Leonard Alfred Schneider, better known by his stage name Lenny Bruce, was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, and satirist. He was renowned for his open, free-wheeling, and critical style of comedy which contained satire, politics, religion, sex, and vulgarity. His 1964 conviction in an obscenity trial was followed by a posthumous pardon in 2003.
James Harrison Coburn III was an American film and television actor who was featured in more than 70 films, largely action roles, and made 100 television appearances during a 45-year career.
Slapstick films are comedy films using slapstick humor, a physical comedy that includes pratfalls, tripping, falling, practical jokes, and mistakes are highlighted over dialogue, plot and character development. The physical comedy in these films contains a cartoonish style of violence that is predominantly harmless and goofy in tone.
Michael Leslie Winslow is an American actor, comedian and beatboxer billed as The Man of 10,000 Sound Effects for his ability to make realistic sounds using only his voice. He is best known for his roles in all seven Police Academy films as Larvell Jones. He has also appeared in Spaceballs, Cheech and Chong's Next Movie and Nice Dreams, The Love Boat, and commercials for Cadbury and GEICO.
John George Agar Jr. was an American film and television actor. He is best known for starring alongside John Wayne in the films Sands of Iwo Jima, Fort Apache, and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. In his later career he was the star of B movies, such as Tarantula!, The Mole People, The Brain from Planet Arous, Revenge of the Creature, Flesh and the Spur and Hand of Death. He was the first husband of Shirley Temple.
Spring Dell Byington was an American actress. Her career included a seven-year run on radio and television as the star of December Bride. She was a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player who appeared in films from the 1930s to the 1960s. Byington received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Penelope Sycamore in You Can't Take It with You (1938).
The Black Cat is a 1941 American comedy horror and mystery film directed by Albert S. Rogell and starring Basil Rathbone. The film was a hybrid of style: being inspired by comedy "Old Dark House" films of the era as well as the 1843 short story "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe. It stars Basil Rathbone as Montague Hartley, the head of a greedy family who await the death of Henrietta Winslow so that they can inherit her fortune. When she is found murdered, an investigation begins into who might be the culprit. Alongside Rathbone and Loftus, the film's cast includes Hugh Herbert, Broderick Crawford, and Bela Lugosi.
Joe Butterfly is a 1957 American comedy film directed by Jesse Hibbs starring Audie Murphy, George Nader and Keenan Wynn, with Burgess Meredith in the title role as a Japanese man. The movie was action star Murphy's only outright comedy, and it suffered by comparison to the similar Teahouse of the August Moon, released seven months earlier. The film was based on an unproduced play.
Roxie Hart is a 1942 American comedy film directed by William A. Wellman, and starring Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou and George Montgomery. A film adaptation of a 1926 play Chicago by Maurine Dallas Watkins, a journalist who found inspiration in two real-life Chicago trials she had covered for the press. The play had been adapted once prior, in a 1927 silent film. In 1975, a hit stage musical premiered, and was once more adapted as the Oscar-winning 2002 musical film.
Trouble Along the Way is a 1953 American comedy film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring John Wayne and Donna Reed, with a supporting cast including Charles Coburn and Marie Windsor. The black-and-white film was released by Warner Bros. with an aspect ratio of 1.37:1.
Draw! is a 1984 American Western comedy film directed by Steven Hilliard Stern. It stars Kirk Douglas, James Coburn and Alexandra Bastedo.
Hotel Haywire is a 1937 American comedy film written by Preston Sturges with uncredited rewrites by Lillie Hayward. It was directed by George Archainbaud and stars Leo Carrillo, Lynne Overman, Spring Byington, Benny Baker and Colette Lyons.
Louisa is a 1950 American comedy film directed by Alexander Hall and starring Ronald Reagan, Charles Coburn, Ruth Hussey, Edmund Gwenn and Spring Byington. It was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound.
George Karl Wentzlaff, whose stage name was George "Foghorn" Winslow, was an American child actor of the 1950s known for his stentorian voice and deadpan demeanor. He appeared in several films, opposite such stars as Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, Dean Martin, and Jerry Lewis. In the late 1950s, he retired from acting.
Come Closer, Folks is a 1936 American comedy film directed by D. Ross Lederman. A print is preserved in the Library of Congress collection.
The Footloose Heiress is a 1937 American comedy film directed by William Clemens and written by Robertson White. The film stars Craig Reynolds, Ann Sheridan, Anne Nagel, William Hopper, Hugh O'Connell and Teddy Hart. The film was released by Warner Bros. on August 21, 1937.
South of Dixie is a 1944 American comedy film directed by Jean Yarbrough and written by Clyde Bruckman. The film stars Anne Gwynne, David Bruce, Jerome Cowan, Ella Mae Morse, Joe Sawyer and Samuel S. Hinds. The film was released om June 23, 1944, by Universal Pictures.
Meet Me on Broadway is a 1946 American comedy film directed by Leigh Jason and written by George Bricker and Jack Henley. The film stars Marjorie Reynolds, Frederick Brady, Jinx Falkenburg, Spring Byington, Allen Jenkins, Gene Lockhart and Loren Tindall. The film was released on January 26, 1946, by Columbia Pictures.
