Coupled with this was the Depression-era fascination with the upper classes, which is still a component of the genre, as in the wealthy backdrop of Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994). Moviegoers looked to the movies as a means of lighthearted escape from their everyday worries. The Great Depression fueled the antiheroic nature of the screwball genre. Antiheroic humor is driven by the ritualistic humiliation of the male screwball comedy merely dresses up the setting and substitutes beautiful people for this farcical battle of the sexes. (McCarey would later direct the screwball classic The Awful Truth, 1937). The dominant comedy character had been the capable cracker-barrel type, such as Will Rogers it now became an antihero, best exemplified by characters in The New Yorker writings of Robert Benchley (1889–1945) and James Thurber (1894–1961), or Leo McCarey's (1898–1969) silent comedy shorts with Laurel and Hardy. Screwball comedy was tied to a period of transition in American humor that gained momentum by the late 1920s.
The birth of this approach, which might also be labeled "new American farce," was due to developments that occurred in the early 1930s. Archetypal examples include Bringing Up Baby (1938) and its loose remake, What's Up, Doc? (1972).
Based upon the old "boy-meets-girl" formula turned topsy-turvy, it generally presented the eccentric, female-dominated courtship of an upper-class couple. Go to or call office at 83 for tickets or more information.In the mid-1930s a new film genre, screwball comedy, arose in American cinema. The Hill Country Community Theatre is located at 4003 FM 2147 West in Cottonwood Shores. Tickets go on sale Thursday, February 6, to the general public. Admission is $20 for adults and $10 for students with a valid ID. Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays and 2:15 p.m. The show runs through March 1 and is rated PG-13 for language. The HCCT cast features Graham Avery, Katherine Clay, Doug Hart, Gabriele Grasmick, Cody Hirning, Kasey Hirning, Kyle Nasir Hirning, and Samantha Hudson. What will you walk away with from this show? Non-stop, belly-busting laughter, cheeks that hurt from smiling so hard, and gratitude for the ‘normalcy’ of your own life.”
“The cast’s perfectly timed exuberant antics celebrate a love for theater that makes this production particularly enjoyable. “The play bursts with dynamic hilarity,” said Laura Gisi, who is directing the production for the HCCT. "Moon Over Buffalo" received two Tony Award nominations, and with good reason. Unfortunately, everything that could go wrong does, abetted by a visit from their daughter’s clueless fiancé and hilarious uncertainty about which play they’re performing caused by Charlotte’s deaf, old stage manager mother who hates every bone in George’s body. Famous Hollywood director Frank Capra is coming to town for their matinee, and, if he likes what he sees, he might cast them in his next movie.
On the brink of a disastrous split-up caused by George’s dalliance with a young ingénue, the couple receives word that they might have one last shot at stardom. The madcap comedy follows fading 1950s theater stars Charlotte and George Hay in the midst of performing two productions, “Private Lives” and “Cyrano De Bergerac,” in Buffalo, New York. It's theater within theater as Ken Ludwig's "Moon Over Buffalo" opens at the Hill Country Community Theatre on February 13.