Film- Origins of Film Comedy: The 19th Century

Literature

Many would find it odd to see Jane Austen (1775-1817) listed amongst the great creators of comedy, but here I present her as not only the first notable female writer of comedy, but also as someone who today scholars still discuss as one of the most frank and observant social critics.


One would not seem to read Austen’s Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility in order to enjoy an elaborate farce, but by looking to the Medieval definition of comedy that describes comedy as a story with a happy ending, as in Dante, one can see that Austen’s novels end with the joyful union of lovers.  Austen has the keen ability of capturing the humorous side of characters, as one would encounter it in everyday life. Austen acknowledged the necessity of comedy for a person’s feeling of well-being. 

Music

In the time since Mozart, composers such as Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868; The Barber of Seville) and Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848; Don Pasquale) succeeded him in the crafting of comic gems.  

Today, audiences everywhere are familiar with the music of Rossini, though they may not know it, for Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes appropriated much of it.  As one can see through the Looney Tunes’ use of his music, Rossini’s operas present such a complete view of comedy.  Not only are the libretti and situations humorous, the very quality of the music, with its twists and surprises, is comical.

The prolific Gaetano Donizetti succeeded Rossini in the genre of Opera Buffa, crafting several successful examples of the form. One can see many of the gags known to slapstick films and the situations of the Screwball Comedies as being mainstays of Rossini and Donizetti’s operas.  

The Victorian Era

(British Empire: ~1840-1900 AD)

Few time periods in the history of the Western World have seemed to follow so many implied social rules than the Victorian Era.  It was precisely for this reason that the Victorian Era needed comedy—something that can exist outside of social boundaries.

While one would seem off base labeling Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, and A Christmas Carol as comedies, one needs to note how Charles Dickens (1812-1870) does craft many rich comic characters and situations.  Numerous critics and scholars praise Dickens for his humor.  

Early filmmakers, including D.W. Griffith and Sergei Eisenstein, who also theorized about effective filmmaking, often cited Dickens as a source of inspiration for the multifaceted structuring of narrative.  Dickens demonstrated how the reader could experience concurrent action in a novel, a structure also possible in film, unlike live theatre.  Comic filmmakers soon adopted the narrative techniques of Dickens as Griffith and Eisenstein had utilized them.  
 
In Dickens, we see comedy as a relief from the pains of life.  Like Chaplin, Dickens grew up in poverty and felt a connection to the common people, pursuing comedy as a relief in the Medieval comedy, which also appears in Sullivan’s Travels (1942).  Chaplin, Dickens, and (to a point) Sturges, were all populists who could approach social injustices through the lens of comedy.

Like Shakespeare, Cervantes, and Mozart before him, Dickens created many rich comic characters. If laughter truly is a group activity, perhaps laughter allows the reader to affirm the comic character. Few authors would shape the philosophy of depression era filmmakers such as Chaplin and Sturges—working with urban settings—more so than Charles Dickens.

Romantic Period

(Europe and the United States: ~1815-1910)

When we move into the Romantic period of art, literature, theatre, and music, we find that, “Romantic dramatists preferred tragedy to comedy” (Ousby), which makes sense in an era of industrial change, war, social upheaval, scientific and medical discoveries, and changing national identities.  If the reader considers that one of the elements of Romanticism, personal feelings and individuality, it is not surprising that comedy—which is an expressive form that is meant to be shared—should not catch the attention of Romantic critics.

In music, it is interesting that of all of Bedrich Smetana’s opera works, it is the comedy for which he is remembered best.  Comedy makes people feel good, and one can always remember the feeling that a comedy inspired.  French composer Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) held the world stage with a variety of comic operas. Offenbach was able to take the satire of Swift and mold it into a musical form. It is ironic that Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), who began his career with a comedy—decided to end his career with a comedy as well.  It is still performed today to enormous popularity.  

Transitional Years

(Europe and the United States: ~1880-1930)

Much like the case with Verdi, Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) is known for his tragic operas.  However, his Gianni Schicchi, based on a character from Dante, is a highly praised comic opera. Like Puccini’s skill in comedy as well as tragedy, some of the most notable comic filmmakers like Billy Wilder, W.S. Van Dyke, and George Cukor, could also succeed in non-comic genres.  One only has to think of Double Indemnity (Wilder 1944), Tarzan the Ape Man (Van Dyke 1932), and Gaslight (Cukor 1944), to see this versatility in action.  
  
The comic opera tradition continued with the works of three separate composers.  In Vienna, Johann Strauss (1825-1899), “the Waltz King”, composed Die Fledermaus, with annual New Years performances still selling out fifteen years in advance, As we see with several film comedies like Chaplin’s City Lights (1931) or Wilder’s Some Like It Hot (1959), a comedy may be successful commercially and critically at its release and continue to be so.  Often, as with Verdi’s Falstaff or Strauss’ Fledermaus, the appeal is partly due to the comic creators and performers’ existing reputations.  

In the United Kingdom, librettist William Gilbert (1836-1911) and composer Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) collaborated on several comic operettas including The Pirates of Penzance, H.M.S. Pinafore, and The Mikado. In a similar way, American composer Victor Herbert created such comic operettas as Eileen, Naughty Marietta, and The Red Mill.  

In the realm of literature, Mark Twain (born Samuel Clemens; 1835-1910) is still one of the world’s most influential writers. Twain’s comic style relates to the social critique of Dickens and Chaplin, as well as to the satire of Swift.  In a later work, The Mysterious Stranger: A Romance, Twain proclaimed the power of comedy. It is a terribly important fact for American film comedy that one of America’s greatest writers specialized in comedy, particularly the ability to observe the people and situations of everyday life.

Part of the next generation after Mark Twain, composer/conductor John Philip Sousa (1854-1932) became quite a prolific writer of comic operettas, though today, the general public and most music historians remember Sousa as the “March King”. Sousa’s dream, in fact, had always been to be a musical theater composer, not a band conductor. Despite this, many music reference texts do not even mention Sousa’s operettas in his biographies.  Sousa’s work on Our Flirtations and other arrangements made him well known in the music world. Sousa wrote nine comic operettas, however, Sousa’s operettas fell out of favor with audiences and critics just as silent film comedy was reaching the forefront of American popular entertainment and art.  Many historians attribute the failure of his final show to the fact that it was the product of an era that had already passed in America, Sousa’s operettas and those like them still exerted an influence on the later anarchic sound comedies of W.C. Fields, Laurel and Hardy, The Marx Brothers, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, and Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis—especially in the musical interludes of the latter three comedy teams.  One should note how easily aspects of comic musical theater were absorbed into the comedy of the sound film.