For World Bicycle Day: Bikes in Variety and Classic Comedy

travsd

Jun 3

It's typical of this blog that we'd have written about unicycles before we did something dedicated to their more popular two wheel cousin. By rights I should also do ones on tandem bikes and tricycles before taking on bicycles, but hey, this is just how it rolled out! As it happens, the most avid cyclist in my life is my son, who is getting married today, so this post will be somewhat short and sweet (and, full disclosure, was pre-prepared).

Did you ever wonder why those early, old-timey bikes have that enormous wheel, making it inconvenient to mount, and even more inconvenient to fall off of? The big wheel makes you go much faster with every peddle pump, and the ride is much smoother (if you run over a rock or a stick or some other small bump, much more of the tire is resting on solid ground). So that's why it existed at all. Eventually, almost everybody agreed that the trade-off wasn't worth it.

We've written about a few trick bicycle riders in vaudeville and circus: Joe Jackson, The Stirk Family, The Elliotts, and Pop Kramer.

Al St. John was the principal comedy bicycle rider in silent movies. His former co-star Buster Keaton rides a funny one in Our Hospitality (1923). I found a nice little post someone wrote about Laurel and Hardy's history with bicycles here.

The fad for annual marathon six day bike races at Madison Square Garden began in 1891. You will find that referenced in the 1933 Paramount comedy International House, and in Joe E. Brown's 1934 comedy 6 Day Bike Racer.

Naturally Pee-Wee Herman is very much associated with his bicycle.

When I was working on book Chain of Fools, I considered talking about the 1979 movie Breaking Away as one I relate to some of my favorite silent comedies. The big bike race finale reminds me of such things as the cross-country footrace in Langdon's Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1926) or the big football game in Harold Lloyd's The Freshman (1925). This little movie should be much better remembered. I was a teenager when it came out and loved it a great deal. The theme of a highly eccentric kid looking to break way from his working class small town and go to college was directly relatable. And it was critically acclaimed. The screenplay won an Oscar. Do they even write screenplays any more? I get the impression they just film comic books. Anyway, though the kid who played the lead Dennis Christopher was another hit Chariots of Fire (1981) directly after this, and has worked ever since, he didn't exactly become a star, one of the reasons this film has become a little obscure. Two of the guys who played his buddies, Dennis Quaid and Daniel Stern became much better known. Anyway, I don't know of any other movie that romanticizes the 10-speed bike as much as this one. And I know from experience that the romance of riding your bike on country roads is enhanced while screaming and singing in Italian.