North Attleborough

Public Schools

Thematic Links Unit

Early Twentieth Century Comedians

  Created by Scott Holster, English Teacher, North Attleborough High School

Guide to the Site    General Information Sites

Abbott and Costello  Amos and Andy
Lucille Ball Jack Benny Milton Berle  Victor Borge Fanny Brice
Mel Brooks  Lenny Bruce  Sid Caesar  Eddie Cantor  Charlie Chaplin
Jimmy Durante  W.C. Fields Red Foxx  Bob Hope  Danny Kaye  Buster Keaton
Laurel and Hardy  Moms Mabley Rose Marie The Marx Brothers Carl Reiner
Red Skelton  The Smothers Brothers  The Three Stooges  Mae West
Flip Wilson  Henny Youngman

Guide to the Site

This purpose of this web site was to act as a jumping-off point in researching the lives of a number of early twentieth century American comedians. I hoped to use this site as a resource for my students in the Literature of Humor and Satire semester class at North Attleborough High School.

I intended for this web site to include as comprehensive a list of early/classic comedians as possible. There are vaudevillians, comediennes, partner acts, and comedians from the beginnings of radio and television listed alphabetically. While the list could no doubt include many other comedians, it includes those people whose careers had their prime between 1900-1960 (or so) and made an indelible impact on the comedians of today (1980's on). It is meant to introduce students to the impact these comedians had on their societies, and how their societies impacted their comedy. The intention is also to introduce students to comedians that they may not have heard of otherwise. These criteria eliminated people like Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, Lily Tomlin, and George Carlin, who could very well be on the list. I have also included a short list of web sites that provide information on a variety of comedians, rather than on specific individuals as well.

General Information Sites
Stand up comics in general, or on television.

http://www.mtr.org/exhibit/standup/standup.htm
A great site. This should be usable by everyone, and more than that, it is a great research tool!

http://www.vaudeville.org/page5.html
A great site for a variety of vaudevillians.

http://www.comedyorama.com/great/great.htm
A super web site that has a full collection for almost all of the people that the project covers! Super links to other comedians, directors, and actors!

http://www.comediansusa.com/index.html
A site with more modern comedians, the biographies listed are very good.

http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=jolson;list
A listing of a wide variety of classic entertainers.

Abbott and Costello
Abbott and Costello Sites

http://www.city-net.com/abbottandcostellofc/

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/1829/routines.html
All of Abbott and Costello's routines on one web site. Great if you have never heard their routines!

http://picpal.com/achome.html

http://moviepeople.hollywood.com/people.asp?p_id=P||||69

http://moviepeople.hollywood.com/people.asp?p_id=P|15240

http://www.jcware.com/tributes/Comedy/abbcost/default.htm

http://members.aol.com/acqtrly/

Amos and Andy
Amos and Andy Web Sites

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/2587/

http://www.mcs.net/~richsam/nbcmm/amosandy.html

http://www.amosnandy.com/

http://www.otr.com/amosandy.html

http://tvcomedy.about.com/library/weekly/aa061298.htm?rf=dp&COB=home&TMog=
25608322592657&Mint=25608322592657

http://www.antique-radio.org/sounds/shows/amos/amos.html

Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball Sites

http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/6066/library.html

http://www.ionet.net/~alexis/webpage.html

http://www.plgrm.com/history/women/B/Lucille_Ball.HTM

http://204.202.128.130/people/lucilleball/Index.html

Jack Benny
Jack Benny Sites

http://members.tripod.com/~jbotw/

http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?Benny%2C%20Jack

http://www.comedyorama.com/great/jack/benny.htm

Milton Berle
Milton Berle Sites

http://www.infopls.com/ipa/A0155604.html

http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/01378.html

http://www.laugh.com/html/berlebio.html

Victor Borge
Victor Borge Sites

http://motivationalquotes.com/People/borge.shtml

http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/1864/borge.htm

http://www.bramson.com/borge.html

http://www.business-server.com/newsroom/ntn/enter/040498/enter9_25717_noframes.html

http://www.berkshireweb.com/rogovoy/concerts/borge.html

Fanny Brice
Fanny Brice Sites

http://www.vaudeville.org/

http://encarta.msn.com/index/conciseindex/59/059F0000.htm?z=1&pg=2&br=1

http://www.comedyorama.com/great/fannie/fannie.htm

Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks Web Sites

http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~mgros/brooks/Index.html

