#29: "Zany Sophisticates" - Great Screwball Comedies
Starting on August 25, I will be leading a six-week film course at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, where I’ve been teaching since 1998. This course features six of the greatest screwball comedies of all time. As ever, my classes are on Thursday; this semester from 3:00-5:00 at Friedberg Hall on the Boca campus. Don’t worry if you don’t live in the area; many of the students “attend” class via Zoom. And, there is always the option of watching a video version of the 6 classes from the comfort of you home . . . regardless of whether you live locally or anywhere on Planet Earth!
If, after reading the course perspective below, you are interested, you can contact the Osher Lifelong Learning office at FAU either by phone (561-297-3185 or 561-297-3171 for automated information) or via email (olliboca@fau.edu). I hope you will consider joining us, whether it be in person or via the internet, and have a great time as together, we laugh ourselves silly.
KFS (a.k.a. “The Hollywood Brat”)
ZANY SOPHISTICATES:
6 GREAT SCREWBALL COMEDIES
Kurt F. Stone, D.D.
Recipient of the 2004 Excellence in Teaching Award
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: In baseball, the term “screwball” denotes a pitch that breaks in the precise opposite direction of the curve. In Hollywood, “screwball” connotes a film genre peopled with characters who act the opposite of what one might expect. Often defined as “sex comedies without the sex,” screwball films are frequently set in high society, where eccentric behavior is perhaps more tolerable. Screwball comedies, which were a Hollywood staple between roughly 1934 and 1946, are known for their antic characters, improbable plots, overlapping dialogue, and language that can often be as dizzy as the characters themselves.
During this series, we will view screen six screwball comedies, which, in f Dr. Stone’s opinion are, or at least should be, classics in the genre.
LECTURES/FILMS::
1. "Twentieth Century" (1934) - Directed by Howard Hawks, starring John Barrymore and Carol Lombard. Simply one of the funniest films ever made.
2. "Bombshell" (1933) - Jean Harlow at her best as a glamorous film star who rebels against the studio, her pushy press agent, and a family of hangers-on.
3. "Theodora Goes Wild" (1936) - Irene Dunn is the author of a controversially racy best-selling book who tries to hide her celebrity status from her provincial, small-town neighbors.
4. "Stand-In" (1936) - Leslie Howard stars as a stuffy, bookish Brit sent to take over the reins of floundering Colossal Studios who finds the film community eyeing him with thinly-veiled amusement. Co-Starring Humphrey Bogart.
5. "The Devil and Miss Jones" (1941) - Jean Arthur and Robert Cummings: A tycoon goes undercover to ferret out agitators at a department store, but gets involved in their lives instead.
6. "Love Crazy" (1941) - Wm. Powell and Myrna Loy: A wife suspecting infidelity starts divorce proceedings, so the husband pretends to be insane in order to delay the divorce and clear up the misunderstanding.
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Kurt F. Stone, D.D., is now in his 24th year with Lifelong Learning. His passion for film is, he says, "genetic," having been born in Hollywood, CA, and raised both in and around the movie industry. Stone is a multi-disciplinary sort of man who has also written two well-received books on Congress, published nearly 900 essays, is an ordained rabbi and earns his living as a medical ethicist.
Time: 3:00 pm -5:00 pm
Dates[ : Thursdays, August 25; September 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
Location: Friedberg Auditorium, Lifelong Learning Building
Fees: : $ 90/member; $ 120/non-member | Video Catch-up