Photoplay
Editions & Movie Tie-Ins
The Golden Years [1912-1969] ... Comedy
Films
Featuring The Arnie Davis Collection
Slapstick comedy is often the
venue in which silent film actors portrayed their characters in silent
comedy films. This carried over to talkies as well when we watch the
shorts by The Three Stooges, Our Gang, or Laurel and Hardy ventures.
Seeing someone poked in the eye, slapped, kicked, or punched may not carry
the same degree of laughter in today's world. Today's sound effects
provide way too much realism as contrasted with the cacophony of early
film sounds, related to bodily insults.
One can find Grosset and Dunlap photoplays with Harold Lloyd namely The Freshman (1925), and Speedy (1928 having a U. K. edition as well), all being First Edition novelizations. Speedy is noteworthy for an acting appearance by Babe Ruth (depicted in one film still) in addition to the visual comedy involving the old and new city trolleys. Harold is not seen again until the nicely done Bart House paperback for The Sin of Harold Diddlebock in 1947.
Jacobsen-Hodgkinson
published a lengthy series of digest-sized paperbacks
(pulp-like though smaller) that were movie novelizations with attractive
covers and often interior stills. Comedy was evident in titles
such as The Cohens and Kellys - What Happened to Jones - Kiki
(all 1926), Don't Tell the Wife (1927), The Cohens and Kellys in Paris (1928), and Tillie's
Punctured Romance (1928) with W. C. Fields.
The only hardcover known to feature Buster Keaton is The General (1926), another G&D First. The twelve interior stills went beyond the standard of eight. The Civil War setting and the Keaton character's zeal to recapture his stolen locomotive "The General" (by Union spies), provides classic comedic moments for today's audiences. The film was a big-budget picture and a box office disappointment in 1926, which cost Keaton his film independence and position of power in Hollywood.
Charlie Chaplin is hugely neglected as far as film tie-ins go. Only his short film from 1917 Easy Street is known, though quite scarce, and published in 1932 as a children's softcover book. Another noticeable absence is the comedy of Abbott and Costello, who were well represented in the comic book format.
Some Marilyn Monroe films are considered comedy classics such as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos (1953 available as a silent film also from 1928), The Seven Year Itch (1955), Bus Stop (1956), The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), Some Like it Hot (1959) being a screenplay by Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond and Let's Make Love (1960). When considering Hollywood cliches, the term 'blonde bombshell' is owned by Marilyn Monroe.
Jayne Mansfield tried to compete as a ditzy sexy blonde with roles in Kiss Them for Me (1956) and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1958) both available as movie paperbacks by Signet and Bantam Books respectively. Jayne Russell offered a brunette perspective in comedy roles such as accompanying Marilyn in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown (1957).
Jerry Lewis made some paperback appearances in The Ladies Man (1961), Visit to a Small Planet (1960), and Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River (1968). At this point, there are no known movie tie-ins with Dean Martin joining Jerry.
Other comedies published as film editions include The Philadelphia Story (1940), Topper Takes a Trip (1938), Tish (1942 with four different editions), The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942 published as a play), and My Man Godfrey (1957).
In retrospect, we could have used even more comedy tie-ins as laughter is truly the best medicine. Any film viewing or reading excerpt that produces a laugh (LOL), is time well spent.
