by:

Jonathan Lyons

October 29, 1 989

Once, al l comedy was performed live before an audience. Whether or

not the audience laughed immediately told the artist what was funny, and

what was not. Comedians learned this way for thousands of years, and the

traditions and wisdom were passed down to younger performers. Today,

however, entertainment i s an industry, and recording technologies have

created a huge gap between performer and audience. Animation i s

particularly affected by this gap because it i s by nature a recorded art

form. Actors and musicians have the option of playing live, and virtually

al l of them experience it. Animators can only s i t with an audience and see

how their completed work i s received. Considering the amount of time

involved in making animated films, this system provides very few chances

to learn. Young animators depend on watching old cartoons and silent live

classics. This situation, combined with economic and social pressures on

studio producers, has stagnated animated humor. Modern animators,

writers, and their business partners can only benefit from knowing more

of the rich tradition of live comedy, specifically the ancient art of

clowning. In reviewing four kinds of clown theater, the Italian commedia

del l'arte, the English pantomime, the American vaudeville, and the circus,

the fountainhead of comedy i n animation can be found.

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Before looking at the commedia dell'arte the origins of comedy i n our

culture deserves a mention. John Towsen writes in his book Clowns: "The

Western tradition of theater begins, not with the tragedies of Aeschylus

and the comedies of Aristophanes, but with short farces created and

performed by troupes of itinerant clowns and acrobats in the Dorian States

of ancient Greece." i These clowns were skilled caricaturists, and they

developed a cast of type characters: thieving slaves, bragging soldiers,

pretentious doctors, and country buffoons. Their acting was exaggerated

and they wore masks and huge phalli, as well as padded stomachs and

buttocks, creating a bizarre appearence. Despite their enormous

popularity in the Dorian city of Megara, they were considered low by the

Athenians, and were not accepted into the theater festivals held i n honor

of the fert i l i ty god Dionysus until around 300 B.C.

Many of the stock characters found in the ancient comedies also

appear in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in the Italian commedia

dell'arte. Commedia dell'arte means comedy of the professional actors,

and they are s t i l l famous for their ski l l of improvisation. In the

commedia, actors, not writers, decided what happened on stage. Lowell

Swortzell describes their system in his book

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Instead of a script a comedian worked from a simple outline or plot

summary called a scenario, wi th notations of b i ts of surefire dialogue to

t ie the improvised scenes together. Beyond that he was on his own."2 This

method of comedy put the players on the spot and forced them to handle

any situation, and to be somewhat unpredictable. Since comedy thrives on

unexpected turns, improvisation i s naturally effective. To facil i tate

improvisation, the commedia used a l imited structure, employing stock

scenarios, stock characters, and some stock gags. It was also common for

the actors to speak to the audience, much like some cartoon characters do.

The cast of characters usually included a merchant, a doctor, a

soldier, two lovers, and two servants. Once an actor or actress had

assumed a role, it was kept for life. They lived and breathed the parts, and

knew exactly what their characters would do i n any situation. Much of the

comic action came from the two servants who were called "zanni", the

origin of the English word zany. Usually the pair Included a quick witted

"f irst zany", and a slow witted "second zany3

Most of the characters in the commedia wore half masks that le f t the

mouth free to speak. The grotesque masks were so important the parts

were called masks, rather than roles or characters. Two characters who

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did not wear masks were the lovers. They were realistic characters and

not expected to be f unny.4 The image of normal people sharing the stage

with the bizarre masks i s not unlike some animated features such as

Gulliver's Travels ( 1 939) or Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( 1 938),

where human types interact with a variety of unusual beings.

The mask was part of the costume that made the character instantly

recognizable to the audience. But in performance, costume i s not as

important as acting. Each character had a distinctive style of moving, and

this quote by Carlo Mazzone-Clement i beautifully describes this action:

Hens, chicks, roosters, capons, ducks, peacocks,

all the farmyard bipeds make us laugh, their walks

absurd parodies of man's own gait. [The actors] are

not identified so much by the color and cut of their

costumes as by the walk, the gesture, the manner in

which each uses his 'feathers' to express pride, joy,

anger, and sorrow,) alternately swelling and

drooping, preening and ruffling, as he picks his way

1 ike a strutting fow 1, ever vulnerable, across the

stage, before the appreciative eyes of the audience.5

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The value of characteristic walks i s well known among animators, and i s a

fundamental aspect of personality animation.

