Motion Picture Magazine (Feb-Jul 1915)

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The readers of this magazine have been locking horns on the merits of Keystone comedies and their many imitators, and I have been asked to express an opinion. If memory serves me well, this class of comedy was introduced by the Biograph Company a few years ago, at the time when Messrs. Fred Mace and Mack Sennett were with that company. Later, these players left that company and went to the Pacific Coast, and either one or the other, or both, began to produce a similar style of comedy which afterwards became identified with and known as "slapstick" or Keystone comedy. But wherever it originated, doubtless the Keystone Company is entitled to the credit or discredit for its invention and introduction as a standard type of comedy. It must also be admitted that, for this style of screen humor, the Keystone Company has many imitators and no equals. As these comedies gradually gained international popularity, nearly all the other companies began to copy them, and some with commendable success, adding various deviations of an original nature. And there is no gainsaying the fact that these comedies, whether Keystone or otherwise, are immensely popular to this day, and doubtless will continue to be so for some time to come. The latest and most pretentious photoplay of this class of work is "Tillie's Punctured Romance," with Marie Dressier and Charles Chaplin, which was ably directed by Mr. Sennett. This farce was admirably done, perhaps overdone. The familiar Keystone hallmarks, such as the throwing of pies into people's faces and the kicking and throwing of persons into every ludicrous position conceivable, were predominant thruout, and these items never failed to raise a laugh from the average audience. The "flash" and the "cut back" are also made good use of in this comedy, as when one person pushes another, and we are then suddenly shown the next scene where the person pushed lands into a crowd of policemen or other bystanders and knocks them into a heap or into the water. Another feature of these comedies is the frequent, imaginary injuring of the characters by such means as causing a heavy stone to fall on a person's toes, or being struck on the head with a brick. It is not clear why people are amused at the misfortunes or mishaps of others, but the fact remains that these catastrophes never fail to arouse a laugh. Again, these mirth foundries usually have one or more grotesque characters in them, such as we could never see in real life; and these curious persons are often made the husbands or the lovers of unusually charming girls. Some time ago the Vitagraph Company announced that they would not accept any scenario that introduced situations or characters that could not exist and be seen in real life, and this gave that company the idea of calling their productions "Life Portrayals." A most excellent policy was this, in my judgment, but it has not been strictly adhered to. Some of their recent comedies have possessed all the elements of the standard Keystone comedies. 107