Arbuckle/Keaton
Silent Shorts
The Butcher
Boy
Molasses is viscous stuff
Released: April 23, 1917
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corporation
Distribution: Paramount Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director: Roscoe Arbuckle
Scenario: Roscoe Arbuckle
Story: Joe Roach
Editor: Herbert Warren
Photography: Frank D. Williams
Cast:
Roscoe Arbuckle: Butcher
Buster Keaton: Customer
Al St. John: Store clerk
Josephine Stevens: Girl
Arthur Earle: Proprietor, girl’s father
Agnes Neilson: Miss Teachem
Joe Bordeau: Accomplice
Luke the Dog: Store assistant
In a general store, Arbuckle does knife tricks as he works as
a butcher. St. John and Luke grind pepper with a dog-powered grinder.
Miss Teachem, from the girls boarding school, comes in and order
Arbuckle about; he glides around the store walls on a rolling
ladder. Keaton arrives, pops a coin into his bucket, and asks
for some molasses. Arbuckle fills it. Then Keaton tells him that
the money is beneath the molasses, so he uses Keaton’s hat
as a temporary molasses receptacle. Coin retrieved, Keaton puts
his hat on and can’t get it off. Arbuckle pulls it away,
but then Keaton’s shoe is stuck in a molasses puddle. After
many tries, Arbuckle dissolves the sticky stuff with hot water,
then loosens him with a kick. Keaton crashes into the proprietor,
who tells him to get out.
Arbuckle and Stevens spoon, and she asks him about marriage.
His rival, St. John, sees them kiss. A flour war commences. Keaton
comes back, and hostilities escalate to pies. It’s a mess.
The manager decides to send his daughter off to Miss Teachem’s
boarding school.
At school, Stevens isn’t allowed to receive Arbuckle’s
letter. She cries outside. Arbuckle, dressed as a schoolgirl,
comes with Luke to rescue her. While Luke waits, Miss Teachem
registers Arbuckle as Stevens’ cousin, Saccharine. St. John
arrives with a similar plan; his helpers are Keaton and Bordeau.
They wait in the cold while St. John, Arbuckle, and the girls
go in to dinner. Despite his dress, St. John snorts while he slurps
his soup, and Arbuckle’s manners aren’t much better.
Later, Miss Teachem assigns Stevens, Arbuckle, and St. John to
one room. Stevens leaves to put on her pajamas, and the fight
begins. Miss Teachem intervenes and spanks Arbuckle. St. John
calls in Keaton and Bordeau, and Luke joins them. They try to
kidnap Stevens, but Luke keeps the three men from escaping. Miss
Teachem catches them, and holding them at gunpoint, calls the
police. Arbuckle and Stevens get out and find themselves by the
Reverend Henry Smith’s house. They decide they might as
well get married. – Lisle Foote
The Rough House
Roscoe teaches Chaplin how to make rolls
dance
Released: June 25, 1917
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corporation
Distribution: Paramount Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director: Roscoe Arbuckle
Scenario: Roscoe Arbuckle
Story: Joe Roach
Editor: Herbert Warren
Photography: Frank D. Williams
Cast:
Roscoe Arbuckle: Mr. Rough
Buster Keaton: Gardner/delivery boy/cop
Al St. John: Butler/cop
Alice Lake: Maid
Agnes Neilson: Mother-in-law
Glen Cavender: Cop
Knockabout slapstick breaks out constantly in Mr. Rough’s
house. The film begins with a fire in Arbuckle’s bedroom.
After musing that somebody ought to do something, he tries to
extinguish it with a few teacups full of water. When his wife
and mother-in-law learn of the blaze, they scream and alert the
unhelpful help (Lake and St. John). All run into the bedroom where
Keaton, the gardner, wets down the blaze and the cast.
Later, at breakfast, Arbuckle makes the rolls dance to Lake’s
delight and Neilson’s disgust. His wife and mother-in-law
leave. Keaton, the delivery boy, arrives and falls down several
times. When St. John pulls a mop out from under him, Keaton picks
up a knife and the chase begins. After nearly destroying the house,
they run outside where a cop nabs them. Mrs. Rough returns to
find him examining Lake’s ankle. She throws her out and
hands him a broom. Meanwhile, at the police station, the chief
decides that he has enough crooks and not enough cops, so he hires
Keaton and St. John.
Later, at the Rough house, two dukes arrive for dinner with a
detective lurking behind them. Arbuckle, demoted to cook, prepares
the dinner. He serves the soup course by wringing it out of a
sponge. He’s out of rum, so he uses gasoline to make a flambe.
The commotion caused by the fire allows one duke to sneak into
the bedroom and steal a pearl necklace. The detective calls the
police station. Keaton, St. John, and another cop are sent over
hill and dale to the house. The detective gives Arbuckle a gun
and they both shoot at the thieves as they run. Eventually, the
thieves run into the cops, and the detective finds the pearls
on them. – Lisle Foote
His Wedding
Night
Released: August 20, 1917
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corporation
Distribution: Paramount Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director: Roscoe Arbuckle
Scenario: Roscoe Arbuckle
Story: Joe Roach
Editor: Herbert Warren
Photography: George Peters
Cast: Roscoe Arbuckle, Buster Keaton, Al
St. John, Alice Mann, Arthur Earle, Jimmy Bryant, Josephine Stevens
This film is not available on DVD.
Oh Doctor!
Released: September 30, 1917
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corporation
Distribution: Paramount Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director: Roscoe Arbuckle
Scenario: Jean Havez
Editor: Herbert Warren
Photography: George Peters
Cast: Roscoe Arbuckle, Buster Keaton, Al
St. John, Alice Mann
Coney Island
(aka Fatty at Coney Island)
Roscoe by the beautiful sea.
Released: October 29, 1917
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corporation
Distribution: Paramount Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director: Roscoe Arbuckle
Scenario: Roscoe Arbuckle
Editor: Herbert Warren
Photography: George Peters
Cast:
Roscoe Arbuckle, Buster Keaton, Al St. John: Wolves
Alice Mann: Their prey
Agnes Neilson: Arbuckle’s wife
Also: Joe Bordeau, Jimmy Bryant
At Coney Island, Keaton and Mann struggle to see the parade.
Keaton climbs a pole, but when he applauds a marching band, he
falls off. Meanwhile, on the beach, a bored Arbuckle escapes from
Neilson by burying himself in the sand. When she goes to look
for him, he runs the other direction. She runs into her old friend,
St. John, then continues in her search.
On the midway, Arbuckle buys a ticket then walks off, the roll
unspooling behind him. Mann asks Keaton to buy her a ticket, but
he’s broke. St. John comes along with a wad of cash and
he invites her along. They get on a ride. Keaton sneaks on, carried
to it in a rubbish barrel. Keaton bumps them and he and St. John
fight. The ride made Mann nauseous, so St. John takes her to a
bench and goes to buy ice cream. Arbuckle sits next to her. When
St. John comes back, Arbuckle intercepts the cones. The fight
soon begins, and a cop hauls St. John away. Keaton tries out the
strength-tester, but hits Arbuckle with the hammer instead. Keaton
enjoys a good laugh, sitting on the machine. Arbuckle bops him
on the head, rings the bell, and wins a cigar.