The characters of the commedia dell'arte, especially the zany

servants, had such vitality they survived the passing of their national

theater, spreading across Europe to grow even more famous. Pulcinella

became England's Punch. 6 Pedrolino developed into France's Pierrot. 7 and

Arlecchino became the lover/trickster Harlequin in England's pantomime. a

The pantomime shows were an English tradition during the nineteenth

century. Competing plays would open on Boxing Day (the day after

Christmas) and run for weeks or months depending on their popularity. And

popular they were, forcing some theaters to replace Shakespeare's plays

with the holiday favorite. Though called pantomime, these were actually

variety shows, heavily laden with spectacle.9 John Towsen describes them:

In those days, pantomimes were divided into two

parts, the opening - a fairy tale in dance, dialogue,

and song - and the madcap harlequinade. The two

halves were linked by a transformation scene in

which a benevolent agent such as Mother Goose or a

Fairy Queen miraculously changed the characters of

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the opening into such stock types as Harlequin,

Columbine, Pantaloon, and Clown. The plot shared by

both parts usually centered around the romance

between two young lovers .... The inevitable result

was a long chase scene with pantaloon and his

not-so-loyal servant, clown, i n hot pursuit of

Harlequin and Columbine. It was as i f a performance

of Cinderel la suddenly turned into a Keystone Cops

comedy. 10

The transformation scene was the stage equivalent of a f i lm dissolve.

The fairy story set would change into the harlequinade set before the eyes

of the audience.1 t The harlequinade that followed was the origin of the

extended chase scene, and the use of it would survive to the silent f i lm

days. and to modem animated films. 12

The chase demanded great physical skill, and acrobats made the most

entertaining clowns. This quote by French poet Theodore de Banville in

1 880 describes these perf orrners:

. ..between the adjective "possible" and the adjective

"impossible" the English pantomimist has made his

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choice: he has chosen the adjective "impossible." He

lives in the impossible; i f it i s impossible, he does it.

He hides where it i s impossible to hide, he passes

through openings that are smaller than his body, he

stands on supports that are too weak to support his

weight; while being closely observed he executes

movements that are absolutely undetectable, ... he

flees, he escapes, he leaps, he fl ies through the air. 13

Impossible i s certainly a word to describe what animated characters

can do. If standing on insufficient supports i s entertaining, then Wile E.

Coyote takes it one step farther by standing on thin air, i f only for a

moment.

The most celebrated of these pantomimists, and possibly the most

famous clown ever, was Joseph Grimaldi. Swortzell writes: "Joe's

essential comic g i f t was the uncanny mobility and expressiveness of his

face and body ... Joe's glances, winces, and scow 1s instantly projected his

volatile emotions to the farthest reaches of the gallery." 14 That i s a good

example for animators. In fact, Towsen tells us Grimaldi himself was

something of an animator

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Thanks to a lifetime in pantomime, Grimaldi was

well versed in trickwork and was himself the

designer of many effective "tricks of construction."

In these transformations, something new and

unexpected was created out of something quite

ordinary, ... Ridiculous combinations of objects could

become animated in Grimaldi's hands; he could create

a living (and belligerent) vegetable man out of a pile

of turnips and carrots. 15

It is notable that the vegetable man had an attitude. Motion isn't enough for

an object to appear alive, it must have a spirit.

