A conversation between screenwriter Charles MacArthur and Charlie Chaplin.
MacArthur: “How do you show a fat lady slipping on a banana peel and still get a laugh? It’s been done a million times. Do I show first the banana peel, then the fat lady approaching, then she slips? Or do I show the fat lady first, then the banana peel, and then she slips?”
Chaplin: “Neither. You show the fat lady approaching; then you show the banana peel; then you show the fat lady and the banana peel together; then she steps over the banana peel and falls into an open manhole.”
Sisu60 almost 5 years ago
Slipping on a banana isn’t appealing anymore it’s been done to death
jimmjonzz Premium Member almost 5 years ago
So how about a cartoon of a guy on a desert island with only a single palm tree?
And, it being a desert island, he’s crawling on all fours looking for water.
He comes across a lone banana peel, and hesitates.
A flower pot drops out of the tree and smacks him on the head.
I guess we could include a haggard prisoner chained to the tree. And lots of other stuff.
Then would it be funny?
[I love it as it is.]
dflak almost 5 years ago
God has a sense of humor. He created mankind for comic relief.
Ignatz Premium Member almost 5 years ago
A conversation between screenwriter Charles MacArthur and Charlie Chaplin.
MacArthur: “How do you show a fat lady slipping on a banana peel and still get a laugh? It’s been done a million times. Do I show first the banana peel, then the fat lady approaching, then she slips? Or do I show the fat lady first, then the banana peel, and then she slips?”
Chaplin: “Neither. You show the fat lady approaching; then you show the banana peel; then you show the fat lady and the banana peel together; then she steps over the banana peel and falls into an open manhole.”
craigwestlake almost 5 years ago
Have to go to San Francisco for the good fruit jokes…
Jim Kerner almost 5 years ago
Let’s not forget, Greenwich Village in NYC.