Podcast Summary

Podcast: New Books Network
Episode: Stuart Klawans, "Crooked, But Never Common: The Films of Preston Sturges" (Columbia UP, 2023)
Host: Andy Boyd
Guest: Stuart Klawans
Date: January 10, 2026

Main Theme

This episode focuses on Stuart Klawans' book Crooked, But Never Common: The Films of Preston Sturges. It explores why the films of acclaimed Hollywood writer-director Preston Sturges remain so sharply funny and culturally resonant, examining both his biography and the distinctive qualities of his movies. Klawans and host Andy Boyd discuss Sturges’s unique blend of clever dialogue, slapstick humor, dark cynicism, and the way his background shaped his humanistic approach to filmmaking.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

What Makes Preston Sturges’s Films Enduringly Funny?

• Dialogue and Direction: Sturges is renowned for his brilliant dialogue, but Klawans emphasizes the equal importance of his direction:
  • “Sturgis is generally thought of as having written the best dialogue ever in Hollywood...My proposition in my new book is that he did a lot more than that...how he directed these screenplays is equally important as the dialogue, if not more important, actually.” — Stuart Klawans [03:07]
• Combination of Talents: His lasting comedic power comes from combining:
  • Sharp, witty dialogue for all characters, regardless of status
  • Clever, visually sophisticated direction
  • A darker, cynical view of human nature that’s only half-concealed
• Contemporary Relevance: Sturges's cynicism and underlying seriousness give the films enduring bite:
  • “It’s not all just fun and games. You really feel that there’s something at stake.” — Klawans [04:11]

Brief Biographical Sketch of Sturges

• Eclectic Upbringing: Sturges’s early life included time with bohemian artists (Isadora Duncan), periods of luxury, and stints of business management for his mother’s cosmetic company.
• Route to Hollywood:
  • Began as a playwright (with a Broadway hit, Strictly Dishonorable)
  • Stint as a screenwriter for hire in Hollywood, before bargaining his way into directing (sold a script for $10 for the right to direct, resulting in The Great McGinty)
• First “Writer-Director”: He broke new ground as one of the first in the studio era to both write and direct his films, previously rare due to the "relay team" scriptwriting approach at studios.
  • “It used to be that studio movies were written by relay teams...It was highly unusual for a single person to have written an entire script.” — Klawans [09:14]

Sturges’s Experience of Humanity & Multicultural Perspective

• Wide Social Range: Sturges’s personal experience spanned high society, bohemian artists, ordinary folks, and everything in between.
• Authenticity in Films: Sturges brought this knowledge to his films, making both high society and working-class scenes feel lived-in and authentic.
  • “When he does a high society scene, he does it as somebody who actually lived in high society.” — Klawans [12:12]

Representation and Respect in His Work

• Progressiveness and Limits: Sturges depicted Black character with more dignity than was common, notably in the church scene of Sullivan’s Travels:
  • “It’s a scene in a black church service which is...so respectful of the black characters, so sensitive to them, so concerned with their dignity, that the scene almost can't be assimilated into classic Hollywood.” — Klawans [14:16]
  • Walter White of the NAACP wrote to thank Sturges for this depiction [15:11]
• Complex Attitudes: Despite moments of progressiveness, Sturges was no political progressive, and some stereotypical portrayals remain troubling.

Democratic Dialogue and Character Depth

• Democratic Impulse: Sturges gave great lines—sharp, funny, insightful—to all walks of life. Even bit parts have memorable moments.
  • “He took delight in giving every one of his characters something interesting to say...There was definitely a democratic impulse of sorts.” — Klawans [19:18]
• Comparison to Shakespeare: Like Shakespeare, Sturges makes every character feel lived-in and full of intent, regardless of their status.

Slapstick Meets Sophistication

• Distinctive Comedy Style: Sturges’s comedic style blends witty, urbane dialogue with slapstick and physical humor (e.g., spiral staircase pratfalls).
  • “He’s sort of half Oscar Wilde, half Charlie Chaplin.” — Andy Boyd [20:45]
  • Sturges loved slapstick and sometimes demonstrated stunts for actors himself [22:18]
• Actors’ Responses: Not all stars were comfortable with slapstick (e.g., Henry Fonda's resistance in The Lady Eve, which became part of his performance) [21:03]

The Sturges "Stock Company"

• Reliable Supporting Cast: He gathered a troupe of distinctive character actors (many elderly or unusual in appearance), who appeared again and again, giving his films a familiar, communal texture.
  • “Part of the pleasure of watching his films is that you keep meeting these people over and over.” — Klawans [24:24]
  • William Demarest became an in-house star, taking major roles and anchoring this ensemble [25:07]

