7/3/23
Newsletter #385
The Crack of Dawn
Humor is based on irony. Therefore, if we’re in a post-Ironic world; we’re also in a post-humor world. And since it’s no longer Kosher to make fun of anybody, comedians have nothing to work with. I feel like if I point this out it might have negative consequences, but here goes: the beloved and wonderful Warner Bros. cartoons, featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, and Sylvester, are making fun of speech impediments. I don’t know what I’m talking about, but Daffy has a lisp, Elmer stutters, Sylvester has a lateral lisp, and I’m sure at least one of the characters stammers. Daffy’s lisp, by the way, was based on the Warner Brother’s cartoon producer, Leon Schlesinger’s, lisp, and he didn’t seem to care. Mel Blanc, who did all of the voices, was specifically making fun of Schlesinger with Daffy. Mel Blanc was always listening for speech impediments to imitate.
Leon Schlesinger was an interesting character. He started Pacific Title & Art in 1919 to create title cards for silent movies. Although when talkies came in 1928-29 the need for title cards vanished, Pacific Title continued to do the front and end titles for movies, and ended up doing way more films than any other title company. You’ve seen the credit go by more times than you can even imagine. Leon Schlesinger diversified at the same time by going in to the animation business. The easiest way to do that was to simply acquire an already existing cartoon character, which was Bosko, and hire the animators who created it. Soon thereafter, Warner Brothers decided to diversify into animation, and the easiest way to do that was to acquire Leon Schlesinger’s animation company which had the character, Bosko.
What is Bosko? My guess is that Bosko is a parody of a little black boy wearing gloves and a tiny hat, but perhaps I’m mistaken. Whatever he is, people liked him, and he got two animation studios going. Bosko was created by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, who also created the MGM animation department, and they’re interesting guys.
Getting back to speech impediments, one of my favorite writers, who I have not yet mentioned, is David Sedaris. Although I don’t think he has a speech impediment, he does sound gay. When he was young (he and I are about the same age), sounding gay was a speech impediment. His stories about when he was a kid and was made to go to special speech classes, which he thought should really be called, “Future homosexuals of America,” made me scream with laughter.
And since I’ve come out of the closet about being a drunk who got three DUIs and did time in jail, I can tell you this story. One time in jail, completely living up to the cliché, there was a gay hairdresser who took over the electric razor and gave haircuts for candy bars. I had him cut my hair and we had a very nice, if unmemorable, conversation. One day the fellow came to the table where I was always reading, and gave me David Sedaris’ book, When You Are Engulfed in Flames. He said, “I think you’ll like this,” and just walked away. I said, “I’ll give it back,” and he said, “You can have it,” and I never saw him again.
Well, I laughed so goddamn hard at the first story that I rationed the rest of them out to myself. I would read a page or two, start to laugh, then quickly close the book. I read like a madman in jail, thousands and thousands of pages of history books, but I made that one collection of short stories last as long as possible. Thank you, David Sedaris, and thank God for sending that hairdresser to jail.
There are many videos of David Sedaris reading his stories or being interviewed, and he’s always funny. In his stories he is constantly making reference to his lover, Hugh. Well, I finally saw a video of Hugh, eight years after first encountering him in the stories. He’s tall, handsome, trim, apparently quite a good carpenter, and sounds even more gay than David. I’m not sure what David said exactly, but it was something like, “You can’t have everything.”
David and Hugh lived in France for a number of years (they now live in England). David learned French while he was there, which seemed like a good idea. He has a whole story about how all the words in French are either feminine or masculine, which he could undoubtedly update. Anyway, when he would grab a box of matches, he would say, “Come on, fellas, let’s go.”
David Sedaris is in a documentary called, Do I Sound Gay? (2014). As he quizzically listens to his own voice he says, “I don’t think I sound gay; I sound little.”
Apparently, Leon Schlesinger never let on that he cared at all that he was being made fun off by Mel Blanc. There are many interviews with Chuck Jones, who created the Road Runner, but worked on every Warner’s cartoon character, and he loves talking about Leon Schlesinger, who talked like Daffy Duck, I guess. Leon was making the most money of anybody — he owned the studio and leased it to Warner Bros. — and he didn’t give a shit what any of the idiots in the animation department thought about anything. Pay attention and you’ll see that Leon Schlesinger always got the first credit.
Th-th-that’s all, folks.