Next, Mann and Arbuckle ride the shoot-the-chutes. They fly out
of the boat and into the water. Keaton rescues her then offers
to pull Arbuckle out, but Arbuckle pulls him in. In search of
dry clothes, Mann and Arbuckle go to the bathhouse to rent swim
suits. They can’t find one to fit Arbuckle, so he steals
a fat woman’s suit. While they change, Keaton gets hired
as a lifeguard. He puts on the dry uniform. Arbuckle, his drag
outfit completed by a wig, gets tossed out of the men’s
shower then hauled out of the ladies’ lounge by Mann. In
the meantime, Neilson visits the police station in her quest for
her husband. She bails out St. John. Mann and Arbuckle visit the
beach, and they share a bench with Neilson and St. John. Arbuckle
thinks his costume will protect him, and St. John flirts shamelessly
with him, but his wife sees through it. St. John and Arbuckle
start another fight which moves into the water. Mann and Keaton
run off. The cops (Kops, really) break up the fight and take them
to jail. Sharing a cell, they continue to fight. One by one, cops
come in to stop it, but they each get a rap on the head for their
trouble. After they exhaust the police force, Arbuckle locks his
wife in the cell. Arbuckle and St. John leave together, resolving
to cut out women. A passing pretty woman quickly breaks St. John’s
resolve, and Arbuckle soon follows suit. – Lisle Foote
A Country
Hero
Released: December 10, 1917
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corporation
Distribution: Paramount Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director: Roscoe Arbuckle
Scenario: Roscoe Arbuckle
Editor: Herbert Warren
Photography: George Peters
Cast: Roscoe Arbuckle, Buster Keaton, Al
St. John, Alice Lake, Joe Keaton, Stanley Pembroke
This film is considered lost.
Out West
Early draft of a Western parody.
Released: January 20, 1918
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corporation
Distribution: Paramount Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director: Roscoe Arbuckle
Scenario: Natalie Talmadge
Editor: Herbert Warren
Photography: George Peters
Cast:
Roscoe Arbuckle: Drifter
Buster Keaton: Saloon keeper
Al St. John: Black-hearted Bill
Alice Lake: Salvation Army worker
Also: Joe Keaton
Saloonkeeper Keaton kills a cheating poker player with his six-shooter,
then opens a convenient trap door and rolls the corpse into the
basement. Meanwhile, drifter Arbuckle rides on a freight train.
Railroad workers chase him to the front of the train. He hops
off, waits for the train to pass, and hops back on to the caboose,
where he eats their lunch. They soon catch him and throw him off.
He wanders through the wilderness, beset by thirst and Indians.
Back at the saloon, Black-hearted Bill and his gang rob the customers.
Arbuckle bursts in, shooting. He chases off the gang and Keaton
hires him as bartender.
Bill comes back and tortures an African–American man by
shooting at his feet to make him dance. People laugh. Lake, a
Salvation Army worker, tells them that they should be ashamed
of themselves and they stop. Arbuckle falls instantly in love.
She solicits donations for her cause, and Bill offers a dollar
– for a kiss. She refuses, and he grabs her. Arbuckle breaks
a bottle over his head, and another. 18 bottles later, he gives
up. He takes a feather and tickles Bill; the villain is so incapacitated
that they are able to kick him out.
Seeking revenge, Bill comes back and kidnaps Lake. After a shootout,
Bill takes her to his cabin. Arbuckle follows them. Lake blinds
Bill by tossing her drink in his face and Arbuckle tickles him
until Lake can escape. They push the cabin over a cliff. --Lisle
Foote
The Bell Boy
Buster learns to take the stairs.
Released: March 18, 1918
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corporation
Distribution: Paramount Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director: Roscoe Arbuckle
Scenario: Roscoe Arbuckle
Editor: Herbert Warren
Photography: George Peters
Cast:
Roscoe Arbuckle, Buster Keaton: Bell boys
Al St. John: Desk clerk
Alice Lake: Miss Cutie Cuticle
Joe Keaton, Charles Dudley: Guests
Arbuckle and Keaton are bell boys at the Elk’s Head Hotel.
Clerk St. John drives guests to the station while the two do the
spring cleaning. A Rasputin-like character comes in and after
playing some patty-cake goes to the barbershop. Part-time barber
Arbuckle transforms him into Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln,
and Kaiser Wilhelm. St. John comes back with a streetcar full
of guests, but Arbuckle and Keaton ignore them all for Miss Cutie
Cuticle, the new manicurist. They register her and take her up
to her room in the horse-drawn elevator. After hearing complaints
about them from the customers, St. John goes up to catch them,
but they sneak back to work. Joe Keaton arrives and his top hat
receives a variety of abuse. He retaliates with an impressive
series of kicks.
Miss Cuticle sets to work in the barbershop. Keaton takes the
other guests up in the elevator, but the horse balks and it gets
stuck. He sticks his head out to call for help, and it gets stuck,
too. After a series of mishaps with the horse, the rope attaching
the elevator to him, and a board Arbuckle uses to pry Keaton’s
head out, the elevator is freed and Lake lands on top of the elk’s
head. Keaton rescues her and gets caught in the antlers himself.
Arbuckle and Lake go for a carriage ride, leaving St. John to
rescue Keaton.
On Saturday night, the Elk’s Head holds its regular dance.
To impress Lake, Arbuckle asks Keaton and St. John to pose as
bank robbers, whom he can capture. The two go to the bank, which
is being robbed by legitimate robbers. The mayhem begins; Arbuckle
soon joins in. The burglars run out and steal the streetcar. The
three give chase. On a hill, the horse breaks free and the streetcar
rolls backwards past the pursuers. The burglars are subdued and
the cops take them away. Arbuckle gets a double reward, and Lake
is impressed. – Lisle Foote
Moonshine
Saved by the title cards!
Released: May 13, 1918
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corporation
Distribution: Paramount Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director: Roscoe Arbuckle
Scenario: Roscoe Arbuckle
Editor: Herbert Warren
Photography: George Peters
Cast:
Roscoe Arbuckle: Chief revenuer
Buster Keaton: Assistant revenuer
Al St. John: Mountain man
Alice Lake: Grew’s daughter
Charles Dudley: Jud Grew
Also: Joe Bordeau
On the perilous peaks of the Virginia hills, Arbuckle and Keaton
encounter bootleggers. The moonshiners check their lair, which
is concealed behind a bush. The chief bootlegger, Jud Grew, shoots
a revenuer. Arbuckle, the chief revenuer, shows up in a car with
his lieutenant – Keaton – and a troop of assistants. The
assistants hide while Arbuckle and Keaton conduct a search, which
they begin by falling off of a bluff. To clean the dirt off of
Keaton, Arbuckle dunks him in the river and hangs him up to dry
on a tree. Meanwhile, Grew’s daughter tussles first with
her would-be-suitor St. John, then with her father. Arbuckle saves
Grew and tosses Lake into the river. Because this is only a two-reeler,
she falls in love with him immediately. St. John breaks up their
embrace with his gun.
Dry, Keaton climbs out of the tree. He overhears the bootleggers
at their lair. Arbuckle comes along and Keaton shows it to him.
They go in and chug the brew, just to make sure it’s moonshine.
The bootleggers catch them. Keaton runs out, but Arbuckle is taken
prisoner. They march him to the Grew cabin and lock him in the
well-appointed cellar. Later, the bootleggers dress for dinner
in tuxedos. Lake serves Arbuckle, and warns him he’s in
danger. She supplies a gun. Stealing an idea from The Count of
Monte Cristo, he plays dead by covering his face in ketchup and
shooting the gun. The bootleggers haul him out and dump him into
the river. He floats away and gets out on a bank near Keaton.
