Comedy is a Grim Business

It was the most audacious idea ever for a movie-four hours long, with two intermissions, a glittering all-star cast, and a world-class moviemaker-produced at a cost completely unheard of for, of all things, a comedy. And not just any comedy, but the comedy to end all comedies. To make such a film a reality, it would take a director with stature, assurance, and, most importantly, a deal that would effectively allow him to make whatever he wished. A man without fear, a man with a gambling spirit and a go-for-broke attitude. And, as it turned out, a man who had never before directed a comedy. Covering a span of more than sixty years, this is the incredible story of a movie unlike any other-from inspiration to gestation to funding, casting, production, international release, and, eventually, restoration. A picture so big an equally unique theater, the first of its kind in the world, had to be designed and constructed just to hold it. And then came an improbable afterlife that carried it well into the next century. The epic comedy that was It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World premiered amid an explosion of hard ticket roadshow attractions, movies with overtures, intermissions, reserved seats, and extravagant running times.  The cast list of Mad World read like a who’s who of twentieth century comedic greatness. Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Jimmy Durante, Buddy Hackett, Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, Phil Silvers, Terry-Thomas, and Jonathan Winters were among the principals, as were relative civilians Spencer Tracy, Peter Falk, Ethel Merman, and Dorothy Provine. Among those appearing in supporting parts and cameos were Jim Backus, Ben Blue, Joe E. Brown, William Demarest, Andy Devine, Paul Ford, Leo Gorcey, Sterling Holloway, Edward Everett Horton, Don Knotts, Buster Keaton, and The Three Stooges. Minta Durfee Arbuckle, the first wife of silent clown Fatty Arbuckle, worked as an extra on the picture. Jack Benny and Jerry Lewis made their appearances without billing.      The success of such a movie was in no way guaranteed. Now, for the first time, Comedy is a Grim Business tells the whole surprising story of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, the three extraordinary people at the creative center of the project, the pitfalls of attempting such a thing, the timing that was critical in making it happen, and the span of events that stretched from 1951 to the year 2014. And it’s a lasting tribute to screenwriters William and Tania Rose and producer-director Stanley Kramer that Mad World is still convulsing audiences wherever it is shown.