Sullivan's Travels: Interpretation and Subtext

• Autobiographical Reading: Some view Sullivan’s Travels as a self-portrait, showing a comedy director learning to embrace making people laugh.
  • Klawans cautions against taking Sturges’s public statements at face value, calling him “devious” and his films “crooked” [28:22, 29:58]
• Layered Meanings: The film’s apparent “message” (stick to comedy) is undercut by its own complexity and seriousness.
  • “There’s something more going on here than just Sturgis justifying his own life as a comedy director.” — Klawans [32:18]
• Social Critique / Genre Play: Sullivan’s Travels contains pointed references (e.g., parodying Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath) and genre shifts. Its meta-cinematic commentary reflects Sturges’s own career anxieties:
  • “There is this undertone of regret and even embarrassment at all the crap he’d had to do.” — Klawans [34:51]

Perfection and Lasting Themes

• Imperfect Genius: Sturges himself admitted none of his films is “perfect”, claiming Hail the Conquering Hero was the one with “less wrong with it than the others.”
  • Despite this, Klawans admires the films’ brilliant structure and construction, especially how every character feels motivated and real [39:50–41:39]
• Core Worldview:
  • Underlying horror of being “stuck” or trapped—many films feature circular plots and characters trying (often failing) to escape their life situation:
    • “...underlying, not just fear, but horror of being stuck in the same thing forever...they are circular in structure...” — Klawans [42:34]
  • The rare exception is The Lady Eve, where the characters break out of their stuck pattern at the last moment [44:08]

Sturges, Success, and Fortune

• Ambivalence Toward the American Dream: While Sturges’s characters chase self-invention, luck often shapes their fate. He doesn’t valorize hard work so much as the desire to escape and make something of oneself—sometimes, it’s just dumb luck:
  • “He’s endorsing the idea that people want to get ahead and succeed. But you could be like the character of Jimmy in Christmas in July, who spends all this time entering contests...” — Klawans [49:23]
  • Reference to “fortune falling from the sky” in Easy Living [47:54]
• Slogans and Nonsense: Success can be arbitrary or even accidental, as exemplified by the nonsensical contest slogan in Christmas in July:
  • “If you can’t sleep at night, it’s not the coffee, it’s the bunk.” — Klawans [50:22]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Sturges’s secret to lasting comedy:
  “It’s a combination of this amazing, brilliant dialogue and not always obvious, but always very clever visual direction...Plus...his extraordinary cynicism, which I think continues to play well to people today, and a dark side that is half concealed in the films.” — Stuart Klawans [03:57]

• On authenticity:
  “When he made The Lady Eve, he lent Paramount his own silver service so that the big dinner party scene would be properly furnished.” — Klawans [12:21]

• On representation in Sullivan’s Travels:
  “There’s really almost nothing like it.” — Klawans, on the respectful depiction of a Black church [14:25];
  “The executive director of the NAACP thanked him for it.” — Klawans [15:17]

• On the wit given to minor characters:
  “She just doesn’t know it yet.” — Charles R. Moore’s Pullman porter line, as quoted by Klawans [17:28]
  “That all depends on what happens later.” — Black janitor’s answer in Christmas in July [17:57]

• On Sturges’s ensemble:
  “They became a kind of human landscape for him or a social landscape, which was as important in the settings of his films as what the production designer gave him.” — Klawans [24:45]

• On imperfection:
  “He said that the favorite of his, his own favorite among his films was Hail the Conquering Hero. And his reason for that was...there was less wrong with it than any of the others.” — Klawans [39:50]

• On thematic underpinnings:
  “One of the biggest connections that I found...was this underlying, not just fear, but horror of being stuck in the same thing forever.” — Klawans [42:38]
  “The wonderfully funny thing is that everybody has his reasons.” — Klawans [41:48]

Important Timestamps

• 03:07–04:11 — What makes Sturges’s films hold up: blend of dialogue, direction, and cynicism
• 05:07–11:48 — Biographical sketch and how Sturges became writer-director
• 12:11–15:11 — Sturges’s social range and its impact on his films; Black representation
• 19:18–20:22 — Sturges’s “democratic impulse” in dialogue; Shakespeare comparison
• 21:03–22:18 — The role of slapstick in Sturges’s comedies; actors’ reactions
• 23:31–25:07 — The Sturges “stock company” and its importance
• 27:44–32:18 — Interpretation of Sullivan’s Travels; autobiography and satire
• 39:50–41:48 — Sturges on imperfection; structure and character depth in his films
• 42:31–44:08 — Recurring theme: horror of being stuck and narrative circularity
• 47:07–51:08 — Success, luck, and self-invention in Sturges’s world; Christmas in July slogan

Conclusion

The conversation provides a lively, nuanced exploration of Preston Sturges’s artistry, personal background, and the layered meanings in his comedies. Klawans’s insights reframe Sturges as not just a brilliant comic writer, but as a cynically perceptive, structurally inventive director whose films remain vibrant for their wit, human insight, and resistance to easy categorization. The episode is both an invitation to revisit Sturges’s films and a thoughtful guide to appreciating their enduring genius.