Al Boasberg
Encyclopedia
Al Boasberg was a American comedy
writer in vaudeville
, radio
, and film
, as well as being a film director
.
He is credited with helping to create stand-up comedy when he teamed with then-youthful vaudeville
performer Jack Benny
, helping develop Benny's familiar, reactive skinflint and thus helping make Benny a major star when he transitioned to radio in 1932. In fact, on the last day before his death, Boasberg wrote the lines that introduced the enduring Rochester
character on Benny's radio show.
Similarly, Boasberg defined the enduring personalities of Bob Hope
, Burns and Allen
, Wheeler and Woolsey and Leon Errol
. He was one of the early "script doctors", earning $1,000 a week to punch up radio scripts.
Boasberg also wrote for 47 films between 1926
and 1937
—especially 1935's A Night at the Opera
, which provided The Marx Brothers with a commercial comeback on the screen. Another Marxian, the comedy producer Sid Kuller
, started out as a ghost-gag-writer for Boasberg.
Boasberg's other film writing credits included The General (starring Buster Keaton
, who also advised on A Night at the Opera). He also directed 12 films between 1929
and 1936
.
A personality conflict with the producer, led to Boasberg's name being removed from A Day at the Races
which was his original project.
He was born in Buffalo, New York
in a Jewish family and died in Los Angeles, California
from a heart attack
. He is buried in Forest Lawn
Cemetery in Buffalo, New York. Al Boasberg was the uncle of James Michaels
.
In 2009, The Al Boasberg Comedy Award was established by The Buffalo International Film Festival
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
writer in vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
, radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
, and film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, as well as being a film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
.
He is credited with helping to create stand-up comedy when he teamed with then-youthful vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
performer Jack Benny
Jack Benny
Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...
, helping develop Benny's familiar, reactive skinflint and thus helping make Benny a major star when he transitioned to radio in 1932. In fact, on the last day before his death, Boasberg wrote the lines that introduced the enduring Rochester
Eddie Anderson (comedian)
Edmund Lincoln Anderson , also known as Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, was an American comedian and actor. His most famous role was that of Rochester van Jones, valet of Jack Benny, on his radio and television shows.-Early life:Anderson was born in Oakland, California...
character on Benny's radio show.
Similarly, Boasberg defined the enduring personalities of Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
, Burns and Allen
Burns and Allen
Burns and Allen, an American comedy duo consisting of George Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen, worked together as a comedy team in vaudeville, films, radio and television and achieved great success over four decades.-Vaudeville:...
, Wheeler and Woolsey and Leon Errol
Leon Errol
Leon Errol , was an Australian-born American comedian and actor, popular in the first half of the 20th century.-Biography:...
. He was one of the early "script doctors", earning $1,000 a week to punch up radio scripts.
Boasberg also wrote for 47 films between 1926
1926 in film
-Events:*August - Warner Brothers debuts the first Vitaphone film, Don Juan. The Vitaphone system used multiple 33⅓ rpm disc records developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories and Western Electric to play back audio synchronized with film....
and 1937
1937 in film
The year 1937 in film involved some significant events, including the Walt Disney production of the first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.- Events :*April 16 - Way Out West premieres in the US....
—especially 1935's A Night at the Opera
A Night at the Opera (film)
A Night at the Opera is a 1935 American comedy film starring Groucho Marx, Chico Marx and Harpo Marx, and featuring Kitty Carlisle, Allan Jones, Margaret Dumont, Sig Ruman, and Walter Woolf King. It was the first film the Marx Brothers made for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer after their departure from...
, which provided The Marx Brothers with a commercial comeback on the screen. Another Marxian, the comedy producer Sid Kuller
Sid Kuller
Sid Kuller was an American comedy writer, producer and lyricist/composer, who concentrated on special musical material, gags and sketches for leading comics...
, started out as a ghost-gag-writer for Boasberg.
Boasberg's other film writing credits included The General (starring Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
, who also advised on A Night at the Opera). He also directed 12 films between 1929
1929 in film
-Events:The days of the silent film are numbered. A mad scramble to provide synchronized sound is on.*January 20 - The movie In Old Arizona is released. The film is the first full-length talking film to be filmed outdoors....
and 1936
1936 in film
The year 1936 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 29 - Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film Fury, starring Spencer Tracy and Bruce Cabot, is released.*November 6 - first Porky Pig animated cartoon...
.
