Family Movie Night
By Karyn Bowman
This Saturday is April Fool’s Day. Do you have your practical jokes ready?
This is one of my favorite non-holiday days. Every few years I try to come up with a neat and elegant practical joke. I say every few years because I like my family to not know if I will do something this year or not.
Last year I went with a classic. I printed out a picture of Slash the guitarist and taped it on my son’s tire. I woke him up just a little earlier than needed and told him there was a slash on his tire. That tire needed to be changed before he goes to school, I told him.
So he got up and went to change the tire. Once he saw the picture, he knew he had been tricked. So he smiled to himself, took the picture off of his tire, placed it on one of his father’s car tires, and waited till his father was napping before telling him the tire had an issue.
I laughed and laughed.
My favorite joke actually came from someone else. My friend’s mother used clear thread to sew the utensils for dinner onto the place mat. Unfortunately her new husband did not have a sense of humor. His total acknowledgment was to get up from the table to get a fork out of the silverware drawer. I love this joke for its simplicity and elegance.
Those are the jokes that make me laugh hardest – simple and elegant slapstick. That is why I loved Abbott and Costello. This comedy duo made people laugh during the years of WWII and the post war era. Their most popular routine – Who’s On First – is repeated or referenced to this day.
I became enamored with the duo when their movies were constantly played on TV during my youth. It was always something in the line of “Abbott and Costello meet…” One time it was Frankenstein, another was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Or they were ‘in’ someplace, such as Hollywood or in the Foreign Legion.
Bud Abbott was always the straight guy, the tall man with the charm while Lou Costello was the guy who over-reacted to whatever situation what happening. It didn’t matter if he was being chased by the Wolf-Man, a cop, or an errant bad guy, Lou always reacted with big wide eyes and clumsy movements. Bud might be more restrained in his performance but it bounced off of Lou perfectly. Later when the men broke up as a pair, Abbott tried to work with another partner. Even he admitted he worked best with Costello and it was hard to replace him.
Start your Abbott and Costello journey with Buck Privates (1941), one of the best WWII comedies. Hold That Ghost (1941) is their first meeting with the supernatural with Lou’s terrific terrified responses. After that, you can find a number of movies that ate filled with their vaudeville routines and slapstick comedy.
Their brand of humor made America laugh with simple but elegant routines. And that is something to aspire to being.
Until next week, see you in the rental aisle.
Notes from Rumbly Cottage 