Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Al Boasberg

 
Writer: Al Boasberg
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: 1892 in Buffalo, New York
  • Died: Jun 18, 1937 in Los Angeles, California
  • Occupation: Writer, Director
  • Active: '20s-'30s
  • Major Genres: Comedy, Musical
  • Career Highlights: A Night at the Opera, Freaks, The General
  • First Major Screen Credit: Battling Butler (1926)

Biography

The son of a Buffalo jeweler, Al Boasberg established himself in the early twenties as one of the foremost comedy writers in America. Boasberg was kept so busy supplying one-liners and special material to vaudevillians like Burns and Allen and Jack Benny that he ultimately set up a weekly wire service, telegraphing jokes to his scores of clients. It was said that virtually half the acts playing the Loews vaudeville circuit were subsisting on Boasberg's material. He headed to Hollywood in 1926 to work for Buster Keaton, contributing gags and bits of business for the Keaton classics The General (1926) and College (1927). Seldom did he write an entire screenplay; instead, he was what now would be called a script doctor, punching up and improving the work of other writers. Disdaining the regimen of studio life, Boasberg preferred working at home, sitting in a huge bathtub and firing off jokes into a Dictaphone. During the talkie era, he contributed extensively to the films of Wheeler and Woolsey and the Marx Brothers; it was he who came up with the celebrated "stateroom scene" for the Marxes' A Night at the Opera (1935). During this period, he also dabbled in directing, helming several two-reel comedies as well as the 1933 feature Myrt and Marge, which co-starred the Three Stooges. While employed as a comedy troubleshooter at MGM in 1936, Boasberg signed on as one of the chief writers for Jack Benny's radio show. At the end of the 1936-37 season, Benny offered Boasberg a dream contract, paying the writer $1500 per week merely to be "on call" if needed. Al Boasberg agreed to the deal, shook hands with Benny, then headed home--where he died the next day at the age of 45. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

Wikipedia: Al Boasberg
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Al Boasberg
Born December 5, 1891(1891-12-05)
Buffalo, New York
Died June 18, 1937 (aged 44)
Los Angeles, California
Occupation Screenwriter
Film director
Years active 1926 - 1937

Al Boasberg (5 December 1891 [1] – 18 June 1937) was a Jewish 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.

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.[2]

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.

In 2009, The Al Boasberg Comedy Award was established by The Buffalo International Film Festival [3]

Selected filmography

External links

References

  1. ^ Al Boasberg Birth Certificate.
  2. ^ Vosburgh, Dick, "Obituary: Sid Kuller", The Independent (People), London, 31 October 1993.
  3. ^ The Al Boasberg Comedy Award: The Boasberg http://www.buffalofilmfestival.com/festivalinformation/alboasbergaward.html
  • Rickmann, Gregg (2004). The Film Comedy Reader. New York: Limelight Editions. ISBN 978-0879102951. 


Stub icon This article about an American screenwriter is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Writer. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Al Boasberg".  Read more