books
The Gag Man
Description
Though today he is barely remembered, Clyde Bruckman was a key figure in early film comedy, collaborating with icons like Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, W.C. Fields, Laurel & Hardy, and the Three Stooges. Working while screenwriting was still in its infancy, Bruckman helped shape many influential shorts and films, developed the gags that made them legendary, and eventually became a director himself. But Bruckman’s own life was filled with tragedy and disappointment, from alcoholism to accusations of plagiarism, and over time his story has been relegated to little more than a footnote.
Matthew Dessem’s The Gag Man, an expansion of his study of Bruckman for The Dissolve, will be the first book-length biography of this fascinating but elusive figure. Drawing on archives, court documents, and of course the films themselves, Dessem brings Bruckman’s story to life and shines a light on an important corner of Hollywood history.
“This is much more than the long overdue discovery of Clyde Bruckman and the origins of film comedy. This is a deep insight into the vortex of laughter and death.” – Werner Herzog (director of Grizzly Man and Aguirre, The Wrath of God)
“Matthew Dessem takes a detour off Sunset Boulevard to recover from the shadows one of Hollywood’s forgotten men. In Dessem’s masterful telling the quest for Clyde Bruckman proceeds from two-reel farce to too-real tragedy with the fateful logic of a detective story. A marvelous job of research and reporting — I couldn’t put it down.” – Lem Dobbs (screenwriter of Haywire and The Limey)
“Wonderfully engaging.” – The New Republic
