French comedian, actor, director, screenwriter, and producer Max Linder (1883-1925) appeared in hundreds of films, and he was as important a silent movie figure as Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Buster Keaton, or Harold Lloyd. He predated all of them with his screen debut in 1905, and he became a worldwide favorite, thanks to his top-hatted dandy character, "Max." By 1912, he was the highest-paid film star in the world. Follow his astounding path from anonymous bit-player onstage to his greatest triumphs. The fine line between comedy and tragedy blended into shades of gray, when Max's fame nearly extinguished due to World War One war injuries, but he recovered, returned, and regained his status only to face one of the most terrible tragedies in human existence that shocked the entire world. His hilarious films and heartrending personal tale unfold fully in this richly researched and annotated biography and filmography. Illustrated with dozens of personal and professional photographs. About the author: Snorre Smári Mathiesen is a Norwegian cartoonist. He went to Granum Vocational School in Art 2010-2012. A silent film aficionado since childhood,he has researched Max Linder’s life for the past ten years. He worked as assistant and translator on sociologist Thomas Mathiesen’s autobiography, Cadenza (European Group Press, 2017). He lives in Oslo, Norway.

French comedian, actor, director, screenwriter, and producer Max Linder (1883-1925) appeared in hundreds of films, and he was as important a silent movie figure as Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Buster Keaton, or Harold Lloyd. He predated all of them with his screen debut in 1905, and he became a worldwide favorite, thanks to his top-hatted dandy character, "Max." By 1912, he was the highest-paid film star in the world. Follow his astounding path from anonymous bit-player onstage to his greatest triumphs. The fine line between comedy and tragedy blended into shades of gray, when Max's fame nearly extinguished due to World War One war injuries, but he recovered, returned, and regained his status only to face one of the most terrible tragedies in human existence that shocked the entire world. His hilarious films and heartrending personal tale unfold fully in this richly researched and annotated biography and filmography. Illustrated with dozens of personal and professional photographs. About the author: Snorre Smári Mathiesen is a Norwegian cartoonist. He went to Granum Vocational School in Art 2010-2012. A silent film aficionado since childhood, he has researched Max Linder's life for the past ten years. He worked as assistant and translator on sociologist Thomas Mathiesen's autobiography, Cadenza (European Group Press, 2017). He lives in Oslo, Norway.

Max Linder's hilarious films and heartrending personal tale unfold fully in this richly researched and annotated biography and filmography. Illustrated with dozens of photographs.

Linder's story is both a comedy and a tragedy.

This book focuses on the re-invigoration of Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp persona in America from the point at which Chaplin reached the acme of his disfavor in the States, promoted by the media, through his departure from America forever in 1952, and ending with his death in Switzerland in 1977. By considering factions of America as diverse as 8mm film collectors, Beat poets and writers and readers of Chaplin biographies, this cultural study determines conclusively that Chaplin’s Little Tramp never died, but in fact experienced a resurgence, which began slowly even before 1950 and was wholly in effect by 1965 and then confirmed by 1972, the year in which Chaplin returned to the United States for the final time, to receive accolades in both New York and Los Angeles, where he received an Oscar for a lifetime of achievement in film.

Moving pictures existed for over a decade before anything resembling a star system appeared. Then American cinema went from being devoid of stars to being dependent on them. This is an account of this development in cinema and modern culture.

Featuring nearly three thousand film stills, production shots, and other illustrations, an authoritative history of the cinema traces the development of the medium, its filmmakers and stars, and the evolution of national cinemas around the world.

Classic comedy routines and individual gags have been around for many hundreds of years, probably thousands; the best of these ribticklers make their merry way through theater, circus, film and television. The challenge to comedians has always been to adapt familiar material in a way that emphasizes their personal style and outlook. The many routines and gags cited in this illustrated history are lovingly deconstructed to show how they have been shaped to suit different eras and performers. These tried and true laugh-provokers are indestructible. Through all the remakes, revivals, recycles and revamps, they have survived robustly to the present day. As these timeless comedy gems are traced to their beginnings and followed through the years, readers are taken on a mirthful journey from Keystone to Zombieland.

Marcel Perez: The International Mirth-Maker examines the life and career of perhaps the best silent film comedian whom no one's ever heard of. One of the founding fathers of film comedy whose career spanned the silent era as a comic, director, and writer, Marcel Perez is a missing link between the early European and American cinemas, and in the book author Steve Massa follows his work, and also explores the very beginnings of film comedy. Tracking Perez's career through industry trade journals and film fragments from archives all over the world, Massa also includes a detailed filmography and lavishly illustrates with more that 50 rare photographs. Be sure to look for The Marcel Perez Collection DVD from Undercrank Productions, available on Amazon.com. The DVD contains 10 rare Perez comedies - 5 made in Italy (preserved by EYE Filmmuseum, Netherlands) and 5 made in the USA (preserved by the Library of Congress), seen in new digital transfers with new musical scores by Ben Model.