What Made Pistachio Nuts?

Film and Culture Series

by Henry Jenkins

Lively and highly readable, examines what Henry Jenkins calls the anarchistic tradition of American film comedy. Anarchistic comedies of the 1930s mock the social order and celebrate the creativity and impulsiveness of their protagonists in a form of clowning that ultimately reestablishes the status quo. Jenkins focuses on well-known films such as the Marx Brothers' and W.C. Fields' as well as all-but-forgotten works like and others. He tracks the careers of the comic stars -Eddie Cantor, Winnie LIghtner, W.C. Fields, Charlotte Greenwood, the Marx Brothers, and Wheeler and Woolsey- as they moved from vaudeville and the New York reviews to Hollywood.

Genres: Media Tie In, Film, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published December 1, 1992

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

"See Bert?" Robert said putting down his harp and flicking his cigar, "I told you that one day they would be writing about us in the same manner as they do that Shakepseare guy!"

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

An exploration of the influence of vaudeville and burlesque on movie comedies in the 1930s, this is a very informative book, though to be honest it is impossible to know if the scholarly tone in the descriptions of some of the zaniness is intentionally serious or tongue-in-cheek

[Evan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great information about comics both famous and obscure -- but I remember it being a little academic for my feeble little mind.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Proof positive that, given enough pages, a theorist can strip the joy out of even the most potentially entertaining subject.