Neibaur, James L. 1958-

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Neibaur, James L. 1958-

PERSONAL:

Born January 21, 1958, in Racine, WI; children: a son. Ethnicity: "White."

ADDRESSES:

Home—Racine, WI.

CAREER:

Film historian and writer.

WRITINGS:

Movie Comedians: The Complete Guide, McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 1986.

Tough Guy: The American Movie Macho, McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 1989.

The RKO Features: A Complete Filmography of the Feature Films Released or Produced by RKO Radio Pictures, 1929-1960, McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 1994.

(With Ted Okuda) The Jerry Lewis Films: An Analytical Filmography of the Innovative Comic, foreword by Kathleen Freeman, McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 1995.

The Bob Hope Films, McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 2005.

Arbuckle and Keaton: Their 14 Film Collaborations, McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 2007.

Chaplin at Essanay: A Film Artist in Transition (1915-1916), McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 2008.

Contributor to Cineaste, Film Quarterly, Senses of Cinema, Rogue Cinema, and Encyclopedia Britannica.

SIDELIGHTS:

James L. Neibaur is an American film historian and writer. Neibaur was born on January 21, 1958, in Racine, Wisconsin. He is a regular contributor to Cineaste, Film Quarterly, Senses of Cinema, and Rogue Cinema. He has also contributed dozens of articles to the Encyclopedia Britannica on the topic of various films and stars.

Neibaur published his first book, Movie Comedians: The Complete Guide, in 1986. Movie Comedians examines a number of comedians and comic teams and gives concise biographies of them. It also provides some information on the films the comedians starred in. This book was followed by Tough Guy: The American Movie Macho in 1989, which looks at the role that machismo plays in many male characters of American films.

In 1994 Neibaur published The RKO Features: A Complete Filmography of the Feature Films Released or Produced by RKO Radio Pictures, 1929-1960. The book takes a look at Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO), one of the oldest, continuously operating movie studios in the world. The studio is popular for its "B" westerns but created two classics as well: Citizen Kane and Gunga Din. Neibaur covers these and other films the studio produced between 1929 and 1960, including the full and alternative title, production credits, year of release, running time, genre, cast lists, plot summaries, and release on video cassette for public distribution. Several of the entries provide additional information on the actors starring in the movie as well as the film's production process.

Written with Ted Okuda, The Jerry Lewis Films: An Analytical Filmography of the Innovative Comic was published in 1995. The book looks at the celebrity's solo work, his collaborations with Dean Martin, directorial and writing careers, his personal commentary on other comedians of his time, and other aspects of his life through the aid of interviews. The book also analyzes his performances in movies, including Hardly Working, The King of Comedy, and films that were never released. Neibaur includes a full list of Lewis's film credits and information about each of those films, including cast and crew credits, studio information, the film's release date, and its running time. Many of the film entries also include Lewis's own thoughts on the film.

The Bob Hope Films was published in 2005. The book analyzes the life of one of Hollywood's longest-working talents. Hope, who began working in Hollywood in his twenties, stayed active into his nineties before fully retiring and passing away at one hundred years old. Neibaur shows Hope's career as it spanned radio, movies, television, and vaudeville. Hope's quick wit made him a comedic icon, particularly during World War II and the following decade. The book takes a chronological approach to Hope's life, starting from his small-film start, through his major motion picture roles, such as in The Big Broadcast of 1938, and through the end of his career. As in previous books, Neibaur includes a steady amount of information on each of the films included in the text.

Neibaur published Arbuckle and Keaton: Their 14 Film Collaborations in 2007. The book looks at the works of the comic pairing of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton. The team first began working together in 1917, when Joseph Schenck produced fourteen Comique films featuring the two. It highlights Arbuckle at the pinnacle of his career and Keaton at his start. The book gives each comedian a chapter's worth of biography before covering their collaborative works and how those works changed from a focus on Arbuckle's brand of comedy to that of Keaton.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, October, 2005, M. Yacowar, review of The Bob Hope Films, p. 300.

Film Quarterly, summer, 1988, Benn Urish, review of Movie Comedians: The Complete Guide.

Films in Review, January, 1995, review of The RKO Features: A Complete Filmography of the Feature Films Released or Produced by RKO Radio Pictures, 1929-1960, p. 67.

Reference & Research Book News, summer, 1986, review of Movie Comedians; December, 1994, review of The RKO Features, p. 35; August, 1995, review of The Jerry Lewis Films: An Analytical Filmography of the Innovative Comic, p. 50.

RQ, summer, 1986, Robert Gorman, review of Movie Comedians.

Voice of Youth Advocates, December, 1989, review of Tough Guy: The American Movie Macho, p. 304.