When discussing comedy in animation, vaudeville must be cited as one

of the direct early influences. Many of America's f i rst animators were able

to see vaudeville during it's final years, just before motion pictures

captured the nation's attention. In The Fl iescher Stow, Leslie Cabarga

writes about Dave Fliescher's f i rs t job, as an usher at the Palace Theatre,

the premiere vaudeville theater in America: "This job was to make a

lasting impression on the young man. Dave watched al l the vaudeville acts,

studied the timing and listened to the reaction of the audience. This

'schooling' proved invaluable in later years". 16

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During his time at the Palace, Dave may have seen a common vaudeville

routine called "The Rivals." The skit involved only two men. The scenery

was the exterior of a cottage. One man would enter the stage where he

would sing a song about visiting his sweetheart. Then he would dance a bit,

and go into the cottage. The second man would enter the stage and sing

about his girlfriend and his suspicions of the f i rs t man. Then he would go

into the cottage. Crashing sounds were heard and one man would come

smashing through the door. The other would jump out through the window.

Somehow they called a truce and le f t as friends. Gilbert Douglas in his

American Vaudevi 1 le writes: "The 'rival' song and dance acts are interesting

because they were of a pattern, highly stylized, and depended upon the

clever linesand theabi l i tyof theperforrners." 17 Thisroutineresembles

the stock scenario that the Flieschers used so successfully in their Popeye

cartoons. The rivalry that often developed between Popeye and Brutus over

Olive Oyl also depended upon the animator's ability to create fresh and

funny gags. In addition, Popeye cartoons made great use of music, songs,

and dance.

Walt Disney was another producer of animated f i lms who took

inspiration from vaudevi 1 le. Frank Thomas and 01 1 ie Johnston

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remember, "...if Walt had not had vaudeville as a model, had not seen these

examples, had not been aware of the possibilities, he would have settled

for less without ever knowing such potential existed." i s

In Steamboat Willie (1928) there is a gag which may have been

inspired by a stage act. In the film, Mickey does his musical number, his

"minstrel show"i9 as Donald Crafton called it, by using animals as

instruments. When finding a group of piglets suckling at a sow, Mickey

yanks on their tails to produce squeels that follow the melody. There was

in vaudeville an act called "The Cat Piano." A "musician" would come on

stage rolling a long box that was divided into compartments. In each

compartment a live cat could be seen. Turning the box around he exhibited

the cat's tails (actually false) protruding from the back of the box. With

his back to the audience, the cat pianist would sequentially yank the tails,

and vocally create the various screeches, yowls, and spits the cats were

supposedly making, forming them into a known melody. 20

Johnston and Thomas also write about the planning of the ballet

dancing hippos for the "Dance of the Hours" segment of fantasia ( 1940). In

choosing how the animals should act, Walt Disney refers to a vaudeville

show that was popular in America and Europe:

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Maybe like Frank Brittonus Band ... Frank's al l

dressed up in evening clothes in front of his

digni f ied-looking band. They start out playing good

music, when here the cello player - playing away - f i rst his chair slips off the platform, and you think

something has actually happened, and the cello stand

slips to the floor. From there on everything goes

wrong, and they end up throwing each other in the

orchestra pi t - breaking violins over each other's

heads. It's very funny - but straight i n the

beginning. 2 1

Something the quote does not mention is that the conductor of the band

is so lost in concentration that he continues to perform while his band i s

destroying itself. His lack of reaction contrasts with the bedlam of the

musicians, and is half the comedy. This act must also have been the

inspiration for The Band Concert (1935). In that film, Mickey Mouse

continues to conduct an al l animal band despite the arrival of a tornado

which l i f t s and scatters them over the countryside.

Those ballet dancing hippos, by the way, also had a predecessor in Tony

Grice, a British music hall clown who was a stout gentleman. One of his

most popular acts was his imitation of a ballet dancer. 22

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While vaudeville has been lef t to the history books, the circus has

continued to live on. Originally the circus was a show of horses running

around in a ring with riders performing stunts. An acrobatic clown would

pose as a drunken audience member, and demand to ride one of the horses.

