Teaming up to be funny: the gang's all here: Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers, Abbott and Costello, the Three Stooges, Hope and Crosby, and Martin and Lewis.

• Author: Gehring, Wes D.
• Position: Entertainment

WHEN Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis split up in 1956, the duo turned out to be Hollywood's last significant seemingly permanent comedy team. Ironically, a major neglected historical fact about Martin and Lewis was that their interaction was something new to America's time-honored movie team tradition. With the exception of "The Stooge" (1953), Martin and Lewis' formula was based upon a friendly rapport. (Paramount underlined that point by keeping "The Stooge" on the shelf for two years for fear at how the public would respond.)

In Lewis' multiple memoirs since the break up, he has defined their formula as a goofy, sickly man-child attempting to emulate a cool, casual older brother. For instance, in "Sailor Beware" (1952), arguably their best picture, the two meet at a Navy induction ceremony and Martin immediately begins looking out for Jerry's needy nerd, fittingly named Melvin.

In contrast, going back to film comedy team beginnings, hostility normally is what rules. For example, the America's first comedian to achieve international fame, the rotund John Bunny, usually was cast with hen-pecking screen wife Flora Finch. Their scores of short subjects, nicknamed "Bunnyfinches," made them cinema's first comedy team. Moreover, since Finch was Olive Oyl thin, they also pioneered the fat-skinny contrast for laughs.

A thumbnail sketch of notable teams during Hollywood's golden years--roughly the early 1920s until the mid 1950s--would start with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Their amazing late 1920s popularity was the catalyst for a renewed interest in teams. While Stan called the twosome "two brains without a single thought," plump Oliver definitely lorded it over lean Laurel. Thus, they also played the size contrast card. Plus, since their premier period bridged the coming of sound to Hollywood, many East Coast stage teams had an added incentive to head West.

The Marx Brothers made the most successful stage-to-screen transition. Their foursome always had the dominating Groucho belittling Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo. However, Chico and Harpo invariably would outmaneuver the authoritative Groucho, while the underused Zeppo eventually left the team. Nevertheless, the normal-sized Groucho was cruelest to heavyset Margaret Dumont--another comic proportions clash--who played a wealthy widowed dowager in so many of their films that she sometimes was called the "Fifth Marx Brother." For example, during a quasi-proposal in "Duck Soup" (1933), while romancing her yet again for the money, Groucho says, "I can see you standing over a hot...