http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~mgros/brooks/FAQ.html

http://www.stud.his.no/~boerge/brook.htm

http://www.jtsa.edu/users/hsp/htm/mbrooks.html

http://www.rhinorecords.com/Features/bio/72944bio.html

Lenny Bruce
Lenny Bruce Sites

http://member.aol.com/dcspohr/lenny/lenny1.htm

http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Stadium/8560/lenny.html

http://198.3.98.118/entertainment/celebrities/comedians/lenny_bruce

http://www.leepfrog.com/~dstagner/lenny.html

Sid Caesar
Sid Caesar Sites

http://www.infoplease.lycos.com/ipea/A0154682.html

http://www.specialvideos.com/an/dbpage.pl/p/6620/tmij1479.116029

http://agent5.lycos.cs.cmu.edu/wguide/wire/wire_166762438_96082_3_1.html

http://www.filmvault.com/filmvault/boston/y/yourshowofshowstv1.html

Eddie Cantor
Eddie Cantor Sites

http://users.aol.com/ecantor/index.html
Eddie Cantor Web Site. Good biographical information.

http://www.looksmart.com/eus1/eus52213/eus156227/eus171947/
eus299926/eus299927/eus302385/eus302386/eus302046/r?comefrom=dogpile-eus302046

Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin Web Sites

http://www.autographics.com/chaplin.html

http://www.amctv.com/behind/stars/chaplin.html#top

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/9766/chaplin2.html#bio
Loaded! Great Links!

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Screen/7157/index.html
Loaded!

http://www.cs.monash.edu.au/~pringle/silent/chaplin/chaplin.html

Jimmy Durante
Jimmy Durante Sites

http://images.infoplease.com/ipea/A0760868.html

http://www.digital-nation.com/DN/jf_f/jf1/JDurante.html

http://www.hollywoodlegends.com/durante.html

http://pc9805.dmacc.cc.ia.us/humn133/subjects/entertainers/Durante.html

W.C. Fields
W.C. Fields Sites

http://www.parrotproductions.com/wcfields.htm

http://www.juggling.org/fame/fields/chamberlin.html

http://www.tnef.com/

http://homer.louisville.edu/~kprayb01/WC.html

http://www.webtrec.com/wcfields/

http://www.interlog.com/~fatjack/fields1.html

http://www.juggling.org/fame/fields/theatre.html

http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/04477.html

Red Foxx
Red Foxx Sites

http://www.digital-nation.com/DN/jf_f/jf1/Redfoxx.html

http://www.infopls.com/ipea/A0761533.html

http://www.sanford-and-son.com/redditems3.html

http://tvcomedy.about.com/library/weekly/aa061298.htm?rf=dp&COB=
home&TMog=25608322592657&Mint=25608322592657

Bob Hope
Bob Hope Web Sites

http://www.bobhope.com/
The official site, good stuff for research.

http://www.amctv.com/behind/stars/hope.html

http://www.who2.com/bobhope.html

http://www.hellco.pair.com/hope.htm

http://kennedy-center.org/honors/years/hope.html

http://history1900s.about.com/library/weekly/aa052598.htm?COB=home&terms=Bob+Hope&PM=112_300_T

http://fortyandeight.org/BobHope.html

Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye Web Sites

http://www.encarta.com/index/conciseindex/6E/06E43000.htm

http://www.stolaf.edu/people/neumann/kaye.html

http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0762325.html

http://members.aol.com/JKellyA/index.html

http://www.princeton.edu/~tnfung/kaye.htm

http://www.geocities.com/Wellesley/4214/dannykaye.html

Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton Sites

http://www.busterkeaton.com/bio1.htm
Gorgeous web site, lots and lots of information and pictures!

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/4337/busterindex.htm
Buster Keaton index.

http://www.netbistro.com/buster/buster.htm
An excellent Buster Keaton index.