The "drunk" would not only manage to stay on the horse, but would

"accidentally" perform amazing stunts. In the days of the one ring circus

clowns could easily employ verbal humor, sometimes being no more than

stand up comics. But as competition among the circuses increased, a

second ring was added, and then a third, as promoters learned audiences

gravitated to the more spectacular show. 23

As the circus grew, clowns became relatively smaller. To be visible

to the huge audiences, they had to act in a broad, exaggerated manner,

dispensing with subtlety of character. According to Earl Shipley, a clown

with the Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey (RBB&B) circus during the

twenties, "The work i s much like cartooning, with the exception that the

artist in the circus i s his own picture." 24

One of America's most famous clowns, Emmet Kelly, started out as a

cartoonist for an animation company. In his autobiography Clown,

Kelly tells how he developed his trademark tramp character while working

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at the Adagram Film Company in Kansas City, Missouri. Just across town,

Walt Disney was also getting his start, working for the Kansas City Film Ad

Company. The two did not meet then, but they did become friends later in

life. 2s

Because the circus has continued to perform since the divisal of

animated films, cartoon comedy can predate clown acts. In 1946 a clown

act premiered in the RBB&B show that simulated a gag in an Oswald the

Lucky Rabbit film. The act was called "The Adam Smasher," and was

inspired by the then recently invented atom smasher. In this act a group of

professional clowns placed a tal l clown into a scientific looking box,

leaving his head exposed. They activated the machine, and a pile driver

crashed down onto the clowns head, pushing him into the box. Instantly,

doors opened from the sides of the box, and four dwarf clowns dressed like

the original tal l one ran out. 26 Oswald the Rabbit needed no machine,

howevev, to be knocked into several smaller Oswalds in the f i lm priaht

Liahts ( 1928).

The Adam Smasher was designed by Paul Jung. He was what i s called a

producing clown. He conceived and built large props for special acts.

Another of his creations was a steamroller which would rol l over a

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streetsweeper clown, leaving behind an oilcloth flattened image, which

would be carefully placed on a stretcher by two doctor clowns. 27 We have

most recently seen this i n Who Framed Roaer Rabbit (1988) when Judge

Doom i s similarly steamrolled.

The Roger Rabbit feature also contained a new character with a circus

clown ancestor - Baby Herman, the middle aged, cigar chewing baby toon.

The RBB&B circus had a dwarf dressed as a pipe smoking baby who chased

his buxom nurse by driving a motorized baby carriage.

As the circuses grew and forced the clowns to exaggerate their

appearance and actions as much as possible, it may have done more harm

than good. Though they can be quite funny in the circus, this type of clown

does not do well outside of it. Everything about the circus clown must

scream for attention, so attempts to bring them close up can prove

frightening. Sadly, American television has reduced the clown to a funny

suit and make-up, removing al l of their true spirit, and value.

From the improvisation of the commedia dellmarte, to the madcap

harlequinade, to the slapstick of vaudeville, to the pandemonium of the

circus, i t becomes clear that plot development i s a low priority i n comedy.

Plot, however, i s very important to tragedy, and to better understand the

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significance of comedy, it helps to compare it with tragedy. It has been

said that tragedy deals with death, while comedy deals with sex.

While the adventures of lovers i s the main ingredient in much comedy, it

certainly does not cover the range of possibilities. This i s because comedy

deals with infinite possibilities.

All drama i s built on problems. In tragedy a character gets into a

difficult situation and i s eventually destroyed, either physically or

spiritually. In comedy, a character gets into trouble, but he or she escapes.

For instance, Harlequin i s cornered by the father of his lover, and capture

seems certain. But Harlequin i s an acrobat, and his ski l l enables him to

leap out of the corner, and out of danger. In tragedy, when a character i s

backed to the wall, capture w i 11 come because that i s what probability says

w i l l happen. But when Harlequin leaps straight up and out of danger,

possibility has shown us what happen. His physical repositioning in

space changes the entire situation. Harlequin may have chosen to distract

his opponent and escape past him, or perhaps a trapdoor opens and he

disappears through it. It could be anything. There are infinite possibilities

for Harlequin to move i n any direction. He proves that being up against a

wall i s no barrier. Our expectation of probability was an illusion, and

Harlequin broke it.