A personality conflict with the producer, led to Boasberg's name being removed from A Day at the Races
A Day at the Races (film)
Further reading* Elisabeth Buxbaum: Veronika, der Lenz ist da. Walter Jurmann – Ein Musiker zwischen den Welten und Zeiten. Mit einem Werkverzeichnis von Alexander Sieghardt. Edition Steinbauer, Wien 2006, ISBN 3-902494-18-2-External links:*...
which was his original project.
He was born in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
in a Jewish family and died in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
from a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
. He is buried in Forest Lawn
Forest Lawn
-Cemeteries:Forest Lawn is a name for two major cemetery chains in the United States. The majority of these are old, elaborate cemeteries that historically had a secondary use as a public park:...
Cemetery in Buffalo, New York. Al Boasberg was the uncle of James Michaels
James Michaels
James W. Michaels was an American journalist and magazine editor. Michaels served as the longtime editor of Forbes Magazine from 1961 until his retirement in 1999.-Early life:...
.
In 2009, The Al Boasberg Comedy Award was established by The Buffalo International Film Festival
Buffalo International Film Festival
The Buffalo International Film Festival was founded in 2003 and takes place in Buffalo, New York. It is also known as The Buffalo Film Festival.-History:The film festival became a 501c3 not-for-profit charity in January 2005....
Selected filmography
- A Day at the RacesA Day at the Races (film)Further reading* Elisabeth Buxbaum: Veronika, der Lenz ist da. Walter Jurmann – Ein Musiker zwischen den Welten und Zeiten. Mit einem Werkverzeichnis von Alexander Sieghardt. Edition Steinbauer, Wien 2006, ISBN 3-902494-18-2-External links:*...
(1937) - A Night at the OperaA Night at the Opera (film)A Night at the Opera is a 1935 American comedy film starring Groucho Marx, Chico Marx and Harpo Marx, and featuring Kitty Carlisle, Allan Jones, Margaret Dumont, Sig Ruman, and Walter Woolf King. It was the first film the Marx Brothers made for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer after their departure from...
(19351935 in film-Events:*Judy Garland signs a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .*Seven year old Shirley Temple wins a special Academy Award.*The Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment started in order to educate the Bantu peoples.-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:...
) - FreaksFreaksFreaks is a 1932 American Pre-Code horror film about sideshow performers, directed and produced by Tod Browning and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with a cast mostly composed of actual carnival performers. The film was based on Tod Robbins' 1923 short story "Spurs"...
(19321932 in film-Events:*Cary Grant's film career begins*Katharine Hepburn's film career begins*Shirley Temple's film career begins*Disney released Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor film.*Santa, first sound film made in Mexico released....
) - Cracked NutsCracked NutsCracked Nuts is a 1931 comedy film directed by Edward F. Cline, starring Wheeler & Woolsey and featuring Boris Karloff.-Cast:* Bert Wheeler - Wendell Graham* Robert Woolsey - Zander Ulysses Parkhurst* Dorothy Lee - Betty Harrington...
(19311931 in film-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:*Best Picture: Cimarron - MGM*Best Actor: Lionel Barrymore - A Free Soul*Best Actor: Wallace Beery - The Champ*Best Actor: Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...
) - Fifty Million FrenchmenFifty Million Frenchmen (film)__notoc__Fifty Million Frenchmen is a 1931 musical comedy film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was based on Cole Porter's 1929 Broadway musical. It was originally intended to be released, in the United States, late in 1930, but was shelved due to public apathy towards musicals. Despite...
(1931) - Chasing RainbowsChasing RainbowsChasing Rainbows is a 1930 American romantic musical film directed by Charles Reisner, starring Bessie Love and Charles King, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.- Film preservation :...
(19301930 in film-Events:* November 1: The Big Trail featuring a young John Wayne in his first starring role is released in both 35mm, and a very early form of 70mm film and was the first large scale big-budget film of the sound era costing over $2 million. The film was praised for its aesthetic quality and realism...
) - SpeedySpeedy (film)Speedy is a 1928 silent film that was one of the films to be nominated for the short-lived Academy Award for Best Director of a Comedy. It starred famous comedian Harold Lloyd in the eponymous leading role, and it was his last silent film to be released in theatres. The film was written by Albert...
(19281928 in film-Events:Although some movies released in 1928 had sound, most were still silent.* July 28 - Lights of New York is released by Warner Brothers. It is the first "100% Talkie" feature film, in that dialog is spoken throughout the film...
) - The General (1926)