I mentioned earlier how Chaplin took on a new technology and carried beyond what anyone had otherwise imagined. Ernie Kovacs did the same thing in television.
When television was a new medium, local tv stations had airtime to fill. A Philidelphia station manager found Ernie Kovacs on the local radio, and offered him some time on the TV. He was given practically no budget and his only expectation was to be entertaining and find an audience. The bit below may be his most famous, and it looks like it cost about $9.75 to produce.
This is also a good example of surrealism in film. The imitation mechanical movement is quite intriguing.
Kovacs had very cartoon sensibilities. Like this:
This next video has some great narration by Kovacs, as he both explains, and makes fun of film making. He opens with this line:
There’s a standard formula for success in the entertainment medium, and that is beat it to death if it succeeds.