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Now it i s easy to see why comedy relies on character for i t 's

entertainment. The progression of the story becomes secondary to enjoying

the action moment by moment, as the comedian defies destruction. Tragedy

shows us how l i fe breaks people down, while comedy shows us how people

can survive and change any situation. This i s how drama reflects the

balance of forces in the world.

Though comedy has eluded the analysis of philosophers and scientists

for centuries, Arthur Koestler put forth an interesting theory. Basically, he

says that when Harlequin leaps our minds must leap as well. When he

unexpectedly changes his situation we must adjust to a completely

different state of affairs. Reality itself has changed in a flash, and our

brains must instantly accept the new order. This puts a demand on the

brain that i s so intense it has a physical side effect - laughter. Koestler

calls this occurence "bisociation," and his book The Act of Creation 28

thoroughly describes how bisociation i s important to comedy, science, and

art. But because comedy i s different for every person, it i s truly a

mystery, like dreams are. Maurice Charney, in his book Gomedv Hiah and

& writes: *The links between comedy and dreams are very specific,

especially in the mechanism of free association, by which the dreamer and

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the comic hero jump from point to point by intuitive leaps and without any

necessary logical connection.' 29

This incredible ability of the comic hero to change any situation i s

like magic.

us that we

Inside his mind the clown can find a solution. The clown shows

too can find solutions, and therefore i s not so much a magician

as a personification of the magic al l humans have. It i s the magic that has

allowed us to survive in a world of destructive forces. It i s magic like the

DNA that programs our cells to grow into complex bodies. DNA exists, but

it i s not part of the everyday world we sense around us, and neither i s the

magic of the clown. To illustrate this, clowns alter their appearance i n

order to separate themselves from "reality." George Victor Bishop tells us

In The World of Clowns:

Makeup in one form or another has been part of

clowning since the very beginning. Understanding

the need physically to separate their characters

from reality, the earliest Greek and Latin "vintage"

comics daubed their faces with the juice of the

grape to f ix a mask between themselves and

ordinary mortals. The very word mask stems from

the Arabic masharage, meaning "clown". 30

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It should now be clear why anthropomorphized animals have so successfully

carried on the role of clowns in cartoons.

This situation of clowns who are separate from daily life, and who

delight in forcing our brains to instantly reorganize, creating an illogical,

dreamlike world, could become too much for an audience to handle.. To

enjoy this crazy world, the audience needs to feel secure. Because

fami 1 iari ty breeds contempt, comedy developes familiarity through

repetition. 31 The use of stock scenarios, formula cartoons, and recurring

popular characters allows the audience to feel it i s on familiar territory,

and i s therefore safe. A happy ending i s guaranteed so there i s no reason to

worry. 32 Tom the cat i s going to chase Jerry the mouse with lots of

crashes and close calls along the way, but the mouse w i l l always escape.

To create a profitable show, an illusion of safety must underlie al l that

chaos.

Even though comedy i s not dependent upon plot development it can

make extensive use of it. Plot development is the criteria used to mark the

scale between what we call high comedy and low comedy. Both s t i l l rely on

characters to get in and out of trouble, but plot can be developed to any

degree.

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At the high end of comedy we have the "well-made play." The subjects

of these plays are the upper class, and one character initiates a scheme, or

tries to keep a secret. Problems arise, and as the play progresses, the

intertwining intrigues create what appear to be an inescapable web. Then,

in the final act, the writer reveals his ski l l by his ability to extract the

hero from doom, get someone married, and t ie up al l the loose plot points.

In high comedy verbal w i t i s more important than physical skill, and a

clever answer can be the mental equivalent of Harlequin's leap.

At the low end of comedy i s the chaotic slapstick of circus clowns

bashing each other with l i t t l e or no reason. But in between the highest and

the lowest anything can happen. High comedy has served the minority of

the upper classes, while low comedy has appealed to the masses, and i s

also called popular comedy. Animation has achieved the majority of it's

success from the lower sort of comedy, and in this paper, the term

"cartoon" signifies animated popular comedy.

