He Done Her Wrong is a wordless novel written by American cartoonist Milt Gross and published in 1930. It was not as successful as some of Gross's earlier works, notably his book Nize Baby (1926) based on his newspaper comic strips . He Done Her Wrong has been reprinted in recent years and is now recognized as a comic parody of other similar wordless novels of the early 20th century, as well as an important precursor to the modern graphic novel .
22-417: The narrative of He Done Her Wrong centers on a young country man who falls in love with a barroom singer. A jealous villain tricks the couple and takes the singer to New York. After a chain of humorous occurrences (presented primarily as slapstick comedy ) the protagonist is reunited with his love and discovers that he is the son of a rich industrialist. While the protagonist and his love settle down and raise
44-469: A "slap" when striking another actor, with little force needed to make a loud—and comical—sound. The physical slap stick remains a key component of the plot in the traditional and popular Punch and Judy puppet show. More contemporary examples of slapstick humor include The Three Stooges , The Naked Gun and Mr. Bean . The name "slapstick" originates from the Italian batacchio or bataccio —called
66-559: A family, the villain is cornered by the angry fathers of five women with whom he has fathered children, ultimately driven into a life of unhappiness. He Done Her Wrong follows Milt Gross's earlier comic strip style illustration. The characters are generally cartoonish, and the male characters in particular often have large protruding noses, emblematic of Gross's comical approach to drawing. Gross's characteristic artwork precedes other similar cartoonish styles, such as that of Harvey Kurtzman of MAD Magazine. Thematically, He Done Her Wrong
88-490: A form of sketch comedy without dialogue in the 1890s, and Chaplin and Laurel were among the young comedians who worked for him as part of "Fred Karno's Army". Chaplin's fifteen-year music hall career inspired the comedy in all his later film work, especially as pantomimicry. In a biography of Karno, Laurel stated: "Fred Karno didn't teach Charlie [Chaplin] and me all we know about comedy. He just taught us most of it". American film producer Hal Roach described Karno as "not only
110-564: A genius, he is the man who originated slapstick comedy. We in Hollywood owe much to him." Building on its later popularity in the 19th and early 20th-century ethnic routines of the American vaudeville house, the style was explored extensively during the "golden era" of black and white movies directed by Hal Roach and Mack Sennett that featured such notables as Charlie Chaplin , Mabel Normand , Abbott and Costello , Laurel and Hardy ,
132-641: A master of physical comedy". Comedy routines also featured heavily in British music hall theatre which became popular in the 1850s. In Punch and Judy shows, which first appeared in England on 9 May 1662, a large slapstick is wielded by Punch against the other characters. British comedians who honed their skills at pantomime and music hall sketches include Charlie Chaplin , Stan Laurel , George Formby and Dan Leno . The influential English music hall comedian and theatre impresario Fred Karno developed
154-644: A response to the wordless woodcut novels of the time, (such as those of Lynd Ward or Frans Masereel ) lampooning the high-artistic style and intentionally ambiguous messages of these wordless novels and presenting a traditional narrative in a similar format. Despite this, He Done Her Wrong still contains hints of the tense drama present in Ward's novels. Gross's wordless novel notably influenced later comics works in important ways. His simplistic art style in He Done Her Wrong , while perhaps not as striking as
176-564: Is a mixture of different comedic elements, evoking the zany silent film antics of Charlie Chaplin (Gross had previously collaborated with Chaplin on the 1928 film The Circus ), the physical comedy of popular slapstick routines, as well as the exaggerated emotionality and melodrama of an adventure film. Despite the implication of the book's lengthy subtitle – "...Not a Word In It – No Music Too" – Gross doesn't refrain from using words entirely, occasionally inserting single words for comedic effect or clarity. The phrase "No Music Too" also calls to mind
198-419: Is visible in the fluid and progressive layout of He Done Her Wrong . Gross also displays an impressive understanding of narrative progress, with each illustration following the last in a concise but comprehensible manner, avoiding long stretches of narrative time between panels, which could risk losing the reader's attention or understanding. Notably, Osamu Tezuka who is considered to be Japan's "God of Comics",
220-589: The Commedia dell'arte . It is now sometimes incorporated into sitcoms ; for example, in the sitcom Three's Company , actor John Ritter frequently performed pratfalls . Cartoons, particularly film shorts, also commonly depict an exaggerated form of physical comedy (incorporating cartoon physics ), such as in Tom and Jerry and Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner . Charlie Chaplin started his film career as