They extras are at lunch, so they decide to do the explosion scene.
The bootleggers recapture Arbuckle, take him back to the cabin,
tie him up, and put a can of gunpowder with a lit fuse under him.
The cabin blows up, then the film reverses and it reassembles
itself. Arbuckle comes out and the bootleggers draw their guns.
Keaton mows them down. St. John shoots and misses Arbuckle. Arbuckle
bends his gun and shoot St. John around the cabin’s corner.
Grew presents Lake to Arbuckle for his bravery, but Arbuckle remembers
that he’s already married, so he gives her to Keaton. Arbuckle
leaves. – Lisle Foote
Good Night, Nurse!
Roscoe enjoys being a girl
Released: July 6, 1918
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corporation
Distribution: Paramount Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director: Roscoe Arbuckle
Scenario: Roscoe Arbuckle
Editor: Herbert Warren
Photography: George Peters
Cast:
Roscoe Arbuckle: Alcoholic
Buster Keaton, Al St. John: Doctors
Alice Lake: Patient
Also: Joe Bordeau
On a rainy night, a drunken Arbuckle tries to light a cigarette
while standing on a street corner. He unsuccessfully tries using
a windblown woman’s umbrella (Keaton in drag) and a fellow
drunk’s hat as a windbreak. Finally, he asks an organ grinder
and his female companion to play the national anthem. A nearby
cop takes off his hat, and Arbuckle is able to use that as a shield
from the storm. The cop takes the cigarette and smokes it himself
as he strolls away. Arbuckle addresses and stamps the other anti-Prohibitionist
and leaves him on a post box. He takes the musical couple home.
Chez Arbuckle, the butler tells Mrs. A. about the No Hope Sanatorium,
where they cure alcoholism with an operation. Arbuckle arrives,
and his disreputable companions, their music and dancing (as well
as their monkey) convince her to send him to No Hope.
The next day, she delivers him to the hospital. Mental patient
Lake jumps into his arms, but the attendants drag her away. Doctors
St. John and Keaton march him to Room 13, where they undress and
examine him. He eats the thermometer. They put him, struggling,
onto a gurney and wheel him to surgery. St. John administers a
healthy dose of ether and Arbuckle fades out.
He wakes up in his room, happy to find all of his body parts
still there. Lake comes in, and they decide to escape. However,
after they sneak past Keaton and St. John, she cries and wants
to go back. He throws himself into the pool and plays dead at
the bottom. She runs back to the hospital and alerts the attendants.
Meanwhile, Arbuckle has rigged up a hose to blow bubbles in the
pool, which tricks the orderlies into diving in after him. He
goes back inside and steals the rotund Price’s nurses uniform.
He and Keaton flirt outrageously in the hallway until Price comes
back and rips the uniform off of him. He runs outside. In his
skivvies, he easily blends in with the runners in the Great Heavyweight
Race going past the hospital. He wins and collects the $500 purse.
Keaton and St. John catch him, but then he wakes up in the operating
room. – Lisle Foote
The Cook
Iron Chef American?
Released: September 15, 1918
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corporation
Distribution: Paramount Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director: Roscoe Arbuckle
Scenario: Roscoe Arbuckle
Editor: Herbert Warren
Photography: George Peters
Cast:
Roscoe Arbuckle: The Cook
Buster Keaton: The Waiter
Al St. John: The Toughest Guy in the World
Alice Lake: The Cashier
John Rand: The Proprietor
Bobby Dunn: The Dishwasher
Luke the Dog: The Bouncer
In the kitchen of the beachfront Bull Pup Café, Arbuckle
shows off his knife skills while Luke assists the dishwasher by
licking the plates clean. In the dining room, Keaton’s flirtation
with Lake is interrupted by the angry boss who pushes him into
the kitchen where Arbuckle nearly chops his head off. Since it’s
still attached to his body, Keaton goes about his waiter’s
duties. Nearly every order he yells back to the cook comes out
of an amazing vat: coffee, ham, milk, and even ice cream. Arbuckle
tosses the loaded plates and glasses to Keaton, who catches each
nimbly. An exotic dancer entertains the patrons so Keaton and
Arbuckle join in; Arbuckle’s tribute to Salome and Cleopatra
is a grand success. Then the toughest guy in the world, Al St.
John, comes in. He grabs Lake, and the men unsuccessfully fight
him. So they call in the expert, and Luke chases him until the
next day.
During the lunch break at the Bull Pup, the men display several
creative solutions to the problem of eating spaghetti. Luke continues
his chase up a ladder, and St. John crashes through the café’s
ceiling and bounces on the lunch table. He runs out, and everyone
congratulates Luke on his good work.
Next, everyone has a day off so Arbuckle goes fishing and Keaton
goes courting. At the beach, Keaton and Lake take a goat cart
to Goatland while Arbuckle and Luke pilot their own cart to the
water. After a mishap between Arbuckle’s pole and a cop,
he wades into the surf and with Luke’s assistance, catches
a big fish. Meanwhile, St. John turns up again and chases Lake
to the roller coaster. She gets on and he follows in another train.
Her train stalls on top of a hill and he comes after her. She
dives into the ocean. While Luke goes after St. John, Arbuckle
and Keaton rush to the rescue. Hampered by a chained-down life
preserve and rope problems, they eventually land in the water
to help Lake.
The available print ends there, but according to the original
press kit, “while the pest waiter is rescuing his girl with
the aid of the cook, the courageous Luke dives into the ocean
after the tough guy, chasing him so far out into the ocean that
he can’t swim back to shore. It is fitting that after all
this action, everything ends happily. “ – Lisle
Foote
Back Stage
Always keep a ukulele in your pants
Released: September 1, 1919
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corporation
Distribution: Paramount Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director: Roscoe Arbuckle
Scenario: Jean Havez and Roscoe Arbuckle
Photography: Elgin Lessley
Cast:
Roscoe Arbuckle: Stage manager
Buster Keaton, Al St. John: Stage hands
Molly Malone: Strongman’s assistant
John Coogan: Novelty dancer
Also: Buddy Post
Arbuckle and Keaton draw on their vaudeville origins in Backstage.
They are busy preparing for a show: striking a bedroom set, pasting
up a poster (and an interfering child), repairing the floor. A
novelty dancer, John Coogan, arrives and demonstrates his act.
Arbuckle and Keaton both try to imitate him, but they both end
up on the floor. The strongman and his baggage-laden assistant,
Molly Malone, arrive. The hands are horrified by his maltreatment
of her, but Arbuckle’s first attempts to teach him some
manners through a beating fail. Keaton tries a less diplomatic
approach with an ax, but the weapon only tickles the behemoth.
Finally they electrify a barbell and shock him into unconsciousness.
After he wakes up, he and the rest of the troupe walk out. Malone
stays and suggests that they put on the show themselves. They
shake hands on it.
The show begins with an operetta, “The Falling Reign.”
After Malone dances, King Roscoe and Queen Buster perform a sort
of pas de deux to the jeers of the novelty dancer. Malone comes
back and seduces the King. Enraged with jealousy, Keaton stabs
Arbuckle by sliding a knife under his arm. Arbuckle dies melodramatically.