Clowns have existed in virtually every culture, with the f i rs t

historical stage appearance being a dancing dwarf at the court of a young

pharoah in Egypt, over 2000 years before Christ. 33 Cortes discovered

dwarfs and hunchbacked buffoons at the court of Aztec ruler Montezuma I I.

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Peter the Great of Russia had over 100 jesters, and many Chinese and

African rulers had court fools. w In the 14th century the Catholic church

permitted the Feast of Fools, a -New Years celebration during which the

minor clergy were allowed to usurp the functions of their superiors

and engage in a wide range of blasphemous yet officially approved

c10wning.~ 3s Many American Indian tribes have ritual clowns who mock

sacred ceremonies as a way of ridiculing those tribe members who do not

conform to societies standards.= Though clowns come in al l descriptions

there are three general types we can discuss; tricksters, fools, and

braggarts. The f i rs t two, tricksters and fools, are the most common.

The name trickster i s usually associated with the North American

Indian legends, but asa kind of clown, tricksters are found i n most

societies. 37 Tricksters are clever and mischievous. They delight i n

outwitting others. Felix the Cat, animation's f i rs t star, attained his fame

by having the characteristics of the classic comic hero. Maurice Charney

describes the comic hero, -The comic hero imagines himself to be

invulnerable and omnipotent. The comic hero i s a dreamlike figure who

seems oblivious to human limitations. He can easily walk in the air ... hover,

glide, and perform remarkable aerodynamic feats without any effortem ss

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The comic heroSs carefree attitude i s echoed by Donald Crafton in Before

Mickey, when he discusses Felix: "Repeatedy Felix tests the l imits of the

imagination ... Grotesque monsters, exotic landscapes, impossible

disjunctions of time and space are 'normal' recurring motifs i n Felix's

world, and he accepts them with aplomb." 39

These two authors also provide statements concerning the comic plot,

in general and i n Felix's adventures. Charney writes "perhaps we could

describe comic plots as mechanisms of acquisition. Something i s a1 ways

being sought, pursued, hunted, bargained for, or stolen - something of value,

be it love, sex, or money." 40 Crafton writes, "In many ways, Felix's

uniqueness derives from his metaphorical expression of fleeting childhood

concerns.. the intense needs for food, for 1 ibidinous gratification, for

shelter and security." 41

Chamey also writes: "...the comic hero i s also a trickster ..." 42 Felix

literally carried a bag of tricks. His most peculiar trick was his ability to

remove his own ta i l for use as something he needed, and this kind of

resourcefulness i s also a talent of the classic comic hero. Again Chamey

writes "He must at al l costs, be ready for what turns up, and not only ready,

but also skillful, versatile, ingenious, spontaneous and improvisatory. He

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must seem to perform miracles with only the slightest of materials. That

i s why magic i s frequently a metaphor for comedy ..." 43

The fool i s simpler. John Towsen writes about the fool:

Fool i s usually taken to mean someone lacking

common sense. i f not totally devoid of reason ... The

fool's characteristic traits are very much like those

of the "natural" man. Lacking social graces and

blissfully operating outside the laws of logic, he i s

often seen as a child or even as an animal, but only

rarely as a mature adult ... 44

Fools are protected from harm in an almost magical way. For instance,

the virtually blind Mr. Magoo can walk or drive his car through the most

perilous situations, totally unaware of any danger, and never coming to any

harm. 45

The third type of clown i s the braggart, which can include any

character that takes himself or herself too seriously. The classic stage

example i s Shakespeare's Falstaf f, who claimed to be a courageous soldier,

but was actually a coward. Warner Brothers has a pure braggart character

in Pepe LePew, the amorous skunk. Pepe shamelessly proclaims he i s an

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irresistible lover, never realizing his natural smell i s repulsive to his

co-star, the black female cat with the white paint stripe. In L i t t le Beau

P e ~ e (1952) he mixes up a love potion that actually works. But when the

cat chases him, he turns and runs away. Braggarts, however, are limited in

comic potential, they have one basic joke, and interest in them wains

quickly, as it did for the Capitano of the commedia dell'arte. 46 Still, Pepe

i s unusual for his being a lover rather than the classic soldier.

