Lights, Camera, Action In Baristaville

I read the list of award winners from the Asbury Park film festival. Lou Costello was cited for lifetime achievement in the "acting" category." Lou Costello, not even Joe Pesci or Frank Vincent. (I remember when the two together had a nightclub act, which played spots on the order of, as Rodney Dangerfield said, "Ciro's, formerly Nando's, soon to be Dante's.")

Why not, in this vein, Jerry Lewis? I mean, no, Asbury Park doesn't have to be Cannes or Venice, but Lou Costello?

If

See, Cathar, once upon a time there was this group of people called the working class. They would sweat and struggle all week. Then their was this poor guy, who understood the struggles of the coal-smelling oil rubbin' folks. See, that was in the far-ago when New Jersey made stuff. This guy entertained the workers, and they loved him. His MO was to be so unassuming and angst-filled, that he was just like them. He was really funny to them, they loved him. He was able to get their mind off grime for a moment. Peas and carrots, see. A New Jersey thing, see. This Paterson guy became real famous, but that was not really what he was about. But that was another time. Art has to look like "art," now.

Brinew2, once upon a time, too, there was somethng called "low" comedy. Even Shakespeare liked it, and he stressed it in, for example, "A Midsummer Night's Dream," with the guys who put on "Pyramus and Thisbe." But
there is also quite a difference between a Shakespearean comedy and the "Who's On First" routine.

If you wish to set your own artistic sights so low, feel free. But "lifetime achievement" generally means more than baggy pants, loudly checked jackets and a too-tight hat which resembles a flowerpot. (Is that how you dress yourself for a night on the town, come to think of it, gender notwithstanding?) Even to the working class you seem to imagine was responsible for this "acting" award. Who also, I like to believe, know better than to view Costello's antics in stuff like "The Noose Hangs High" and "The 30-Foot Bride of Candy Rock" as acting. Unlike you, to be sure.

And that the little guy rates a statue in Paterson says much more about the desperation prevalent in Paterson than about either his supposed relevance to the "working class" or his acting abilities.

Well Cathar, I agree with you on this one. Even the French gave Jerry Lewis an award. And don't forget Danny Devito whose production company is actually called Jersey Films. The list is long - Jack Nicholson, Susan Sarandon, Frank Sinatra to name but a few.

I don't know, Cathar. I suppose you are correct, but not completely right. Maybe the achievement was joy. Lou Costello would work himself up into a state of high anxiety in his routines, over small matters. I think you had to be of a certain generation to find that really funny. It may have been more of a sign of the times thing.