Sumario: | Film scholars and fans have used distinctive terms to describe the Classic Hollywood comedian: he is a "trickster," a "rebel," or a "buffoon." Yet the performer is almost always described as a "he." In this book, the author reads the performances of notable comedians such as W.C. Fields, Eddie Cantor, Jack Benny, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey, and Bud Abbott and Lou Costello through humor and queer theory to expose a problematic history of maleness in their personas. He argues that contrary to popular notions of Classic Hollywood history, these male comedians rearranged or, at times, rejected heteronormative protocols. -- Publisher's website
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