The ubiquity of fools and tricksters suggests they have special roles

i n society. The idea of the fool i s closely related to, if not identical with,

the scapegoat. To laugh at someone makes us feel superior. To ridicule

someone with laughter i s also a way to ostracize them. But in drama (and

in history) those who are laughed at often turn out to be right. After

returning home, Odysseus disguised himself as an old fool, and was

ridiculed before he revealed his identity and killed his wife's suitors.

Jesus Christ was reviled, cast out and crucified before performing the

ultimate trick of resurrection. The scapegoat can become the hero. 47

This sort of change i s also found when reviewing the history of certain

clown characters. Harlequin began his career as the stupid country buffoon

Arlecchino i n the commedia dell'arte. But over the course of decades he

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developed into the crafty trickster, and then a space was opened for a

stupid second zanni. In English pantomime, thetrickster Harlequinwas

seconded by a new fool simply called "clown." Eventually the pantomime

disappeared and Harlequin was retired. Clown moved on to the circus where

he became a sophisticated character, and again a new fool appeared to fill

the gap. This one was called the "auguste," meaning clumsy fool in

German.- So the fool, 1 ike the scapegoat, can become the trickster hero.

A Bugs Bunny cartoon from 1 950, Whats UD Doc?, illustrates how these

clowns probably advanced. The cartoon i s Bug's l i fe story, and i n it Elmer

Fudd i s a successful vaudevi 1 le star who rescues the down and out Bugs and

makes him second banana in his comedy act. Bugs wears oversized clothes

and delivers straight lines while getting spritzed and slapped by Elmer.

Then one night Bugs decides to t ry something new. In the next show, Bugs

steals some of the funny lines. When Elmer gets angry and puts his shotgun

into Bugsm face, Bugs improvises, saying "What's up Doc?" The audience

goes wild with laughter, taking Bugs and Elmer by surprise. Reacting to the

audience approval, as live comedians can, they decide to go with the new

arrangement. And that i s how Bugs became top banana.

It seems that the audience gets used to a character being the victim.

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Then suddenly the victim takes control of the situation and the audience i s

surprised and delighted. But the ability to succeed was there all along. The

trickster's skill at survival i s only the result of the fool's natural strength.

That i s the magic of character. In the appendix to Comedv Wylie Sypher

writes: "The fool at last proves to be the clown: and the clown i s He Who

Gets Slapped - and 'is none the worse for the slapping.' He i s resilient with

a vitality lacking to the tragic hero..: 49 We do not laugh because a

character was slapped. If that were all it was, then tragedy would also be

funny. We laugh because in comedy we know the character survives. It

should be added that it i s not enough to simply survive the slapping

physically. It i s most funny when we expect a character to react in an

interesting manner. Comedy i s about spiritual survival.

That i s the value of cartoon slapstick. When you distinguish a

character with greasepaint or an animal body, you represent that it i s not

common reality. Even the youngest child recognizes this. A1 1 humans must

adjust to a continually changing world. The clown and the cartoon

character simply deal with changes at a much more rapid pace. They are

representations of that tiny spark of vitality that keeps us alive, they are

the spirit in insipiration.

1 Lyons 26

Most people appreciate the clowns vitality, because most of us are

involved i n the daily work of survival. This i s the main reason why clowns

are so often lower class types: slaves, servants, country hicks and tramps.

This i s why the Toons i n Who Framed Roaer Rabbit were an underclass,

living in the ghetto of Toontown. But not al l the world loves a clown.