They take their bows. The strongman muscles his way into the balcony,
and the show continues with “A Snowflake Serenade.”
Snow wafts down on the stage as Keaton chauffeurs Arbuckle to
a house. Arbuckle begins to play his harmonica, but when they
run out of snow, he gives up on the winter scene. Shedding his
coat and taking a ukulele out of his pants, he sings to Malone
who’s standing at a window in the house. Keaton accidentally
knocks down the house. After some set readjustment, Arbuckle kisses
Malone. A shot rings out: the strongman fires on Malone. Keaton
swings from the stage and drags him down to the stage. The hands
try to subdue the man, but it takes a trunk full of weights swung
on a rope to knock him out. Later, Arbuckle visits Malone in the
hospital. They resume kissing where they left off. – Lisle
Foote
The Hayseed
Onions do not improve your voice (or
your love life)
Released: October 26, 1919
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corporation
Distribution: Paramount Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director: Roscoe Arbuckle
Scenario: Jean Havez and Roscoe Arbuckle
Photography: Elgin Lessley
Cast:
Roscoe Arbuckle, Buster Keaton: Store clerks
Molly Malone: Fanny
John Coogan: Cop/rival
Also: Kitty Bradbury, Luke the Dog
Arbuckle and Keaton work in a general store/post office/community
center. After they use the mail as missiles against each other,
Arbuckle and Luke take the mail wagon on its appointed rounds.
After he gives an abandoned empty liquor bottle a decent burial,
he stops to flirt with Fanny, his girlfriend. They play hide and
seek, but the local constable (Roscoe’s arch-rival) distracts
her and Arbuckle and Luke fall asleep in their haystack hiding
place. Her father wakes him with a pitchfork.
Back at work, Arbuckle and his boss discuss and insured letter
that contains $300. While he’s busy drilling holes in some
cheese for a customer who wanted Swiss, the skulking constable
steals the money. Keaton sees him and gets several socks in the
jaw for pointing out his wrongdoing. Fanny comes in, and inspired
by another woman’s engagement ring, asks Arbuckle if he’d
buy her a ring like that. For an answer, he sticks her ring finger
into a cheese. She joins the hen party and Arbuckle sends an order
to a mail order company from an imitation gold ring with a diamond.
He fits a pickle into the hole in the cheese, and sends it along
for sizing. He also orders a new suit, so Keaton measures his
wide circumference.
Later, the constable presents Fanny with a real diamond bought
with the stolen money. As he goes out, Arbuckle goes in and puts
an even larger “diamond” on her finger. On the street
by the store, the constable chats up two women. Keaton dumps water
on him from the roof. He responds by throwing boxes up, which
knock Keaton onto a ladder. The constable tips the ladder, and
Keaton lands in Arbuckle’s moving mail wagon.
That weekend, the store serves as a dance hall. After some acrobatic
dancing, the entertainment begins with magic from Buster the Great.
Then the constable dances – badly. In the wings, singer
Arbuckle’s voice gives out, so Keaton recommends onions
to make it strong. Arbuckle munches several, then brings tears
to his audience’s eyes with a combination of lachrymose
lyrics and onion breath. The constable accuses him of stealing
the money and Arbuckle turns to his friends for consolation. Repelled
by his halitosis, they turn away -- even Luke. But Keaton reveals
the real criminal and Luke chases him down the road. Fanny wants
to kiss Arbuckle, but his breath is still stinky. He suggests
she have some onions too, to cancel it out. – Lisle
Foote
The Garage
(aka Fire Chief)
Filth and fire-fighting
Released: January 11, 1920
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corporation
Distribution: Paramount Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director: Roscoe Arbuckle
Scenario: Jean Havez and Roscoe Arbuckle
Photography: Elgin Lessley
Cast:
Roscoe Arbuckle, Buster Keaton: Jacks-of-all-trades
Molly Malone: Garage owner’s daughter
Also: Harry McCoy, Daniel Crimmins, Luke the Dog
Arbuckle and Keaton are the town’s only mechanics, cops,
firemen, and dogcatchers. While Arbuckle mimes cleaning a car
window, Keaton adds some wood alcohol to his lunchtime soda. Back
at work, their flying exchange of a wet rag, a custard pie, a
pail, and a tire results in a dirty car and the boss in the water
tub. When they try to rescue him, they end up in the tub, too.
The customer comes for his car, so Keaton and his boss must distract
him with dances and tricks while Arbuckle cleans it on a rotating
turntable. Another customer demands a cheap rental car. Arbuckle
gives him a key, and he drives off. The engine explodes and the
car disintegrates around him. He comes back for one with a less
excitable engine.
Jim, the village Casanova, comes to visit Molly, the bosses’
daughter. Arbuckle and Keaton manage to coat them both in grease.
Molly retires to her bath, and the men clean Jim off with gasoline,
then blow him dry on the turntable. Jim still wants revenge, so
he hires Luke to impersonate a rabid dog. Luke runs past the garage
and Arbuckle and Keaton chase him – until he turns around
and chases them. Keaton gets stuck in a fence and Luke chews off
his pants. A woman is horrified by the sight of him in his under
shorts and she gets a cop. Thinking quickly, he cuts out a kilt
from a nearby billboard. The cop refuses to arrest him just for
being a Scotsman, but his Highland jig reveals that his kilt has
no back and the chase is on. Along comes Arbuckle, and Keaton
walks in sync behind him, hiding from the cop. He steals some
pants, and in one fluid motion Arbuckle picks him up, he puts
the pants on, and they continue on their way.
Meanwhile, upstairs at the garage, Molly is still mad at Jim
for the grease incident. He turns to leave, but her father and
Arbuckle are coming up the stairs. Fearing being caught, he goes
into Arbuckle and Keaton’s room and tries to slide down
the fire pole, but he’s blocked by Keaton who’s climbing
up. He hides under a bed. Arbuckle and Keaton settle for a nap,
and Jim pulls the fire bell. They slide down the pole, put on
their police helmets, and run out with the hose cart. Jim tries
to escape, but Molly’s dad runs through, slides down the
pole, goes out, and padlocks the garage door. Arbuckle and Keaton
notice that they have on the wrong helmets, so they run back to
the garage, unlock the door, get the right helmets, and run back
to their hose cart. Their boss re-locks the door. Jim uses a blowtorch
to burn a hole in the door, then tosses it aside. It causes a
car to explode, which sets the whole garage on fire. On a hill,
Arbuckle and Keaton look for a fire. Their boss comes and tells
them that the garage is on fire. They go back, but a leaky hose
thwarts their firefighting efforts. Jim calls for help from an
upstairs window, and they bring out a stretcher to catch him.
Then Molly yells and they move to catch her. Jim leaps and lands
on the ground, goofy but not broken. Molly bounces on the stretcher
and lands on the power wires. Arbuckle and Keaton climb up and
rescue her, and then they drop into Molly’s car. –
Lisle Foote
Keaton's Silent Shorts
One
Week
Buster builds a house: a cautionary tale
(longer version)
Release Date: September 1, 1920
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corp.
Distribution: Metro Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director/Script: Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline
Photography: Elgin Lessley
Cast:
Buster Keaton: The Groom
Sybil Seely: The Bride
Joe Roberts: The Piano Deliveryman
Handy Hank: Damfino!
