“There’s a pitch in baseball called a screwball, which was perfected by a pitcher named Carl Hubbell back in the 1930s. It’s a pitch with a particular spin that sort of flutters and drops, goes in different directions, and behaves in very unexpected ways… Screwball comedy was unconventional, went in different directions, and behaved in unexpected ways… ” -Andrew Bergman,“We're in the Money: Depression America and Its Films”
James Agee described the essence of Laurel & Hardy comedy as “the scene in which the two are moving a piano across a narrow suspension bridge in the Alps, and halfway across they meet a gorilla.” The description implies the erratic nature of comedy, not exclusive to Laurel & Hardy. The “screwball” genre was made popular in the 1930s, usually implementing themes of juxtaposition, contradiction, mistaken identity, or trickery.
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