In the mid 1700s the commedia dell'arte was very popular with the

people. But a certain comedy playwright named Carlo Goldoni had new

ideas. In the book The World of Harleauin Allardyce Nicoll writes

Basically, Goldoni was concerned with bringing character, social

criticism, and moral purpose to the stage, and for achievement of this

objective he required a realistic framework." so His actors could no longer

wear masks or improvise or directly address the audience. They had to

adhere to a script carefully crafted to reflect the social values being

promoted. Goldoni was the theater's representative of the intellectual

movement known as The Age of Reason. Nicoll writes: "The age of reason

and sensibility had no use for the exercise of fantasy, and the actor's

business came to be the presentation of the real, as adapted by the

drarnat ist."si Goldoni succeeded, and the commedia del l'arte lost it's

vitality. Carlo Goldoni was Judge Doom to the Toontown of the commedia.

Lyons 27

The weal thy, the powerful, the comfortable, find common reality to be

quite acceptable. When one has al l the physical comforts, the spirit

becomes unimportant. Clowns and Toons are spiritual beings, and are able

to survive the thrashings of the physical world. Fools and tricksters are

heroes to people who, like themselves, must struggle to survive. Our

ancestors used tal l tales and trickster stories to sustain their spirits i n

the face of difficulty. During the American depression people found relief

in the movie theaters. Today, inner city blacks find strength in rap

music. Popular art i s more than entertainment, it ful f i l ls a need i n the

audience. To quote Roger Rabbit: "A laugh can be a very powerful thing,

why sometimes in l i fe it's the only weapon we have."

Lyons 28

MOTES

1. John H. Towsen* Clowns (New York: Hawthorn, 19761 38.

2. Lowell Swortzell, Here Come the Clown3 (New York: Viking, 1978) 42.

3. Towsen 67.

Towsen 64.

Towsen 73.

Allardyce NicollJ The World of Harleauin. A Crit ical Studv of the Commedia dellgArte (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1963) 84.

Nicoll 88.

Nicoll 199-202.

Derek SalbergJ Once U ~ o n a Pantomime. (Luton: CourtneyJ 1 98 I 1.

Towsen 1 40- 1 Qtd. Preface to Memoires e t Pantomimes des Freres Hanlon-Lees (Paris8 1 879) 9.

Sal berg I 64- 1 7 1.

Towsen 140.

Tow sen I 4 1 -2.

Swortzell 108-9.

Towsen 1 57-8.

Leslie CabargaJ The Fleischer Stow (New Yo*: De Capo8 1988 revised) 15.

Lyons 29

17. Gilbert Douglas, American Vaudeville: It 's Li fe and Times (Whittlesey: 1940. New York: Dover, 1968) 39-40.

18. Frank Thomas and 01 1 i e Johnston, Too Funny for Words: Disney's Greatest Sight Gags. (New York: Abbevil le, 1 987) 5 1.

19. Donald Craf ton, Before Mickey: The Animated Film 1 898- 1 928 (Cambridge, Massachusettes, MIT Press, 1982) 297.

20. Douglas 58.

22. Towsen 197.

23. Towsen 83- 139,256-8.

24. Towsen 274.

2s. Emmet Kelly, Clown (New York: Prentice Hal 1, 1954) 3 1 -49.

26. Kelly 262.

27. Kelly 262.

26. Arthur Koest ler, The Act of Creation. (London: Hutchison, 1 964).

29. Maurice Chamey, Come* Hiah and Low: An Introduction to the Ex~erience of Comedy. (New York, Oxford UP, 1 978) 154.

so. George Victor Bishop, The World of Clowns. (Los Angeles: Brooke House, 1976) 14.

3 1. Chamey 82.

32. Chamey 75-6.

33. Swortzell 8.

34. Towsen 22-41

35. Towsen 16.

36. Towsen 6- 1 6.

37. ~owsen5.

38. Charney 145.

M. Craf ton 339.

40. Charney 82.

41. Craf ton 339.

42. Charney 145.

43. Charney 1 1.

44. Tow sen 5.

6. Charney 167.

47. Wylie Sypher# Introduction and Appendix, Comedy (Garden City: Doubleday 1956). 2 14-220.

48. Towsen 206-208.

49. Sypher 232.

Lyons 30

J

so. Nicoll205.

st. Nicol1216.