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Outnumbered but not outclassed — that’s how comediennes have fared in Hollywood. During the silent era, Mabel Normand and Louise Carver made audiences roll in the aisles, even though it was Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton who hogged the limelight. The heavyweight, ungainly Marie Dressler was very popular during the early thirties, winning an Oscar for Min and Bill (1930). Her death in 1934 almost coincided with the debut of Lucille Ball, who rose to become the most famous comic actress of all time. Ball had good looks and a shapely figure — two traits that were supposed to be unsuitable for comediennes. However, she deftly put her charm to great use in a number of movies, including Fancy Pants (1950) and The Facts of Life (1960). In her heyday, she was as big a star as the leading "serious" actresses (Indian viewers remember her more for her TV serials I Love Lucy and The Lucy Show). Some actresses have gelled wonderfully with their male partners to form super-hit comedy teams. Among the best have been Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, Gracie Allen and George Burns, and Cicely Courtneidge and Jack Hulbert. In the past three decades, Whoopi Goldberg, Bette Midler, Madeline Kahn and Lily Tomlin have kept the fair sex in the funny business. Whoopi was a laugh riot as a phoney psychic medium in Ghost (1990), for which she won an Oscar. The punchline is short and straight — you just can’t keep a good comedienne down. — V. J.
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