#silentflickersunday — Public Fediverse posts

Despite all of their talents and trailblazing, both Mabel Normand and Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle would hit some heartbreaking career lows (Normand with relationship and drug scandals the stress of which would worsen her recurrent tuberculosis; Arbuckle with career ending sex scandal). And they’d both pass away far too young in the early 1930s (Mabel at only 36 in 1930 & Roscoe at 43 in 1933)
#SilentFlickerSunday #MabelNormand #RoscoeArbuckle #SilentFilm

And finally, “He Did and He Didn’t” (1916) (https://youtu.be/5naCRo-i1JI?si=yxMvA_4hrmd0oCMo) is actually more of a dramedy VS the usual slapstick comedy or RomCom that Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle and Mabel Normand were known for while working for Keystone Studios.
#SilentFlickerSunday #MabelNormand #RoscoeArbuckle #SilentFilm

“Wished on a Mabel” (1915) (https://youtu.be/iDWXaF5MMBs?si=NnpB69KBpUKG-JbQ) is considered one of the more “sophisticated” films that Mabel Normand and Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle would make together 

#SilentFlickerSunday #MabelNormand #RoscoeArbuckle #SilentFilm

During this time, Mabel Normand and Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle would make 17 films together- mostly short comedies and often writing, producing and directing the films themselves. While at Keystone Mabel Normand would star in over 100 films and write & direct around 20 films on her own. Arbuckle would parlay his screenwriting & directorial work at Keystone into a contract with MGM in 1918.
#SilentFlickerSunday #MabelNormand #RoscoeArbuckle #SilentFilm

Despite being mostly known as a singer who also did comedy on the side, he leaned fully into his brand of chaotic, physical comedy once he began acting in films, especially once they were hired by Mack Sennett for Keystone Studios in 1913.
#SilentFlickerSunday #RoscoeArbuckle #SilentFilm

Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle (March 24, 1887-June 29, 1933) began his career as a child performer on the vaudeville circuit. He wouldn’t get into films until round 1909 when he and his wife, Minta Durfee, would join the roster of Chicago’s Selig Polyscope Company.
#SilentFlickerSunday #RoscoeArbuckle #SilentFilm

“That Little Band of Gold” (1915) (https://youtu.be/yC7f-vorsN4?si=BZ8SzbWaTZJn2z6y) is somewhat of a departure for Mabel Normand and Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle in that they also share top billing with Ford Sterling. This also features A LOT of Keystone Studio regulars (Minta Durfee, Edgar Kennedy, Al St. John, etc.) 

#SilentFlickerSunday #MabelNormand #RoscoeArbuckle #SilentFilm

“Mabel and Fatty’s Married Life” (1915) (https://youtu.be/1pXAXg2SEfU?si=7kau3kdJC1ojS8zQ) is another from the series that features the chaos trio (Mabel Normand, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle & Al St. John) but this time they’re joined by The Keystone Kops
#SilentFlickerSunday #MabelNormand #RoscoeArbuckle #SilentFilm

Here’s the first in the popular Mabel Normand-“Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle comedy series “Fatty and Mabel’s Simple Life” (1915) (https://youtu.be/zxIQWn_fN88?si=Y35YbaBtj4Eh4pam). This was co-directed by both Mabel Normand and Roscoe Arbuckle, who by this point had been directing and producing films both individually and jointly for about a year. It also features Arbuckle’s nephew and frequent collaborator Al St. John

#SilentFlickerSunday #MabelNormand #RoscoeArbuckle #SilentFilm

Next we have “Mabel’s New Hero” (1913) (https://youtu.be/KNV793zpPy4?si=GLfqK4YsxhvYiEQQ) which fully features Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle as her co-star. It’s also directed by Mack Sennett
#SilentFlickerSunday #MabelNormand #RoscoeArbuckle #SilentFilm

I know that Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle is barely in “Mabel’s Dramatic Career” but I think his wanting Mack Sennett to STFU is pretty memorable 😂
#SilentFlickerSunday #MabelsDramaticCareer #MabelNormand #RoscoeArbuckle #SilentFilm

“Mabel’s Dramatic Career” (1913) is notable for being one of the earliest examples of a film-within-a-film
#SilentFlickerSunday #MabelsDramaticCareer #MabelNormand #RoscoeArbuckle #SilentFilm

First up we have “Mabel’s Dramatic Career” (1913) (https://youtu.be/gSTM9GbpQ_Y?si=YikhFM9EdkNB6Nx8) directed by Keystone Films impresario and Mabel Normand’s future co-conspirator and on/off lover Mack Sennett
#SilentFlickerSunday #MabelsDramaticCareer #MabelNormand #RoscoeArbuckle #SilentFilm

Everyone’s favorite annoying rube: Al St. John was Roscoe Arbuckle’s nephew. He’d later go on to be in like a zillion westerns as the character “Fuzzy”
#SilentFlickerSunday #FattyAndMabelAdrift #RoscoeArbuckle #ALStJohn #SilentFilm

And finally, The short RomCom “Fatty and Mabel Adrift” (1916) (https://tinyurl.com/456aa2np) starring and directed by Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle and Mabel Normand
#SilentFlickerSunday #FattyAndMabelAdrift #SilentFilm #MabelNormand #RoscoeArbuckle

If “Brumes d'Automne/Autumn Mists” (1929) seems familiar it’s because we’ve featured both the director Dimitri Kirsanoff and leading lady Nadia Sibirskaïa, a French actress and dancer who later married Soviet-born Kirsanoff, in their earlier collaboration “Ménilmontant” (1926) last February (https://tinyurl.com/5ynvafac). Also, both films tread similar dream-like, poetic territory.
#SilentFlickerSunday #BrumesDAutomne #AutumnMists #Menilmontant #DimitriKirsanoff #NadiaSibirskaia #SilentFilm

First up we have “Brumes d'Automne/Autumn Mists” directed by Dimitri Kirsanoff (https://tinyurl.com/4236j7yy)
#SilentFlickerSunday #BrumesDAutomne #AutumnMists #DimitriKirsanoff #SilentFilm

Next we have the Mary Ellen Bute directed “Parabola” (https://youtu.be/DUwiVelk-Oc?si=J5wEmmw5W0p1r41a) the video has some good info at the start
#SilentFlickerSunday #Parabola #MaryEllenBute #SilentFilm

“Riders of the Purple Sage” (1925) is based on the 1912 novel of the same name written by Zane Grey. You can read it for free here (https://archive.org/details/ridersofpurplesa0000zane/mode/2up)
#SilentFlickerSunday #RidersOfThePurpleSage #ZaneGrey

“Ménilmontant” (1926) was one of many early film collaborations between Dimitri Kirsanoff and our leading lady French-born actress Nadia Sibirskaïa, who he would later go on to marry
#SilentFlickerSunday #Menilmontant #DimitriKirsanoff #NadiaSibirskaia

Next we have “Ménilmontant” (1926) an intertitles-less film written and directed by Russian impressionist Dimitri Kirsanoff
#SilentFlickerSunday #Menilmontant #DimitriKirsanoff