Why “Screwball” in “Screwball Comedy”?

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Colin.

I’m calling from Los Angeles.

I had a question about old movies.

I’ve been watching a lot of movies from the 30s and 40s, and I noticed they call them screwball comedies.

And I never really understood what that meant exactly, screwball, except maybe like a screw loose or something, because they’re pretty wacky.

You know, a lot of the time. Yeah. And yeah, I just, I was curious where that term comes from.

You know, because like something like bringing a baby from, you know, the Howard Hawks movie is really crazy, you know, so I’m thinking like screw it, screwy.

Yeah. Yeah. That’s part of the formula, but the word screwball itself probably came from baseball.

It just so happens that during the 1930s when screwball comedy as a term came to be used in the film business and mostly in the reviewing side to start.

At the same time, there was a baseball player named Carl Hubble who paid.

For the Giants, the New York Giants at the time, and he was a left-handed pitcher and he had this weird reverse spin where he’d roll the ball off the outer side of his middle finger and the ball just literally looked like it was a pig’s tail on the way to the base.

You know, it was turning.

And this was called the screwball because of the apparent shape of its path as it went from the mound to the plate.

Now, the term screwball existed before that. It was used very briefly in cricket, and it’s been used a number of different ways over the years, including in tennis, for balls that do unusual things.

But I think it was recoined for baseball. Early 1900s was used through the 1920s.

And then in the 1930s, Hubble really made it a thing because he was just known for this pitch.

At the same time in the 1930s, the film business picks it up.

And we already have the term screwy and to have a screw loose meaning to be weird or unusual or unhinged.

You know, we already had these in English and those have existed since well back into the 1800s.

So it was a real natural thing that this term that was now flying around in baseball should take on this new role to talk about a script or dialogue that’s unhinged or weird or just kind of going in unexpected directions.

So in the 30s, when the movies were existing at that time, they were calling them screwball comedies?

Absolutely.

Yeah, we can find the term used almost right away in the 1930s.

So, Colin, there you go.

You’re making me want to watch some screwball comedies.

Do you have any other recommendations besides bringing up Baby?

There’s two.

The Preston Sturges movie, The Lady Eve, is incredible.

Ten out of ten.

And there’s a little-known movie that is one of my favorites called Midnight with Donna Meachie that was written by Billy Wilder.

But he didn’t direct it.

Oh, nice.

That’s a couple big names there.

I think we can all use some screwball comedy right now.

Thanks, Colin.

We appreciate it.

Are you in the film business being in L.A.?

I am, yeah.

Okay, gotcha.

I’m a writer.

So this is Inside Talk.

But I don’t like screwball comedies.

Well, it’s time to bring it back, Colin.

We’ll look for your product on the Netflix pages.

Okay.

All right, bye-bye.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Bye, Colin.

If you have a question about language, we know two screwballs you can call, 877-929-9673.