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavendar/casablanca/565/keaton1895/about.html

http://www.ida.liu.se/~juhta/buster/article_berlin95.html

http://www.cydav.com/buster/

http://www.filmscouts.com/rooms95/tanqry95/bus-kea0j.asp

http://www.busterkeaton.com/

http://www.vaudeville.org/

http://www.sns.com/~rbotti/buster.htm

http://encarta.msn.com/index/conciseindex/65/065B6000.htm?z=1&pg=2&br=1

Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy Sites

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/2326/stan.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/2326/oliver.htm
Biography on Laurel and Hardy, done on separate web pages.

http://www.laurelnhardy.co.uk/

http://www.laurel-and-hardy.com/
Excellent official web site.

http://members.aol.com/lhcentral/
More on Laurel and Hardy.

http://www.clinton.net/~rsampson/lh.htm
Good Laurel and Hardy web site.

Moms Mabley
Moms Mabley Sites

http://www.retroactive.com/jan98/moms.html

http://www.georgetown.edu/crossroads/dis/92will.html

Rose Marie
Rose Marie Sites

http://www.jsonline.com/letsgo/tv/youasked/0712youasked.stm

http://www.dickvandykeshow.com/

http://us.imdb.com/Name?Marie,+Rose

The Marx Brothers
Marx Brothers Sites

http://members.tripod.com/Cleo256/marx/main.html

http://www.angelfire.com/ny/marxbrothers/index.html

http://members.aol.com/marxbroths/

http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/7682/marx.html
Very solid web site on The Marx Brothers.

http://www.barbneal.com/mblinks.asp

http://www.starpages.net/pages/Brothers_The_Marx.html

http://members.tripod.com/Cleo256/marx/

http://members.aol.com/marxbroths/index.htm

Carl Reiner
Carl Reiner Sites

http://www.2000yearoldman.com/

http://www.netaxs.com/~elkin/carl_reiner.html

http://www.usaweekend.com/97_issues/971130/971130talk_brooks_reiner.html

http://www.totalmarketing.com/an/dbpage.pl/p/13546/nzxr5876.111098

http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0154897.html

http://www.rhinorecords.com/Features/bio/72944bio.html

Red Skelton
Red Skelton Web Sites

http://www.farsinet.com/red_skelton/

http://www.ionet.net/~jpowers/

http://www.lewisbond.com/skelton.html

http://r1.dogpile.com/texis/redir/main.bin?q=Red+Skelton&u=opendir.dogpile.com/texis/
open/dir/%2B/Top/Reference/Encyclopedia/Infoplease.com/Biographies/S&e=26

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/3147/redring.html

http://www.comedycity.com/redsdead.html

The Smothers Brothers
The Smothers Brothers Web Sites

http://www.smothersbrothers.com/
This site is official, and contains quite a bit of information!

http://www.vhhs.lausd.k12.ca.us/j4fun/stars/smothers.html

http://www.orleanscasino.com/entertainment/smothers_brothers.html

http://www.tvparty.com/smothers.html

http://amdest.com/stars/Smothers.html

http://www.comediansusa.com/celebs/smothers_brothers.html

The Three Stooges
The Three Stooges Web Sites

http://intergate.southcoast.net/johnw/stooges/

http://www.threestooges.com/
The official web site, therefore lots of stuff. The first place anyone searching for the stooges should look!

http://www.enteract.com/~graziana/3stooges/

http://das.wang.com/~dbushong/tsc1.htm

http://web2.airmail.net/willdogs/

Mae West
Mae West Sites

http://www.bombshells.com/gallery/west/west_home.shtml

http://www.autographics.com/west.html

http://www.sirius.com/~kims/maewest.html

http://encarta.msn.com/index/conciseindex/1D/01DCA000.htm?z=1&pg=2&br=1

Flip Wilson
Flip Wilson Sites

http://www.tvparty.com/flip.html

http://desi.simplenet.com/TVLand/FlipWilson/FlipLinks.html

http://lycos.infoplease.com/ipa/A0159453.html

http://www.search-starseeker.com/starseeker/actors/actors_z/wilson_f.htm

http://www.btimes.com/editorials/11-27-98/editoria.htm

http://www.digital-nation.com/DN/jf_f/jf1/FWilson.html

http://www.biography.com/read/biomag/flip.html

http://tvcomedy.about.com/library/weekly/aa061298.htm?rf=dp&COB=
home&TMog=25608322592657&Mint=25608322592657

Henny Youngman
Henny Youngman Web Sites

http://members.home.net/daughters/henny.htm

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0748293.html

http://www.comedycity.com/henny_youngman/

http://www.who2.com/hennyyoungman.html