Bob Hope with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in 1950
Howard Sochurek The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
This collection of LIFE photos of comedy legends proves one thing definitively: There’s a lot of ways to be funny.
Many take the broad approach, of course. The Three Stooges, for example, appear in their photos with eyes popping, arms akimbo and so forth. The masters of slapstick rode that shtick into the hearts of comedy-loving children for generations.
But there are other ways to get a laugh. Look at Bob Hope for example. His expressions in this photos capture his signature style: he is smart, aware, amused by it all. He was funny in large part because of how he reacted to what was going on about him.
You could say the same for Jacques Tati, the adored French comedian who came to New York in 1958 for a movie premiere and brought a LIFE photographer along to for a day of his distinct version of clowning as he moved about the city, in a befuddled battle with the modern world (including modern art, when he stops by MoMA).
Phil Silvers is the impish trickster, always working a hustle, and he did in his most beloved character, Sergeant Bilko.
Phyllis Diller, it becomes clear in her pictures, was really ahead of her time, and not just because of she was a pioneering figure for female stand-up comedians. In the photos of her with a giant mink and with her preposterous collections, she looks like she was parodying the Kardashians a half-century before their show came on the air.
Another lesson to take from this collection is that while comedy can be heavily verbal, so much of a performer’s particular style and wit can come through in a still photograph. Consider the picture of photos of Ernie Kovacs, the inventive and influential satirist who was the subject of a 1957 LIFE cover story. The photos include a staged shot of Kovacs eating dinner with his family, with everyone, and especially his wife Edie, looking quite distant and miserable. In another photo Kovacs and Edie are in bed together, watching separate televisions, in another subversion of expectation. No canned versions of domestic bliss here, although the caption for that photo did quote Kovacs as saying, “Edie’s never said `Get that cigar out of here before I tear your arm off,'” and for that I am grateful….I love her for that.”
And in a postscript note: the search for photos of comedy legends showed a surprising number of photos in which they were dancing: Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Lewis—even Johnny Carson tries out some steps on stage with soul legend James Brown. Jack Benny’s body language shows a physical grace as he entertains the troops. Perhaps it’s a throwback to when the comedy world’s proving grounds were vaudeville rather than standup or Saturday Night Live. Whatever a case, some of these the old-time funny people knew how to move.