242-531: The Three Stooges , and Larry Semon . The "pie in the face" gag , in which one person hits another with a pie, became common in this era. Silent slapstick comedy was also popular in early French films and included films by Max Linder , Charles Prince , and Sarah Duhamel . Slapstick also became a common element in animated cartoons starting in the 1930; examples include Disney's Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck shorts, Walter Lantz 's Woody Woodpecker ,
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#1732798584952264-514: The " slap stick " in English—a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in commedia dell'arte . When struck, the Batacchio produces a loud smacking noise, though it is only a little force that is transferred from the object to the person being struck. Actors may thus hit one another repeatedly with great audible effect while causing no damage and only very minor, if any, pain. Along with
286-730: The Beary Family, MGM's Tom and Jerry , the unrelated Tom and Jerry cartoons of Van Beuren Studios , Warner Bros. Looney Tunes / Merrie Melodies , MGM's Barney Bear , and Tex Avery's Screwy Squirrel . Slapstick was later used in Japanese Tokusatsu TV Kamen Rider Den O , Kamen Rider Gaim , Kamen Rider Drive , by Benny Hill in The Benny Hill Show in the UK, and in the US used in
308-589: The Yiddish tradition. Slapstick comedy Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy . Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such as saws and ladders. The term arises from a device developed for use in the broad, physical comedy style known as commedia dell'arte in 16th-century Italy. The " slap stick " consists of two thin slats of wood, which makes
330-454: The book are somewhat unusual as well. Gross often utilizes picture balloons to advance the plot in a more specific fashion than illustrations alone could. He also occasionally makes use of rebus , conveying information without quite relying entirely on either pictures or words. Though He Done Her Wrong did not become a major hit when it was published, it is now considered a significant early work in long-form comics. Gross wrote it partially as
352-403: The contemporary woodcut works that influenced it, nonetheless succeeds in producing recognizable characters without identifying them by name. Additionally, despite its length (nearly 300 pages), the action unfolds at a satisfying rate. Later comics works, especially graphic novels, often rely heavily on specific orientation of panels to achieve a desired effect or style of reading, a technique which
374-487: The extreme embarrassment of many women. The carnival spirit, for the most part tempered by high good humor, at times verged on rowdyism . Girls used a stick ripped with feathers to tickle the faces of young men, and they retaliated vigorously with the slapstick. An editorial in the Asbury Park Press, New Jersey, said in 1914: Slapsticks are the latest "fun-making" fad for masque fetes. . . Orders to stop
396-486: The inflatable bladder (of which the whoopee cushion is a modern variant), it was among the earliest special effects . Slapstick comedy's history is measured in centuries. Shakespeare incorporated many chase scenes and beatings into his comedies, such as in his play The Comedy of Errors . In early 19th-century England, pantomime acquired its present form which includes slapstick comedy: its most famous performer, Joseph Grimaldi —the father of modern clowning —"was
418-425: The silent films of the period (referencing the piano accompaniment typical of these films). The layout of panels in He Done Her Wrong appears generally standard, but Gross employs several creative framing techniques. Characters occasionally venture beyond the edges of a panel, and some pages feature action sequences in motion within the page, guiding the reader's eye along a determined path. The narrative elements of
440-524: The slapstick nuisance should be issued by the police and the Asbury Park carnival commissioners. Any device that cannot be operated or used without inflicting unmerited pain and injury should be excluded. . . Physical comedy Physical comedy is a form of comedy focused on manipulation of the body for a humorous effect. It can include slapstick , clowning , mime , physical stunts, or making funny faces. Physical comedy originated as part of
462-498: The three 1960s TV series, Gilligan's Island , Batman , The Flying Nun and I Love Lucy . Use of the slapstick in public places was a fad in the early 20th century. During the 1911 Veiled Prophet Parade in St. Louis, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The slapstick, so long indispensable to low comedy, found a new use among the crowds . . . they used the slapstick to
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#1732798584952484-565: Was highly influenced by He Done Her Wrong when developing his own cinematic style of comics storytelling, especially in the frequent use of silent panels. He Done Her Wrong can be viewed along with Gross's other works as a valuable contribution to Jewish popular literature. Though lacking the Yiddish-inflected dialogue that made Gross famous in his comic strips, his self-described " Great American Novel " still draws heavily from Gross's particular brand of comedy, strongly rooted in
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