Synopsis
The longest career in showbiz history
The life and career of comedian Rose Marie is documented through interviews with friends and colleagues as well as never-before-seen home movies shot by the actress herself.
Wait for Your Laugh
2017 Directed by Jason Wise
Genre
Releases by Date
Premiere
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USA
Mill Valley Film Festival
Theatrical
10 Nov 2017
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USA
Releases by Country
USA
05 Oct 2017
- Premiere Mill Valley Film Festival
10 Nov 2017
- Theatrical
Popular reviews
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A fond, thoroughly entertaining documentary about the decades-long career of Rose Marie, perhaps best known as Sally Rogers on The Dick Van Dyke Show – "wait for your laugh" is a phrase she used offscreen to remind him to stay on cue – and, at her death, one of the last surviving vaudevillians.
The reenactments used here work better than I’d feared, since Marie (even in her old age) proves such an energetic and engaging storyteller. But at a trim 85 minutes, the movie does approach television special glossiness in places. Parts of its narrative would benefit from greater analysis or historical context – especially Marie’s rising years as a child star, which were tinged with controversy and peril from…
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Filled a cultural blind spot for me, and did so splendidly. Wise's style is a combination of narration (a little too formal), interviews (judicious, well-chosen), archival footage, and "Drunk History"-style re-enactment where we see actors and occasionally hear Rose Marie's voice coming from their months. So much better and more artful than the "Remember this? Huh? Remember this?" nostalgia-docs clogging up Netflix. And Rose Marie herself, filmed in her 90s and not far from death, tells great stories with knockout charisma. You will be stunned by how many mobsters she meets.
Surprised that such a love poem to Show Business got paltry distribution and no Oscar push. The version I saw on Amazon Prime was 85 minutes, half an hour short than the one that ran at festivals. What was the extra footage? I like to imagine it was 30 extra minutes about Hollywood Squares.
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an absolute powerhouse!! amazing insight into rose marie's life. lost count of how many times i said 'holy shit' out loud.
i also especially loved hearing her talk about morrey n' dick van dyke recalling the few times rose marie would get frustrated with him bc that playful banter between everyone translated so!! so well. such a treat wowie i love
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The brief appearance of Groucho Marx was a harsh reminder that he’s an actual person and not just a disguise
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Entertaining from beginning to end! I am so glad that they had the opportunity to make a documentary on her life before her passing. What great stories she had!
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Most of the people talking about Rose Marie in this are still alive. She died last December and they have outlived her.
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Wow what a life! Starting at 4! years old Rose Marie never stopped working until well into her ninetieth decade, and then only slowed by ill health, in every imaginable medium finding success in them all.
If you only know her from The Dick Van Dyke show or perhaps Doris Day's show this doc is a treasure trove of discovery. Manipulated by her father throughout her childhood until breaking out on her own to become a top headliner in mob controlled casinos and onward and upward she was fortunate enough to have found her soulmate and a happy home.
Loaded with filmed snippets from practically every period of her career you really get a feeling for her life and times. She was a tough lady (you'd have to be to last in show biz as long as she has) but you get the sense a kind and fun one.
Fantastic, involving and ultimately quite moving.
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Read my full review (with some extra words from the director himself after a theater Q&A) on Back Row: Wait For Your Laugh and the Enduring Talent of Rose Marie.
Like Rose Marie herself, Wait For Your Laugh is a real charmer. Told through several interviews, an amazing photo and video archive (largely supplied by Rose Marie herself), and a handful of short reenactments, Wise weaves a colorful portrait of his subject. It's both an amazing time capsule of the last century of showbiz (what a gift that we have so much archival footage of the entire life of somebody born in the 1920s) and a sweet, empathetic portrait of a now overlooked talent.
That said, it certainly doesn't paint…
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I was lucky enough to attend the premiere of this film at the Mill Valley Film Festival. What I adored the most is just how much film Rose Marie saved throughout her life and that so much of it was used in this movie. The editing was phenomenal. This really, truly captured Rose Marie’s incredible life and career in the best possible way. I laughed, I cried, and enjoyed every moment.
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Must see for fans of comedy and Hollywood. Loved her on Dick Van Dyke but this cements her legacy as an American performer.
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Pretty good. As with most of these types of showbiz personality docs, they follow a similar arc. I didn't know she was married to a trumpeter, and that he died early from a mysterious blood infection. It's always fun to see early showbiz stuff (vaudeville, Las Vegas), and apparently Rose Marie kept some really cool footage of her own, incorporated expertly into the film.
The reenactments were very well done, too, almost tongue-in-cheek in a way, saying, yeah, we know we're faking it here, but with style and humor. Dick Van Dyke and Carl Reiner get to weigh in. Dick doesn't really have all that much to say, but Carl elucidated that Rose had issues with the DVD Show, resentful…