On Monday, newlyweds Keaton and Seeley are given a traditional
send off to married life with a pelting of good wishes, rice and
old shoes. Keaton's uncle gives them a house (the build it yourself
in seven days variety) and a plot of land as a wedding present.
Unbeknownst to Keaton, his rival for Seely's affections, Handy
Hank, has changed all the numbers on the house's cartons. The
lopsided house's construction proceeds as Keaton and Seely tangle
with the near disasters of a wildly swinging piano, doors that
lead nowhere and a roof that's just a tad to small. While taking
a bath, Seely accidentally drops the slippery soap onto the floor.
Keaton strategically places his hand over the camera lens while
she retrieves the fallen bar, thus saving Seely's decorum.
Friday the thirteenth is housewarming day as friend and foe gather
to inspect the new, but humble abode. A sudden rainstorm and a
leaky roof send Keaton outside to investigate. The house begins
spinning like a top, throwing guests about like rag dolls as a
frenzied Keaton tries to climb back inside. One by one, each is
flung out of the house and into the rain-swept, muddy yard. The
dejected couple then finds out that they've built on the wrong
lot.
The next day the dilapidated house is hoisted on barrels as Keaton
tries pulling and rolling it to the correct lot with his car.
When the house gets caught on the railroad tracks they desperately
struggle to free it from the path of an oncoming train. The train
narrowly misses the house, much to Keaton and Seely's relief,
only to have it demolished by another traveling in the opposite
direction. Assessing the damage, Keaton plants a "For Sale" sign
in the rubble. Then in an afterthought, he deposits the house
directions too, before he and Seely walk off into the sunset.
-- Janice Agnello
Convict
13
Buster learns to be careful about which
uniform he wears: golfer, prisioner, or guard
(longer version)
Release Date: October 27, 1920
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corp.
Distribution: Metro Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director/Script: Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline
Photography: Elgin Lessle
Cast:
Buster Keaton: Convict 13
Sybil Seely: The Warden's Daughter
Joe Roberts: The Prisoner Riot Leader
Eddie Cline: The Hangman
Joe Keaton: A Prisoner
On the golf links, amateur duffer Keaton tries impressing the
club members and Seely with his golfing prowess. Meanwhile, an
escaped convict is lurking around the course eluding the local
police. Keaton manages to knock himself out when a ball he's hit
ricochets off a building and beans him. The escapee takes advantage
of the situation by switching clothes with the unconscious Keaton.
Awakening and unaware of his identity change, Keaton continues
his golf game until he's confronted by the cops and the chase
begins. As he tries to shake them, Keaton locks himself inside
a gate that turns out to be the prison yard.
As Convict 13, or, the next man on the hangman's list, Keaton
meets up with Seely, the warden's daughter, who pleads in vain
with her father to spare his life. The inmates cheer from the
sidelines as the hanging is turned into a major sporting event.
But, Seely has swapped the hangman's noose and rope for an elastic
exercise band from her father's gym, so Keaton's trip to the gallows
ends in some rubber necking.
Banished to the rock pile, Keaton accidentally knocks out a guard
and quickly trades his prison garb for a uniform. All's well until
Officer Keaton meets Prisoner Joe Roberts, who is on a crazed
tirade to eliminate all the prison's guards and start a riot precisely
at 3 o'clock. Prisoner Roberts takes Seely hostage, but Keaton
comes to the rescue by reenacting his vaudeville basketball and
elastic rope routine and expertly striking all the rioting men
in the yard. As his reward, Keaton becomes the warden's assistant
and wins Seely's affections. -- Janice Agnello
Note: Two versions of Convict 13 are available:
an English and a French. According to Caroline Abbot, the title
card are different in places and the French one has more. Also
in the English version, near the very beginning when Buster tries
to putt it only shows him missing once, but in the French one
he hits the ball left to right to left & eventually gets it
in by using the end of his golf stick as a snooker cue. There
are other tiny differences too, but another quite big one is just
after Joe Roberts' character has just pushed Buster flying out
of the room and into the next one, then goes off with the girl.
In the English one it goes to the bit where Buster leans on the
punchbag which falls off, but in the French one it briefly shows
Buster using punchbag as a pillow. Our synopses are based on the
English version.
The Scarecrow
Buster leaves Paradise for a questionable
future with some female
(longer version)
Release date: November 17, 1920
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corp.
Distribution: Metro Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director/Script: Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline
Photography: Elgin Lessley
Cast:
Buster Keaton: Farm Hand
Joe Roberts: Farm Hand
Sybil Seely: Farmer's Daughter
Joe Keaton: Farmer
Eddie Cline: Truck Driver
Luke the Dog: Himself
Farm hands Keaton and Roberts live in a quaint, one-room bungalow
that's filled with ingenious mechanical gadgets. All the room's
furnishings double for something else, such as a bed that becomes
an upright piano, a bathtub that converts to a sofa, and a phonograph
that transforms into a stove. As Keaton and Roberts sit down to breakfast,
salt and pepper shakers and a sugar bowl swing down from the ceiling
on pulleys and are passed between them with precision timing.
Keaton and Roberts, romantic rivals, try to outwit each other as
they vie for the daughter's affection. The pace accelerates when
Keaton is chased by Luke the dog, who has just eaten a cream pie.
In his attempt to be rid of the "mad dog," Keaton hides in a haystack
only to be drawn up into a mechanical baler and then is spit out
sans clothes. The farmer notices Keaton wearing only skivvies
and gives chase. Keaton eludes detection by donning a scarecrow's
outfit and hanging limply in the corn field. After overhearing
Roberts propose marriage to the girl, Keaton lands a few swift kicks
on the seats of his rival and the farmer's pants. Keaton's cover
is then revealed and the chase resumes.
While running through the beautiful outdoor scenery and crossing
a stream on his hands, Keaton loses his shoe. As he kneels to
put it back on, the girl appears and assumes he's proposing marriage.
Keaton, perplexed and amazed at the sudden turn of events, quickly
grabs the girl and jumps on a horse to escape. Going nowhere on
the slow animal, Keaton commandeers a motorcycle and side car
and speeds down the road in search of a minister. He practically
runs into one who happens to be crossing the street. Thinking
the minister has come from the sky, Keaton urges him to marry
them, which he piously does. It all comes to a splashing end as
the motorcycle skids out of control and crashes into the bay.
-- Janice Agnello
Neighbors
Buster overcomes fence, family, pants,
etc.; gets girl
(longer version)
Release date: December 22, 1920
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corp.
Distribution: Metro Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director/Script: Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline
Photography: Elgin Lessley
Cast:
Buster Keaton: The Boy
Virginia Fox: The Girl
Joe Roberts: Her Father
Joe Keaton: His Father
Eddie Cline: The Cop
James (or Jack) Duffy: The Judge
The Flying Escalantes: The Boy's Friends
Keaton and Fox are star-crossed, back alley sweethearts
living in neighboring tenement buildings. Neither family can tolerate
the other, so they feud on either side of the tenement fence.
Keaton constantly tries to sneak over the barrier to the girl,
only to be thwarted by her father. While attempting to escape
his wrath, Keaton performs a fantastic physical feat by going
across the yard on a clothesline, into a window, down a staircase
banister, out another window, across the yard again on the clothesline,
through the window and back into the arms of the girl's father.
Keaton is also on the receiving end of some physical abuse from
his father as the two recreate routines from their vaudeville
act.
