1. A troubled paradise : utopia and transgression in comedies of the early 1930s -- 2. Working ladies and forgotten men : class divisions in romantic comedy, 1934-1937 -- 3. "The split-pea soup and the succotash" : Frank Capra's 1930s comedies and the subject of class -- 4. Is class necessary : Preston Sturges and Howard Hawks in the early 1940s -- 5. Desperately seeking status : class, gender, and social anxiety in postwar Hollywood comedy -- 6. Is there a class in this text : Woody Allen and postmodern comedy -- 7. Yuppies and other strangers : class satire and cultural clash in contemporary film comedy