Columbia College Chicago School of Theatre and Dance faculty member Grace Kessler Overbeke is the author of , published September 17, 2024, by NYU Press.
Grace Kessler Overbeke
Overbeke, who earned a BA in Theatre and English from Wesleyan University and MA and PhD degrees from Northwestern University’s Interdisciplinary PhD in Theatre and Drama, is an assistant professor in the Theatre program at Columbia College with a focus on Comedy Studies.
Her new book chronicles the career and enduring influence of Jean Carroll (1911-2010), a stand-up comic of the 1950s and ’60s. In an interview with Columbia College’s news office, Overbeke cites her parents as inspiring her lifelong interest in women in comedy. “They named me after Gracie Allen, a comedian from the 1940s and ’50s, and many of my bedtime stories growing up were old comedy records. So it stands to reason that I would become interested in comedy and history. . . . I think this book is a good example of the great stories that get omitted from history by overlooking women, people of color, disabled people, and other people from marginalized groups. My hope is that it will inspire people to explore the nooks and crannies of history to unearth more of these stories,” Overbeke says. To read the full interview, click here.
Born Celine Zeigman in Paris, Jean Carroll began her career as a dancer in vaudeville in the 1920s and 1930s. She became a solo performer after the United States entered World War II in 1941, when her husband and dance partner, Buddy Howe, was drafted into the Army. According to Carroll’s New York Times obituary: “Ms. Carroll continued as a solo comic, to wide acclaim. On his discharge from the Army, Mr. Howe was prudent enough to realize that the act was better without him and became a talent agent instead.” Carroll went on to become a frequent guest on TV’s Ed Sullivan Show and starred in her own short-lived sitcom, The Jean Carroll Show (Take It from Me), on ABC in 1953-54. As Carroll’s New York Times obituary, her “ready wit, impeccable timing and unorthodox blend of glamour and humor made her one of the first female stars of mainstream stand-up comedy.” She paved the way for legions of female comedy stars such as Phyllis Diller, Belle Barth, Joan Rivers, Lily Tomlin, Roseanne Barr, Rita Rudner, Sarah Silverman, and many more.
Drawing on archival footage, press clippings, and Jean Carroll’s personal scrapbook, Grace Kessler Overbeke’s First Lady of Laughs restores Jean Carroll’s remarkable story to its rightful place in the lineage of comedy history and Jewish American performance.
