Charley Bowers

April 26, 2008

 
The American comedian, filmmaker, cartoonist and circus performer Charles Raymond Bowers (1877–1946) had already fallen into oblivion during his lifetime; his films were considered lost. Gradually, the work and the specific genius of this eccentric and mysterious entertainer were painstakingly reconstructed, thanks to several film discoveries in the last few decades. It is above all his comedy shorts from 1926/27, with their wildly inventive stop-motion effects, which place Charley Bowers at the forefront of slapstick film. His creation of incredible "miniature worlds", where everything revolves around eggs (and other comestibles), odd birds (and other animals), and, more than anything else, absurd people, is as bizarre as Tim Burton's cinematic universe – crossed with the art of Fischli and Weiss. The Film Museum shows five of his most significant works in a single evening presentation.