The brawling between the families becomes so fierce that they're
hauled into court by the police. The judge orders that peace should
prevail and that Keaton and Fox be allowed to marry. The
nuptial fiasco takes place on Keaton's side of the fence, where
invited guests wield bricks and clubs, and Keaton and the minister
have a hard time keeping their pants up. Before the "I do's" are
said, the girl is ordered back to her room by her father. Keaton,
sent to the same fate by his parents, forms a three-man high rescue
team to save the girl.
As they scurry across the yard and duck into windows, they finally
succeed in plucking Fox from her perch and race down the
street. The three-man tower gets lower and lower until Keaton
is running with the girl to the minister's house. Falling into
an opening in the pavement, they tumble down the coal cellar where
the minister is shoveling fuel into the furnace. He promptly marries
them, coal dust smudges and all. -- Janice Agnello
Haunted House
Buster wonders which is more frightening:
bankers or ghosts?
(longer version)
Release date: February 10, 1921
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corp.
Distribution: Metro Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director/Script: Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline
Photography: Elgin Lessley
Cast:
Buster Keaton: Bank Teller
Virginia Fox: Bank Director's Daughter
Joe Roberts: Bank Cashier
Eddie Cline: Man whose pants become glued
While Keaton the bank clerk arrives at work, another cashier
(Joe Roberts) shows off the chief feature of his counterfeiter's
lair: a staircase that converts to a slide. He wants to convince
everyone that the building is a haunted house, to conceal his
nefarious activities. Back at the bank, Keaton mistakenly dips
his fingers in glue and currency is soon stuck everywhere. After
an abortive bank robbery, Roberts accuses Keaton of being the
robber, but Keaton avoids arrest by hiding in the vault.
That evening, three inept actors in a production of Faust get
chased out of their theater by the audience. A posse releases
Keaton (his coat had been caught by the vault door on a timer)
and he escapes, running to the haunted house. Inside he's tormented
by ghosts, Faust players, the stairway slide, skeletons, a bat,
and death himself. Eventually he sees two half-costumed ghosts
having a snort, and he realizes that they are of this world. When
Roberts holds the bank president, sheriff, and assistants at gunpoint,
a ghost grabs the gun and reveals himself to be Keaton. Angry,
Roberts bops him on the head. Keaton climbs a stairway to heaven,
only to be refused entry by Saint Peter. He slides down to hell,
where the devil has been expecting him. The banker's daughter
wakes him up, and they embrace. -- Lisle Foote
Hard Luck
Guns aren't lawful, nooses give
Gas smells awful, your might as well hunt armadillo, fox, and
Lizard Lip Luke
(longer version)
Release date: March 16, 1921
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corp.
Distribution: Metro Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director/Script: Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline
Photography: Elgin Lessley
Cast:
Buster Keaton: Unlucky man
Virginia Fox: Fox hunter
Joe Roberts: Lizard Lip Luke
Down on his luck, Keaton tries to commit suicide in various ways:
by lying down in front of a streetcar, running under a falling
safe, hanging, and poison. But the streetcar reverses, he can't
get under the safe fast enough, the hanging tree bough bends,
and the poison turns out to be whiskey. Buoyed up by the booze,
he agrees to capture an armadillo for the zoo, for which he is
handsomely rewarded.
After an unsuccessful stint of fishing, Keaton finds a country
club instead of an armadillo. He helps Fox get on her horse
and she invites him on a fox hunt. After elastic stirrup difficulties
with his horse, he can't find the hunt. His search culminates
in lassoing a bear instead of his steed. He runs away and somersaults
into the clubhouse where the fox hunters are relaxing. They're
soon joined by Lizard Lip Luke (Joe Roberts) and his gang, who
want to relieve the members of their belongings and Miss Fox of
her virtue. Keaton saves all with a fusillade of bullets fired
from the stove. Spurned by the already married Fox, he decides
to take a high dive. He misses the pool and creates a seemingly
bottomless pit. Years later, he returns with his Chinese wife
and children. — Lisle Foote
The High
Sign
Buster meets Buzzards
(longer version)
Release date: April 12, 1921
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corp.
Distribution: Metro Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director/Script: Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline
Photography: Elgin Lessley
Cast:
Buster Keaton: The Man
Bartine Burkett Zane: Miss Nickelnurser
Al St. John: Man hit during target practice
Quick to land on his feet after being tossed off of a train,
Keaton steals a newspaper and finds a help wanted ad for a shooting
gallery attendant. After some unsuccessful target practice, he
applies to Tiny Tim for the job. He's hired on the condition that
he must shoot well enough to ring the bell every time by Tim's
return. Tim visits his gang, the Blinking Buzzards, gaining admission
by giving the high sign (thumbs on nose with wiggling fingers
spread like wings). They agree to kill August Nicklenurser, who
refused to pay protection money.
By cheating, Keaton not only passes the test, he also gets hired
as Nicklenurser's bodyguard. Then he gets invited to join the
Buzzards, along with an assignment to kill Nicklenurser. August
shows his daughter some of the secret wall panels and trap doors
he's had installed in his house as escape routes, and Keaton joins
them. They decide to fake Nicklenurser's death. The Buzzards are
temporarily fooled, but after August comes back to life they chase
their victims through every window, door, and secret escape route
in the house. Keaton eliminates them all, and he and Miss Nicklenurser
embrace. -- Lisle Foote
The Goat
Buster is tormented by the unfathomable
universe, gets girl
(longer version)
Release date: July 14, 1921
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corp.
Distribution: Metro Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director/Script: Buster Keaton and Mal St. Clair
Photography: Elgin Lessley
Cast:
Buster Keaton: The Scapegoat
Joe Roberts: Policeman
Virginia Fox: Policeman's Daughter
Mal St. Clair: 'Dead Shot' Dan
Eddie Cline: Cop by telephone pole
The story opens with Keaton in a bread line. By the time he reaches
the window, it is closed for the day. Meanwhile, police haul 'Dead
Shot' Dan (Mal St. Clair), a criminal, to a jail photographer.
Keaton peeps at this action from a window behind Dan, and inadvertently
has his photo snapped instead. Dan escapes, and Keaton, having
had several altercations with the police, spots his face on a
wanted poster. Keaton had earlier saved Virginia Fox from a ruffian,
and knocked the guy unconscious. A man covered with paste staggers
by; Keaton sees this all-white person and assumes it is the ghost
of the ruffian. He thinks he is wanted for murder.
Soon a plainclothes policeman (Joe Roberts) spots Keaton next
to the wanted poster, and a chase ensues. After wreaking havoc
in a clinic and ruining a statue, Keaton outwits the cop. Spotting
the woman he'd earlier saved, he accepts her invitation to dinner.
As the family sits down for soup, Keaton makes eye contact with
the woman's father. It is the cop. Father sends the ladies to
another room and prepares to take care of Keaton, who escapes
by leaping from the table to the cop's shoulders, then out the
window over the door. Using the elevator in the building, Keaton
and the woman outrun Father, and go off to get married by way
of a furniture store. -- Heidi Crabtree
The Playhouse
Buster (x27) meets girl (x4)
(longer version)
Release date: October 6, 1921
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corp.
