I love this book! Why? Mainly because it was just plain
fun to read. Of course, any book named "Lame Brains and Lunatics"
should be, but author Steve Massa writes with a love of the silent
comedians - many you may not even recognize - and has a wealth
of knowledge and interesting trivia included in these 478 pages
regarding the well-known and little-known geniuses of the silent
screen. For example, are you familiar with Fay Tincher? Ever seen
one of her comedies? Not having one defined comic persona and
working for forgotten companies
such as Komic Comedies and World Film, it's no wonder she's not
remembered today - although she was a very talented comedian.
Fortunately, one of her best shorts, "Rowdy Ann" (1919),
is available on the DVD set "Slapstick Encyclopedia."
However, Tincher is only one of several deserving, yet underappreciated,
silent comedians who have found a chapter in Massa's engaging
omnibus. In addition to her own starring vehicles, also for minor
companies, Gale Henry's "elongated" form can be seen
in some Charley Chase shorts and in minor parts in some pretty
well-known talkies such as "The Awful Truth" (1937)
and "Bringing Up Baby" (1938). Everyone's seen the cock-eyed
George Rowe in Laurel and Hardy and Charley Chase shorts, but
only Massa would think of devoting a chapter to this comedian
who by his very presence added so much to the Hal Roach comedies.
Every heard of Marcel Perez? Alice Howell? They have chapters,
too. And there are those with whom we are more familiar on film
but have seen so little about them in print - Al St. John, Max
Linder, Billie Ritchie, Max Davidson and others. What also makes
Massa's book an intriguing treasure are the biographical snapshots
we get of so many silent comedians, directors and producers woven
into the chapter discussions about the stars mentioned above -
people like Martha Sleeper, Sunshine Sammy Morrison, John Bunny,
Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew, Henry Lehrman, Josie Sadler, Harry Davenport,
Eddie Dillon, Johnny Sinclair, and too many more to mention. Favorite
chapters? The reader will find those on Marie Dressler and Max
Linder to be bittersweet tales. "Comedy Teams of the Teens
and Twenties" introduces us to the Hallroom Boys, Jimmy Adams
and Lige Conley, Neely Edwards and Bert Roach, Cliff Bowes and
Virginia Vance, The Spat Family, The Smith Family, Pee Wee Tuttle
and Ben Corbett, Ton of Fun and others. How many of these have
you heard of? I've mentioned many times before how much I enjoy
books such as this that allow the reader to go to a chapter anywhere
in the book - whatever may pique your interest at the moment -
and read a chapter in 15 or 30 minutes without the necessity of
reading from start to finish - and without pages and pages devoted
to someone's great-great-great-great grandparents and all their
offspring. Steve Massa is a true encyclopedia of knowledge about
the comedy of the silent era. The book is definitely a must-have
for any silent movie fan, and, as you read through it, you'll
have an overpowering urge to go find a DVD of these comedies to
watch. As expected, many are lost to time, but there are quite
a few still out there - David Shepard's "Slapstick Encyclopedia"
is a good place to start and serves as a great companion to this
book. As I said, it's a fun book to read, and, oh, did I mention
I love this book!!