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Who's Who in Comedy

Comedians, Comics and Clowns From Vaudeville to Today's Stand-Ups

Author: Ronald L. Smith
Hardback: 536 pages
Publisher: Facts on File (1992)
Avg. Rating: [ Unrated ]
ISBN: 0816023387
In Print? No

The Three Stooges receive four pages in Smith's encyclopedia, covering their complete career from the Healy days up to the early 1970s, plus briefly going into the growing legacy they left behind.  Includes lists of their best films, plus recordings, books and some home videos.

From the dust jacket...

"From Abbott and Costello to Zeb and Zarrow, Who's Who in Comedy chronicles the lives, careers and comic styles of over four hundred of the world's most celebrated funny people.  In addition to detailing the work of recognized comedy greats such as Phyllis Diller, Danny Kaye, Buster Keaton, Eddie Murphy, Carl Reiner, Joan Rivers, Ed Wynn and countless others, the book also acknowledges the contributions of cult figures Lord Buckley, Monty Python's Flying Circus and The Three Stooges; international stars Cook and Moore, Grock and Jacques Tati; country/rural comics Homer and Jethro, Lum and Abner and Minnie Pearl; musical performers Victor Borge, Tom Lehrer and Allan Sherman; and even colorful comic characters Bob 'Bazooka' Burns, Professor Dope Kelly and Parkyakarkus.

In a breezy, humorous style that is as entertaining as the comics themselves, Ronald L. Smith intersperses each biographical entry and an in-depth career history, a sprinkling of comedy from the performer, plus revealing anecdotes and quotes from contemporaries.  The book also includes revealing insights into the tragic deaths of Professor Backwards, John Belushi, Carole Lombard, Stringbean, Our Gang's Alfalfa Switzer and Thelma Todd.  With more than 70 black-and-white photos, credits for every performer in the major media (audio, books, Broadway, film and television) and three appendixes listing comedians by category, nickname and catch phrase, Who's Who in Comedy is the book comedy buffs have been waiting for."


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