Ernie Kovacs: Between the Laughter

• Director: Lamont Johnson
• AMG Rating:
• Genre: Drama
• Movie Type: Showbiz Drama, Biopic
• Themes: Custody Battles, Ladder to the Top
• Main Cast: Edie Adams, Melody Anderson, Jeff Goldblum, Cloris Leachman, Madolyn Smith
• Release Year: 1984
• Country: US
• Run Time: 95 minutes

Plot

Physically, the gangling, long-necked Jeff Goldblum is all wrong for the role of fabled TV comedian Ernie Kovacs (1919-1962) but you tend to forget this as Goldblum expertly reenacts some of Kovacs' most famous comic bits. No Kovacs bio would be complete without such scenes as the mustachioed, cigar-chomping Ernie delivering a radio broadcast while lying on a railroad track with a train rapidly approaching, or Kovacs "celebrating" the cancellation of his TV series by smashing up the set in full view of the home audience. As the title indicates, much of the film takes place between the laughs, as Kovacs desperately struggles to reclaim his children, who have been kidnapped by his emotionally disturbed ex-wife (Madolyn Smith) in the midst of an acrimonious custody battle. Melody Anderson plays Kovacs' second wife, singer Edie Adams, while the real Edie appears in a cameo as Mae West. Cloris Leachman tears a passion to tatters in the role of Ernie's outrageous Hungarian mother. Our favorite bit: Jeff Goldblum and Melody Anderson recreating Ernie's lisping, perpetually soused poet Percy Dovetonsils. Ernie Kovacs: Between the Laughter was first telecast May 14, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast

Edie Adams - Mae West; Melody Anderson - Edie Adams; Fran Bennett - Miss Deal; Jordan Charney - Harry Ascot; Lois de Banzie - Mrs. Enke; Murphy Dunne - Leon Lane; Bryan Englund - Cab Driver; Soleil Moon Frye - Elizabeth #2; David Garrison - Dick Eisenback; John Glover - Pierre Lafitte; Jeff Goldblum - Ernie Kovacs; Gary Grubbs - Nigel Edmunds; Michael Higgins - William Spear; Cloris Leachman - Mary Kovacs; Walter Mac Neil - Mr. Warren; Joe Mascolo - Richards; Frank McCarthy - Judge; Tom Middleton - Station Manager; Tom Ormeny - MacIntyre; Elsa Raven - Mrs. Shotwell; Sue Rihr - Witness #1; Madolyn Smith - Dorothy Kovacs; Liam Sullivan - George Abbott; Steven M. Porter - Rusty; Robina Suwol - Witness #2; Arthur Taxier - Detective #2; Mike Genovese - Detective #1; Mary Alan Hokanson - Gossip Columnist

Credit

Jack de Shields - Art Director, Lamont Johnson - Director, Scott Conrad - Editor, Ralph Burns - Composer (Music Score), Jack de Shields - Production Designer, Rexford Metz - Cinematographer, David Levinson - Producer, April Smith - Screenwriter, Edie Adams - Book Author

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Lenny; Man on the Moon; Gleason; Martin and Lewis