Integrative Arts 10
Farce and Mack Sennett
At this critical point we must pull a rescue, must save Maybel right? Who saves her? Our hero Charlie of course. But how? There's your snag, fellers-right there!
-Mack Sennett setting up a rookie writer to see if he had the keystone 'slant'... he did.
Information on Mack, Keystone Studios and Flying Pies
Mack Sennett on his disovery: Bing Crosby
Sennett, Mack (1880-1960)
American motion-picture producer and director, who made a
significant contribution to silent films in the United States
with the frenetic slapstick comedy that he introduced and
perfected. Sennett was the film industry's first real producer, a
versatile entrepreneur who recognized and encouraged talent and
who created a systematic approach to production that yielded a
large quantity of films.
Born Michael Sinnott in Danville, Quebec, Canada, he initially
worked as a laborer, although he had ambitions to become a
singer. He soon went to New York City, where he worked for a time
in burlesque and as a Broadway chorus boy. In 1908 he began his
film career at the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company,
working with director D. W. Griffith as an actor and
scriptwriter. By 1910 he was also doing some directing. In 1912,
with financial backing, he formed a new studio, Keystone, which
rapidly became the industry leader in the production of slapstick
comedy films, a genre that had originated in French silent films
but was transformed by Sennett into a more complex art form,
inventive and often even surrealistic. His particular style of
comedy was largely a result of his superb comic timing
(demonstrated most vividly in his chase scenes), a fondness for
rude visual humor, and a willingness to improvise. Indeed, at the
outset his films were mostly improvised farces with an endless
stream of physical humor, often at the expense of the established
social order—as with the antics of his popular Keystone
Kops.
A discerning judge of talent, Sennett assembled a broad range of
performers in his company, among them actor Mabel Normand (whom
he had taken away from Biograph and with whom he had a close
relationship for many years) and others who became major figures
in silent comedy: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Edgar
Kennedy, Slim Summerville, Harry Swain, Chester Conklin, and Ben
Turpin. As the studio prospered, Sennett's films became longer
and more carefully planned, other directors were brought in, and
new series were added—notably the Mack Sennett Bathing
Beauties and the Kid Komedies (an early precursor of the Our Gang
films). Released from the responsibilities of directing, Sennett
devoted most of his time to administration and to editing,
overseeing the final cut of all his films.
In 1915 Keystone was merged as an autonomous unit into the new
Triangle Film Corporation, which united the talents of Sennett,
D. W. Griffith, and American producer Thomas Ince. With more
production funds at Sennett's disposal, his films became more
commercial and varied; he even made some romantic comedies with
actor Gloria Swanson. When Triangle folded in 1917, Sennett
formed a new company, Mack Sennett Comedies, producing longer
comedy short films and even a few feature-length films, usually
with Normand or Turpin. The most memorable of Sennett's features,
however, had been made earlier: Tillie's Punctured Romance
(1914), which starred Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand, and the
young Charlie Chaplin, who was discovered by Sennett in 1913. By
1923, when Sennett ceased to work independently and began the
first of a series of associations with other organizations, his
best films were behind him. However, he continued to have a keen
eye for talent, launching the great comedian Harry Langdon during
his stint with the international motion-picture production studio
Pathé (1923-1929), making short films in sound with actors W.C.
Fields and Bing Crosby at Paramount Pictures (1932-1935), and
working with actor Buster Keaton in 1935 at Educational Pictures.
During the course of his 25-year career, Sennett produced more
than 1000 silent films and several dozen sound films. He retired
in 1935 at the age of 55.
In 1937 Sennett was honored with a special Academy Award
"for his lasting contribution to the comedy technique of the
screen." His autobiography, King of Comedy, was published in
1954.
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