Happiness Quote by Samuel Goldwyn

A producer insisting his comedies are "not to be laughed at" is the kind of accidental truth Hollywood practically runs on. Samuel Goldwyn, famous for malapropisms that landed like punchlines, likely meant "Our comedies are no laughing matter" or "to be taken seriously". Instead, he delivered a line that folds back on itself: a comedy that can’t be laughed at is either a fiasco or a manifesto. That glitch is the point. It exposes the industry’s permanent anxiety that entertainment must also be respectable, that jokes should arrive wearing a tie.

Goldwyn’s intent reads as managerial: defend the product, elevate the brand, project control. The subtext is insecurity dressed as authority. Comedy is the most fragile genre; it fails in public and instantly. By declaring laughter off-limits, Goldwyn unconsciously admits the risk that audiences might not comply. It’s a preemptive scold aimed at critics and viewers alike: treat this as quality, not fluff.

Context matters. Goldwyn worked in an era when studios fought to legitimate film as art while still selling tickets to the masses. Comedy, especially, was seen as lowbrow compared with prestige dramas. The line performs that cultural tug-of-war in one sentence: Hollywood wants the democratic rush of laughter and the elite seal of seriousness, often in the same frame.

The enduring bite is that it’s both a warning and a self-own. Goldwyn tries to police reception, but the phrasing guarantees the opposite: we laugh, because the system behind the joke is what’s really funny.