a tad. Not that this has stopped me before.

I really have a hard time separating out that particular time period. For example, I tend to think of WC Fields as more in the 1920s, which is where he got his start. Same with several others.

So at the moment, knowing full well I'm probably change my mind when confronted with more choices than I can think of right now, I'll go with: Fred Astaire. His dancing is so good that his other talents get overshadowed.

[ericcoleman]

You're saying he got his start after he had been a major international star for 20+ years?

So what you're saying is that you don't know much about Fields. He was a headliner in vaudeville at the turn of the century, and really didn't turn to film seriously till 1932. He made a handful of silent films, but only a couple of any note (Poppy was probably the biggest and that was remade during the sound era) but pretty much everything anyone knows him for was made after about 1932.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Okay, even earlier. I know a fair amount about him; I've seen some of his silent films. That's still my point: I don't associate Fields with the 30s and 40s. He had a long career. I don't mind that you do, just that the time period he made a lot of movies in is not his only work.

*shrug* This is why time elements like "the decade of the 00's" or "the 30s & 40s" don't mean much to me. They don't map very well with how popular entertainment was presented and developed.