Clyde Bruckman

**Clyde Adolf Bruckman** (June 30, 1894January 4, 1955) was an American writer and director of comedy films during the silent era as well as the early sound era of cinema. Bruckman worked with comedians like Buster Keaton, Monty Banks, W. C. Fields, Laurel and Hardy, The Three Stooges, Abbott and Costello, and Harold Lloyd.

Hollywood writer Kenneth Anger thinks Bruckman was one of the most important figures in the history of American screen comedy.

## Early life

Clyde Adolf Bruckman was born on June 30, 1894, in San Bernardino, California. In 1911, Bruckman's father Rudolph was in a car accident that left him with headaches and brain damage. Rudolph killed himself in 1912.

Bruckman was a writer for the sports pages of the _San Bernardino Sun_ in the spring of 1912. In 1914, he moved to Los Angeles and got a job as a writer for the _Los Angeles Times_. He later worked for the Los Angeles Examiner and the Saturday Evening Post.

On July 29, 1916, Bruckman married Lola Margaret Hamblin.

## Career

Bruckman first worked in film in 1919, where he wrote title cards for Universal Pictures. In 1921, he moved to Warner Brothers and began writing jokes for Buster Keaton.

Bruckman (pronounced "Brook-man") was best known for his work with Keaton, as Bruckman co-wrote some of Keaton's most popular films, such as _Our Hospitality_, _Sherlock Jr._, _The Navigator_, _Seven Chances_, _The Cameraman_, and _The General_, which Bruckman also co-directed.

Bruckman was the director for four Laurel and Hardy comedies in the early stages of their work together at the Hal Roach Studios in 1927–1928. The most popular one was _The Battle of the Century_ with its custard pie fight. During this period he also wrote for Harold Lloyd and Monty Banks.

Bruckman kept directing comedies during the sound era, his most famous comedy being _The Fatal Glass of Beer_, W. C. Fields' satire of Yukon melodramas. He was addicted to alcohol, which was a problem for directing his movies. After 1934, Bruckman would be only allowed to write scripts.

## Recycling gags

Bruckman's experience of silent-comedy got him hired at Columbia Pictures' short-subject workforce (Bruckman was very important Columbia hiring Keaton). Bruckman continued to write new jokes for The Three Stooges and other comics. After some time, he re-used gags from Keaton and other creators. After he had taken some gags, Lloyd sued Columbia and won. "Never mind that Bruckman had co-written and co-directed _Movie Crazy_, giving him a good claim to his work, or that Bruckman and Lloyd may have got their ideas from a vaudeville act in the first place", wrote Ethan Gates in _The New Republic_, reviewing Matthew Dessem's 2015 biography of Bruckman, _The Gag Man_.

Bruckman was hired by Universal Pictures to write comedy scenes for the studio's "B" musical shows. This was a big job that paid better than short works. He continued re-using gags but on a larger scale. He inserted the tuxedo routine into Universal's "B" musical-comedy feature _Her Lucky Night_. Bruckman adapted material from Lloyd's _Welcome Danger_ into Universal's Joan Davis–Leon Errol comedy _She Gets Her Man_, and again took jokes _Movie Crazy_ for Universal's "B" comedy _So's Your Uncle_. Lloyd was very angry by several things being taken from his movies, and sued for US$1,700,000; the court ruled for Lloyd but granted damages of $40,000. After this Bruckman was fired and never made a film again.
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## Other websites

- Clyde Bruckman at Allmovie

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Clyde Bruckman
- **image**: Clyde_Bruckman_in_1923.png
- **caption**: Bruckman in 1923
- **birth name**: Clyde Adolf Bruckman
- **birth place**: San Bernardino, California, US
- **death place**: Santa Monica, California, US
- **spouse**: Lola Margaret Bruckman
(1916–1931; her death)
Gladys Bruckman
(m. 1932)
- **occupation**: Comedy writer, director