Distribution: First National
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director/Script: Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline
Photography: Elgin Lessley
Technical Director: Fred Gabourie
Cast:
Buster Keaton: The Whole Show; Assistant Stage Manager
Joe Roberts: Stage Manager, Zouave Guard
Virginia Fox: A Twin
Keaton is the whole show in this Playhouse: audience, musicians,
performers, and stagehand. He enters the theater where an all-Keaton
band plays. Soon the Keaton minstrels take the stage as the Keatons
in the audience watch. Next, two dancing Keatons perform in unison.
Keaton, in bed and asleep, applauds them. He's woken from his
dream by Joe Roberts, who appears to be reposesing the furniture.
The walls slide away, revealing backstage dressing rooms. After
the stagehands put away his bedroom suite, he sweeps the floor.
Twin actresses arrive and make him think he's seeing double (he
even temporarily swears off alcohol). The audience comes in and
the show begins. First Keaton substitutes for an escaped monkey
in a trained animal act. Next up are a hastily recruited group
of Zouave Guards, who do a set of military maneuvers badly. They're
followed by the twins, whose act involves one entering a large
tank of water to demonstrate how long she can hold her breath.
Meanwhile, in retribution for being knocked out with an ax during
a beard fire crisis, Roberts chases Keaton. After Keaton locks
him in the monkey cage, the twin in the tank gets caught and he
breaks the tank, flooding the theater. He and a twin escape to
a justice of the peace; first with the wrong girl, then with the
right one. -- Lisle Foote
The Boat
Boat meets Buster; traumatizes his house,
car, and family; sinks
(longer version)
Release date: November 1921
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corp.
Distribution: First National
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director/Script: Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline
Photography: Elgin Lessley
Technical Director: Fred Gabourie
Cast:
Buster Keaton: Husband
Sybil Seely: Wife
Eddie Cline: Coast Guard radio man
In his garage, Keaton puts the finishing touches on his boat,
the Damfino. He attaches the boat trailer to his car, enlarges
the garage door opening, and drives off with his family. The vessel
knocks down the wall, causing the house to disintegrate. Down
at the dock, after the car plunges into the sea, the boat joins
it, sliding smoothly underwater.
The Damfino recovers and Keaton demonstrates his method for fitting
under low bridges: the mast and smokestack lean back. Distracted,
he misses a bridge and everything topples over. He fixes the mess,
then joins the family for a disastrous dinner.
That evening a storm comes up. When he radios for help, a Coast
Guard thinks that a boat called Damfino can only be a prank. The
wind rolls the boat over and over. Finally Keaton puts his family
into the lifeboat and bravely goes down with his ship. Then he
sensibly joins his kin. The lifeboat leaks and begins to sink,
but it quickly touches bottom: they are only a few feet from the
shore. As they walk to dry land, his wife asks where they are.
He responds with the boat's name. — Lisle Foote
The Paleface
Buster dances with Indians
(longer version)
Release date: January 1922
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corp.
Distribution: First National
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director/Script: Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline
Photography: Elgin Lessley
Technical Director: Fred Gabourie
Cast:
Buster Keaton: The Paleface
Joe Roberts: The Chief
Unbeknownst to a peaceful Indian tribe, a group of oil men plot
to steal their land. When they learn of the plan, their chief
(Joe Roberts) vows to kill the first white man that comes through
their gate. Keaton arrives in search of butterflies. The Indians
catch him and prepare to burn him at the stake. He escapes and
makes himself a suit of asbestos BVDs, so when he's recaptured
the flames don't concern him a bit. The Indians, amazed by his
powers, bow before him and allow him to join their tribe.
When they get notice to vacate, the tribe rides to the oil office
and do a war dance. One villain escapes and the Indians go after
him. Keaton lags behind and the head oil man forces him, at gunpoint,
to switch clothes. He becomes the quarry for both his own tribe
and a rival tribe. Both groups watch as he crosses a chasm on
a dilapidated bridge, then falls into the canyon. He escapes and
returns to the Indian village, where his tribe joins him as he
discovers the grant deed in the oil man's jacket. As his reward
he asks for an Indian squab. They embrace. — Lisle Foote
Cops
One nice boy. One cruel girl. Ten thousand
cops.
(longer verison)
Release Date: March 1922
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corp.
Distribution: First National
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director/Script: Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline
Photography: Elgin Lessley
Technical Director: Fred Gabourie
Cast:
Buster Keaton: The quarry
Virginia Fox: The Mayor's daughter
Joe Roberts: Plainclothes detective
Eddie Cline: Man who buys jacket
Keaton, behind bars, pleads with the mayor's daughter (Virginia
Fox). She says she won't marry him until he becomes a big businessman,
and she goes back to her mansion. He's on the street, in front
of her barred gate. He tries to return a plainclothes detective's
(Joe Roberts) wallet; after some abuse he keeps the cash and takes
a cab downtown. There a con man offers him a family's possessions,
and eager to prove his business prowess, he buys them. The family,
thinking that he's the mover, loads their belongings on his newly-purchased
cart. After dealing with turn signal problems and a pokey horse,
he joins the annual police parade. An anarchist throws a bomb
that Keaton uses as a cigarette lighter, the bomb explodes causing
the horse to run wild, and the cops start chasing Keaton.
He leads them all over the city, hiding in buildings, a street
cleaner's cart, a parked car, and an abandoned trunk (the latter
when the man whose belongings he took comes after him). He grabs
a passing car and gets whisked away, only to drop off in front
of more cops. He see-saws on a ladder over a fence, with cops
on both sides, and gets catapulted into Joe Roberts. Finally he
runs into the Precinct Office. Armies of cops follow after him.
A short cop comes out, locks the door, and throws away the key.
It's Keaton. Virginia Fox strolls by and snubs him. He retrieves
the key, unlocks the door, and abandons himself to his fate. —
Lisle Foote
My
Wife's Relations
Buster gets girl . . . and her family
(longer version)
Release Date: May 1922
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corp.
Distribution:First National
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director/Script: Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline
Photography: Elgin Lessley
Technical Director: Fred Gabourie
Cast:
Buster Keaton: The Groom
Kate Price: The Bride
Monte Collins: Father
Joe Roberts, Tom Wilson, Harry Madison, Wheezer Dell: Brothers
After a messy taffy-pulling encounter with a postman, Keaton removes
a sticky letter from his shoe and puts it in his pocket. The irate
postman, whose letters lie everywhere, throws a rock at Keaton,
which goes through a courthouse window. Price, a rather matronly
woman, thinks that Keaton broke the window, and drags him into
the courthouse. The judge, who only speaks Polish, is waiting
for a Polish couple to come in to be married. He marries Keaton
and Price; they think they are testifying. Once Price discovers
she is married to Keaton, she drags him home to meet her father
and four brothers. Dinner is a competition for food, which Keaton
ultimately wins.
Mistreated from the start, Keaton gets revenge on Price by "accidentally"
slapping her and pretending to be asleep. She knocks him unconscious
with a vase. The next morning Kate's brother finds the letter
in Keaton's pocket. It turns out to be a legal paper informing
the recipient of a $100,000.00 inheritance. Suddenly the family
is eager to please Keaton, giving him all their money to get a
nice place.
