DOING NOTHING: Harry Langdon and the Performance of Absence

ABSTRACT Doing Nothing: Harry Langdon and The Performance of Absence. Where most comedians of the silent era did things, Harry Langdon's trick was to do nothing. His is a comedy of absence, surreal in its exploration of repressed desire that is perversely shown in his relationship with vamps. With long, slow takes he enacts a dark, subtle humor with contemporary resonance.