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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 817
EAN num: 9781586481629
ISBN number: 1586481622
Label: PublicAffairs
Manufacturer: PublicAffairs
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 384
Printing Date: December 17, 2002
Publishing house: PublicAffairs
Release Date: December 17, 2002
Sale Popularity Level: 77344
Studio: PublicAffairs
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Product Description:
Lawrence Epstein's The Haunted Smile tackles a subject both poignant and delightful: the story of Jewish comedians in America. For the past century and more, American comedy has drawn its strength and soul from the comic genius of Jewish performers and writers. An incomplete listing of names makes the point: The Marx Brothers, Jack Benny, Fanny Brice, George Burns, Milton Berle, Jackie Mason, Joan Rivers, Rodney Dangerfield, Mel Brooks, Alan King, Mort Sahl, Buddy Hackett, Woody Allen, Lenny Bruce, Andy Kaufman, Richard Belzer, Jerry Seinfeld. These men and women, among others, form the canon of Jewish-American comedy.
In the words of the Detroit Jewish News, The Haunted Smile 'offers us a deep and subtle understanding of how Jewish culture and American openness gave birth to a new style of entertainment.' Often the best way to illuminate a point is to recount some of these comedians' own brilliant routines, and Epstein uses the comedian's work to great effect, making for a book that is both a thoughtful work of history and a great deal of fun.
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Rated by buyers -
I just finished reading "The Haunted Smile" and I loved it! I thought it was a perfect combination of history, story telling and wonderfully applicable joke excerpts. Not only did I laugh but I learned a great deal about the history of Jewish comedians in America and about the Jews who immigrated here as well. As a 30-year-old Jew living in America, I've never experienced the same issues which my great grandmother experienced upon immigrating to the United States. I remember her speaking Yiddish but I never could fully appreciate her sacrifices. This made me understand her background a little better and made me proud to be part of a people who took adversity and turned it into laughs. What a beautiful weapon!
Rated by buyers -
On the back of I believe the very first paperback edition of Salinger's 'The Catcher in the Rye' it is written, "It will make you laugh. It will make you cry. And you will never forget it." So I feel about that remarkable list of American Jewish comedians who gave so much pleasure so much joy to millions of people. From the time of vaudeville, the Marx brothers, Gallagher and Shean, Ed Wynn up to the golden age of Television, its real beginning with Uncle Milty and Sid Caesar's 'Show of Shows' with that amazing gang of writers Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Woody Allen, Neil Simon. And then down to more recent times with Gary Shandling and Seinfeld, Andy Kaufman and the late Gila Radner. -these wonderful people made America happy.
In this richly informative work Lawrence J. Epstein tells the stories of many of the true greats, Jack Benny, George Burns, the Marx brothers. He too provides some explanation of why the Jews became America's principal comic entertainers.
In an interview about the book Epstein says "The Jewish immigrant's child came from a family that had to confront hatred, persecution and attack. This made the Jews anxious and fearful," Epstein explains. "They needed a way to cope. This way had to be portable because the Jews kept being kicked out of places and had to be rooted in language because Jews so prized words over physical activity. Humour could be taken from place to place and was based on language. The humour also was useful in dealing with anti-Semites. If Jews could deflect hatred with laughter, people wouldn't hurt them."
This to my mind makes some sense but is certainly not the whole story. True a good share of Jewish humour is self- reflexive and self- critical, but there is also the explosively abusive humour of a Lenny Bruce or a Don Rickles, humour in which the language becomes a weapon to injure and win laughs.
Yet to tell the truth the great gift of this book is in the particular stories and anecdotes it gives, and less in the 'theory'.
The truth is each of these comics is a great 'character'. And I believe the real strength of these comics as a whole , is that each one of them is so much of an individual, so much of a 'character'. And each has a particular humour and style all his own.
This is a wonderful book, and I recommend it highly. I cannot really capture its spirit in this review, and certainly cannot capture the spirit of each of the great comedians it is about.
But I am thinking of one most famous radio humour story. It is the one in which for the very first time in the history of commercial radio there is a period of silence of several minutes. It is when the robber comes to the skinflint of all skinflints , Jack Benny and says, 'Your money, or your life". There is silence and then more silence. And then after several minutes, comes the plaintive voice of Jack Benny, " I 'm thinking, I'm thinking."
We love you guys . You were the greatest.
Rated by buyers -
Learn who's Jewish and who's not, who pretended not to be Jewish and who led with Jewishness. Learn who had it really, really tough and who had it relatively easy. Discover who could work together and who couldn't. Get the skinny on some really poor, skinny comedians. Rodney Dangerfield's true story seemed stranger than fiction. Find out who whacked Sinatra with a pie and got away with it. Find out how Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis really got together. Be privy to literally dozens of stories about famous people and get the history of radio, movies and television as a bonus.
