Graham Chapman--"A Very Silly Man..."

Graham Chapman (1941-89) was probably the most important Pythoner, most often the catalyst for their best skits and best feature films, and that is why his loss is so keenly felt by many fans. The idea of a Python reunion film or special of some sort in the nineties would not have been likely, but without Chapman there was a nail to the coffin even if the others were game. It was like the end of John Lennon's life and the chances for another group of bright men to come together. The dream was really over.

Although he might not have been the most productive of the group in turning out silly films and things to amuse us ravenous hoards of ungrateful twits, he was after all the authority figure in so many of the sketches, the man playing the Establishment, usually a policeman or a stuffy military officer. The more he tried to restore a semblance of order and decency to the proceedings, the funnier the sketches got. He was also "King Arthur" in "Monty Python and The Holy Grail" (1975) and "Brian" in "Life of Brian"(1979) . Imagine any of the other Pythons playing those major roles and you can see why Chapman was an indispensible talent.

Over educated for his chief vocation (he was, in fact, trained as a doctor) Mr. Chapman was also the author of "A Liar's Biography, Part VI" (1980) . In an interview for the book years ago on a radio station, I heard him say that he chose comedy over medicine after getting advice about his life from none other than the Queen Mother of Great Britain. I got the impression that this was not a lie.

He wrote some screenplays for a couple 1960's British films with John Cleese, his closest Python friend, as well as numerous television shows that were run-ups to the Monty Python Empire. (Cleese was the guy who mostly wrote, and Chapman lay about making improvements to the work. I suspect Chapman was the one responsible for the more daring bits of funny business. ) Chapman also had his share of personal problems that he was candid about and did contribute to his being hard for the others to work with at times. (Please see Wikipedia entry.)

His greatest permanent contribution to Western letters was a suggestion made to Mr. Cleese for a sketch: instead of a customer returning an inanimate object like an umbrella for a skit about a shop with a questionable return policy, that the man instead bring back an animal...specifically a parrot...a dead parrot. The rest is history.

Here is a sample of Mr. Chapman's work, presented on You Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww3MDDyBoZo&mode=related&search=

Correction: In the Captain America blog, Brook M. has reminded me that Marvel Comics "Submariner" in fact did not have a submarine at all! Being from Atlantis, he could get about under water just fine without one. I stand corrected, humbled and bereft of all my petty pride and dignity .

I should also admit that I made a mistake earlier in this website by stating that the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5 was a conflagration between the rising Japanese Empire and the Russo Brothers of South Philadelphia. The Russo brothers did not actually attack Japan, but did once make a ruckus in a Japanese Restaurant in Teaneck, New Jersey.

It was in fact the Japanese naval forces who attacked Russian (Russo, get it?) forces at the carved -out for "Russo" colony of Port Arthur. I regret this and the Russo brothers are blameless for this and all other major 20 th Century wars.

Legal disclaimer: The long list of major crimes of shag carpet retailers Frank and Giuseppe Russo, while bloody and treacherous and mostly offically "unsolved", can in no way be considered a "war" in the strict sense of the word.