Word: deadpan
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Such was the comedy of Buster Keaton, the granddaddy of deadpan and one of the four or five masters of the sight gag produced by Hollywood during the silent days. In the sequences adapted from the old two-reelers, these gags prove as good as ever they were, and provide the public with about ten minutes' worth of belly-shaking fun. But when this earnest little biopus turns from Keaton's silent comedies to his noisy domestic tragedies, the guffaws turn to unmitigated guff. Donald O'Connor, who plays the title role, does pretty well with...
...whimsical comedy about a family who had a self-acknowledged genius for a baby sitter, the film pokes pleasant fun at suburban life and mores. Sitting Pretty's main virtue is the superlative acting of Clifton Webb, who at times is wildly hilarious in a deadpan style as a mysterious and omniscient figure who takes a job as children's companion and domestic aide in order to get background for a lampooning novel about suburbia. He has several classic moments--among them a wonderfully droll bit when he chastises an infant for throwing cereal by emptying the bowl...
Diplomats called him "the oldest young man in the world" because of his cold, deadpan expression. Born near Minsk in the village of Gromyki (90% of whose inhabitants are called Gromyko), he started out as a teacher and never lost his pedantry. Molotov plucked him out of the Academy of Sciences in 1939, and his fortunes have paralleled those of his master. He was at Molotov's elbow at Teheran, Yalta and Potsdam...
Boston's Bill. Boston's basketball pros have long boasted most of the best players in the N.B.A.; now they fit together into the best team. The deadpan fakery and ballet-ball handling of Bob Cousy are as spectacular as ever. Under the backboards, muscular Jim Loscutoff, once of the University of Oregon, is throwing his weight (225 lbs.) around with bruising efficiency. The soft, high-arcing long shots of quiet Bill Sharman are hitting so often that he is now being called one of the greatest set-shot marksmen in the history of the game...
...Springfield College (Mass.) physiologists reported that most pre-race warmups are practically useless. Setting-up exercises and a variety of massage techniques made no noticeable differences in the performances of Springfield runners. Nor could the scientists find any evidence that warming up reduces the number of athletic injuries. Their deadpan conclusion: "No one will question the beneficial effect of warming up when limbs may be almost numb from cold, but there is a suspicion that the practice of warming up is frequently overdone...