I ended up liking some people I didn't know well enough to like. Some overt dishonesty shocked me. All the stories were at least interesting, many exciting and a few really disgusting.
What more could you possibly ask of one book?
Rated by buyers -
This book is full of history, anecdotes, personal stories, samples from comedians' stand-up material and movie dialog, and immigrant sociology and circumstances. He even gives details tying Yiddish language to Jewish American humor. He tells of vaudeville artists adapting to radio, then tv. So many details provided! At very first I was not going to buy it (I am a frugal African American who buys paperbacks), but I am glad I did. Also, at first, I thought it was going to be too scholarly and dry, but once I got INTO IT -- I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN!! BUY IT, BUY IT, BUY IT! And share it with your friends.
Rated by buyers -
This is one of only a few books which, after having read it, I wish I had written it. Of course, I am wholly unqualified to undertake such a task. However, I would have thoroughly enjoyed completing the research required and taken full advantage of every opportunity to interview, personally, as many of the Jewish comedians as possible. Also, as many as possible of the (non-performing) Jewish writers of comedy such as Larry David, Larry Gelbart, and Neil Simon. In a brilliant Introduction, Epstein observes: "The story of Jewish comedians in America is one of triumph and success. But their stage smile is tinged with sadness. It is haunted by the Jewish past, by the deep stains in American Jewish life -- the desire to be accepted and the concern for a culture disappearing -- by the centuries of Jewish life too frequently interrupted by hate, and by the knowledge that too often for Jewish audiences, a laugh masked a shudder. The comedians' story in America includes bitter encounters with anti-Semitism and the lures of an attractive culture along the way. The jokes these comedians told, their gags, and their nervous patter need to be set alongside the obstacles they overcame."
In this volume, Epstein combines the skills of a disciplined historian and cultural anthropologist with a writing style which has Snap! Crackle! and Pop! Obviously, he also delights in the comic art of so many who "exemplified two great themes of American Jewish life: assimilation and the search for an American Jewish identity....Also, they made Jews proud" while entertaining them as well as ever-increasing numbers of others who also went to the movies, turned on radios and then television sets, sat in nightclubs of various sizes, and bought albums. I am so grateful to Epstein for providing throughout the book an abundance of comic material from scripts, films, published interviews, recordings, and other primary sources. He covers a period from 1890 until the present, organizing his material within four sections:
The Golden Door and the Velvet Curtain (1890-1930)
NOTE: Epstein creates a context frame-of-reference within which to begin to examine "the two great themes" as countless immigrants arrived in "the land of hope and tears." He then shifts his attention to The Age of Vaudeville.
The Years of Fear (1930-1950)
NOTE: This was a period during which there were many fears (e.g. poverty, world war, nuclear weapons, Communism) shared by most Americans. Epstein examines what he calls radio's "finest hour" as well as films which had their audiences "laughing in the dark." He then shifts his attention to the rise of the Borscht Belt.
The Years of Acceptance (1950-1965)
NOTE: Epstein examines the American Television Revolution and then the emergence of stand-up comedy, devoting special attention to Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, and Jack Benny as well as to Lenny Bruce, Myron Cohen, Jack E. Leonard, Buddy Hackett, Alan King, Jackie Mason, Shelley Berman, and Woody Allen.
The Years of Triumph (1965-Present)
NOTE: In this final section, Epstein traces the further development and refinement of "the two great themes" of American Jewish life (i.e. assimilation and the search for an American Jewish identity) and I enjoyed reading this section more than any of its three predecessors. In it, Epstein takes a close look at the films of Woody Allen and Mel Brooks (among several discussed) and then shifts his attention to Rodney Dangerfield, Don Rickles, Andy Kaufman, Howard Stern, various Jewish comediennes, Jerry Seinferld, and (in the final chapter) an emerging generation of young Jewish comedians.
In the Appendix, "Schlemiels and Nudnicks," Epstein shares his final thoughts which help the reader to re-establish an overall perspective on material which covers a period of more than 100 years. (It could reasonably be claimed that Epstein has examined certain themes and forces which have been active within Jewish culture for several thousand years.) He concludes that "the comics who emerged from this Jewish background were not aware of psychological or sociological theories. As George Burns noted, they were not hungry for recognition, "they were hungry for food. They did not question their humour but rather just recognized and used it. Nevertheless, the roles comedians played and most particularly the contributions of Eastern European Jewish culture shaped the personalities of these comedians and lay, either hidden or not, in their minds."
For me, a Gentile, it is impossible to determine to what extent Jewish comedy became assimilated within American society, and, to what extent Jewish comedy helped American society became assimilated with Jewish values. Let's all call it a tie and consider ourselves that much the better for it.
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