Silent comedy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Silent comedy refers to a style of acting, related to but distinct from mime, invented to bring comedy into the medium of film in the silent film era (1900s–1920s) before a (synchronized) sound track on film was technologically practicable. Silent comedy is still practiced, albeit much less frequently, but it has influenced comedy in modern media as well.
Silent comedy placed a heavy emphasis on visual and physical humor, and what are known as "sight gags", to tell a story and entertain the viewer. Many of these physical gags were exaggerated forms of violence, or even abuse, and came to be called "slapstick". The term "slapstick" refers to a doubled, or "tricked", hitting stick that makes a loud sound upon (light) contact with another person. The "prat fall", slipping on a banana peel, getting soaked with water, and getting a pie thrown in one's face are all classic examples of slapstick comedy devices.
[edit] Silent film era
Most often, the viewing of the film was accompanied live by an organist or piano player. Sometimes, dialogue was conveyed by inserting black frames with white printing on them between shots or scenes. All silent films of this era are also black and white films, as inexpensive color film was not invented until the late 1930s.
Mack Sennett (creator of the Keystone Cops) and Hal Roach were two of the most famous producers of silent comedies. Famous actors from this era are now legendary: Ben Turpin, Mabel Normand, Edna Purviance, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Charley Chase, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy (the duo of Laurel & Hardy were among the few to make a commercially successful transition into talking pictures), and many others.
[edit] Modern era
In the early years of "talkie" films (beginning in 1927, see The Jazz Singer) a few actors continued to act silently for comedic effect, most famously Charlie Chaplin, whose last great "silent" comedies City Lights (1931) and Modern Times (1935) were both made in the sound age. Another late example was Harpo Marx, who always played a mute in the Marx Brothers' films.
Few feature films today exploit the genre of silent comedy. One exception was the filmmaker Eric B. Borgman's 2004 film The Deserter. Occasionally comedy teams will use a silent character for comedic effect. The most consistent -- and also the most famous -- is Teller from Penn & Teller.
Techniques employed by silent comedy, however, continue to influence talkie comedies, mainly through silent comedy's development of the older art of slapstick and through artistic reference to the trademark gags of famous silent comedians.
