Part of the Encore Film Book Classics series, this is a reprint of the original text of The Funsters by James Robert Parish and William T. Leonard, with Gregory W. Mank and Charles Hoyt. The iconic subjects of this volume could pop up in any movie—as plumbers or secretaries or bank tellers, as wives or husbands or (would-be) lovers. They could be pompous or scatterbrained. What they all shared in common was a genius for making funny faces at life. They made us laugh at our world—and ourselves. They are the Hollywood Funsters: the comics, the clowns, and the jesters of the Silver Screen. What are these people like away from the soundstage? How did they get into comedy in the first place? The Funsters provides all the answers in great depth. This substantial volume features 62 of the great Hollywood laugh makers (including several hilarious screen teams). Each has an individual chapter—a chapter rich in fascinating details about the celebrated individual’s colorful life—on and off the soundstages, as well as a listing of the star’s feature films, with studio and year of release. The vibrant personalities covered in this volume are: Bud Abbott & Lou Costello, Woody Allen, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, Eve Arden, Mischa Auer, Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Mary Boland, Fanny Brice, Joe E. Brown, George Burns & Gracie Allen, Judy Canova, Eddie Cantor, Charles Chaplin, Charley Chase, Joan Davis, Phyllis Diller, Marie Dressler, Jimmy Durante, Leon Errol, Tom Ewell, W. C. Fields, Charlotte Greenwood, William Haines, Judy Holliday, Bob Hope, Edward Everett Horton, Danny Kaye, Buster Keaton, Patsy Kelly, Ernie Kovacs, Bert Lahr, Arthur Lake, Harry Langdon, Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy, Jack Lemmon, Harold Lloyd, Marjorie Main, The Marx Brothers, Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis, Polly Moran, Mabel Normand, Edna May Oliver, ZaSu Pitts, Martha Raye, The Ritz Brothers, Will Rogers, Charlie Ruggles, S. Z. Sakall, George Sidney, Phil Silvers, Red Skelton, Alison Skipworth, Constance Talmadge, The Three Stooges, Thelma Todd, Ben Turpin, Dick Van Dyke, Clifton Webb, Mae West, and Ed Wynn. In The Funsters the funniest men and women the world has ever known have a significant reference volume worthy of their outsized talents.

About the Author

JAMES ROBERT PARISH, a former entertainment reporter, publicist, and book series editor, is the author of many published major biographies and reference books on the entertainment industry including Whitney Houston: We Will Always Love You; Fiascos: Hollywood’s Iconic Flops; It’s Good to Be the King: The Seriously Funny Life of Mel Brooks; The Encyclopedia of Ethnic Groups in Hollywood; The Hollywood Book of Death; The Unofficial “Murder, She Wrote” Casebook; Today’s Black Hollywood; and Let’s Talk! America’s Favorite TV Talk Show Hosts. Mr. Parish is a frequent oncamera interviewee on cable and network TV for documentaries on the performing arts. The author resides in Studio City, California. WILLIAM T. LEONARD, now deceased, lived in Philadelphia where he was Research Director for the Free Library of Philadelphia Theatre Collections. Besides collaborating with James Robert Parish on a trio of books, he authored Theatre: Stage to Screen to Television; Broadway Bound: A Guide to Shows That Died Aborning; Once Was Enough; and Masquerade in Black.

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