Books in French are on www.livres-cinema.info
On a related topic:
100 Years of Brodies with Hal Roach (2014)
The Jaunty Journeys of a Hollywood Motion Picture and Television Pioneer
by Craig Calman
Subject: Studio > Hal Roach Studios
The Ice Cream Blonde (2015)
The Whirlwind Life and Mysterious Death of Screwball Comedienne Thelma Todd
Subject: Actor > Thelma Todd
The Columbia Comedy Shorts (1998)
Two-Reel Hollywood Film Comedies, 1933–1958
by Ted Okuda and Edward Watz
The Oxford Handbook of Screen Comedy (2025)
Dir. Peter C. Kunze and William V. Costanzo
Subject: Genre > Comedy/Humor
Mixed Feelings in France (2025)
White Femininity and Métissage in French Multicultural Comedy
Comedy in Literature and Popular Culture (2024)
From Aristophanes to Saturday Night Live
Subject: Genre > Comedy/Humor
The Hal Roach Comedy Shorts of Thelma Todd, ZaSu Pitts and Patsy Kelly
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Book Presentation:
Hoping to follow his Laurel and Hardy success with a female comedy team, producer Hal Roach paired Thelma Todd with ZaSu Pitts in a 1931 series of two-reel shorts. Pitts left the studio for other pursuits, was replaced by Patsy Kelly and the series continued to be successful. Todd died under mysterious circumstances in 1935 and Kelly tried to carry on, first with Pert Kelton, then with Lyda Roberti. When Roberti died in 1938, the series ended.
This book takes the first film-by-film look at each of the comedies these women made, how they responded to different directors and how production adapted to changes along the way. Credits, production information, period reviews, and critical assessments are included.
About the Author:
James L. Neibaur is a film historian and scholar with more than 30 books and hundreds of articles appearing in Cineaste, Classic Images, Film Quarterly, Films in Review, Filmfax, and Encyclopædia Britannica.
See the publisher website: McFarland & Co
> From the same author:
Frank Sinatra on the Big Screen (2022)
The Singer as Actor and Filmmaker
by James L. Neibaur and Gary Schneeberger
Subject: Actor > Frank Sinatra
Clark Gable in the 1930s (2021)
The Films That Made Him King of Hollywood
Subject: Actor > Clark Gable
Buster Keaton's Silent Shorts (2013)
1920-1923
by James L. Neibaur and Terri Niemi
Subject: Director > Buster Keaton
Stan Without Ollie (2012)
The Stan Laurel Solo Films, 1917–1927
by Ted Okuda and James L. Neibaur
Subject: Actor > Laurel & Hardy
The RKO Features (2005)
A Complete Filmography of the Feature Films Released or Produced by RKO Radio Pictures, 1929–1960
The Jerry Lewis Films (1994)
An Analytical Filmography of the Innovative Comic
by James L. Neibaur and Ted Okuda
Subject: Actor > Jerry Lewis
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