They soon live in an expensive aparement, with a vat of illegal
beer brewing in the kitchen. Keaton dumps too much yeast in the
brew, and the foam takes over the kitchen. Meanwhile, the family
discovers that the letter was addressed to someone else and decides
to murder him first, then kill him. After a chase up, down, and
around the apartment and staircase, Keaton escapes and is seen
kicking his feet up on the Reno Limited as it pulls out of the
station. --Heidi Crabtree
The Blacksmith
Buster messes with horses and cars
(longer version)
Release Date: July 21, 1922
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Comique Film Corp.
Distribution: First National
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director/Script: Buster Keaton and Mal St. Clair
Photography: Elgin Lessley
Technical Director: Fred Gabourie
Cast:
Buster Keaton: Assistant Blacksmith
Joe Roberts: Blacksmith
Virginia Fox: Girl with a white horse
The Blacksmith begins by illustrating some lines from Longfellow's
"Village Blacksmith," except the spreading chestnut tree is a
palm and Keaton's brawny muscle is a balloon. While Keaton pounds
horseshoes and makes his breakfast, his boss (Joe Roberts) prepares
for work. Roberts catches him, and Keaton smashes his eggs on
his anvil. He burns both feet on a hot horseshoe and sticks them
in the cooling tub. Roberts asks for a hammer and Keaton brings it,
but a large magnet over the door picks it up. Another hammer,
a wagon wheel, and the sheriff's gun and badge (he comes over
to investigate) go up, and Roberts becomes increasingly angry. Keaton
pushes it all off on top of the now fighting men, and Roberts gets
hauled off to jail.
Customers arrive. First Virginia Fox brings in a white horse
for shoes and Keaton acts like a salesman for human. While he
works on a car, he dirties the horse with oil. A saddlesore woman
describes her problem; Keaton sells her a saddle shock absorber.
After the car he's fixing crashes through the floor, a man with
a beloved white auto drives in. It emerges worse than the horse
did, almost entirely totaled. All of Keaton's newly acquired enemies
come after him, so he runs away on a train with Fox. A train
goes off its tracks, but it's only a model train that Keaton set
up for his baby son. — Lisle Foote
The Frozen
North
Buster gets manly, attempting theft,
murder, fishing, and adultery
(longer version)
Release date: August 1922
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Buster Keaton Production, Inc.
Distributed by: First National
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director/Script: Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline
Photography: Elgin Lessley
Technical Director: Fred Gabourie
Cast:
Buster Keaton: The Bad Man
Sybil Seely: His Wife
Joe Roberts: The Driver
Bonnie Hill: The Pretty Neighbor
Freeman Wood: Her Husband
Eddie Cline: The Janitor
Keaton emerges from a subway station in the desolate, frozen
North and heads straight to a gambling saloon. Deceptively using
a cardboard figure of a masked gunman, Keaton attempts to rob
the patrons of their winnings. The crowd tosses Keaton out the
window when they discover that he is a fraud. Trudging through
the snow, Keaton arrives home to find a woman and her lover locked
in an embrace. Shocked, distraught and angry, in his best William
S. Hart parody, Keaton pulls out a gun and shoots them dead, before
realizing that he has the wrong house and the wrong wife!
Finally, in his cabin, Keaton verbally abuses long-suffering
wife, Seely. When she's knocked out by a falling vase, he seizes
the chance to act on his "Love Thy Neighbor" policy by pursuing
his pretty, but unreceptive neighbor. Her annoyed husband takes
her on a sledding trip to get away from Keaton. Keaton trails
the couple via a dog sled that is driven by Joe Roberts and pulled
by a motley crew of "Heinz 57" mutts. But, the pursuit ends abruptly
when the pack runs off.
Giving up for a while, Keaton goes to Roberts igloo and is serenaded
on the guitar. Keaton then has a disastrous try at ice fishing
before he see that his lovely neighbor has returned home. Keaton
barges in and strikes a menacing Erich Von Stroheim pose near
the door. When her unsuspecting husband returns, a fight ensues
and Keaton pulls out a knife. Seely, now conscious, strolls past
the cabin window and sees Keaton attacking the man. She aims a
gun and shoots Keaton in the back. Wounded, Keaton points a pistol
at the husband. Suddenly… asleep in a movie theatre, Keaton
is awakened by the janitor who tells him the movie has ended!
— Janice Agnello
Daydreams
Buster learns that work stinks
(longer version)
Release Date: November 1922
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Buster Keaton Productions, Inc.
Distribution: First National
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director/Script: Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline
Photography: Elgin Lessley
Technical Director: Fred Gabourie
Cast:
Buster Keaton: The Boy
Renee Adoree: The Girl
Joe Keaton: Her Father
Joe Roberts: A Politician
Eddie Cline: Stage Manager
Keaton writes to his fiancée (Renee Adoree) about his
attempts to make good in the city. In his first letter, he tells
her he's working in a hospital. She imagines him as a surgeon.
He's actually employed at a dog and cat hospital. After an encounter
with a skunk, he leaves to clean up on Wall Street. Adoree pictures
him as a top-hatted financier. He's a street sweeper, tidying
up after horses, dirt trucks, and a political rally held by Joe
Roberts. He sets fire to a pile of confetti, and douses the flames
and Roberts, who retaliates by dropping him down a flooded manhole.
Keaton next explores his artistic gifts in the theater. She sees
him as Hamlet, but he's only a member of a chorus. He upstages
the singer with his incompetence and the stage manager tosses
him out. A cop takes exception to his short-skirted costume and
chases him. At a used clothing store, Keaton lucks into a pair
of pants with a wallet in them, but they fall off and the cop
continues after him.
His next letter tells how the police follow his every step. She
fancies him as an officer, standing among dignitaries. Meanwhile,
he runs down a street pursued by hundreds of cops. On streetcars,
a fire escape, and a boat the chase continues until he falls into
the water. A fisherman hooks him. He ends up mailed back toAdoree,
and her father boots him out of the house. — Lisle Foote
The Electric
House
Machines don't cause as many problems
as engineers do.
(longer version)
Release date: October 1922
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Buster Keaton Productions, Inc.
Distribution: Associated-First National
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director/Script: Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline
Photography: Elgin Lessley
Technical Director: Fred Gabourie
Cast:
Buster Keaton: The Boy
Virginia Fox: The Girl
Joe Roberts: Homeowner
A diploma mix-up at the People's University (P.U.) graduation
has Botanist Keaton receiving an Electrical Engineering degree.
Roberts hires Keaton to electrify his home while he and his family
are on holiday. Upon their return, Keaton proudly demonstrates
all the new, electrical innovations. There's a speed controlled
escalator, an automatic book selector in the library, a dishwasher
(!) that washes and dries, a moveable bathtub, and a hide away
bed. Outside, the pool fills and drains with the push of a lever.
As the family sits for dinner, Keaton brings the food from the
kitchen to the dining room via a toy train set up on the table.
But, Keaton accidentally disconnects the track causing the train
to derail and spill the entire meal into the lady of the house's
lap.
The next day friends arrive to see the electrical home. Meanwhile,
the real engineer sneaks into the house to exact his revenge.
As he goes to work crossing wires and causing everything to malfunction,
Keaton notices the problems and tries to slip away quietly, before
he's thrown out. The misfiring gadgets cause the guests to scatter
when the dishwasher shoots out dishes, the pool table rack flings
balls at Keaton's head, the escalator only runs on high speed,
and Fox is caught in the hide away bed. When Keaton checks
on the electrical fuse box, he sees the real engineer causing
havoc. Keaton tosses metal objects at him sending the shocked
engineer out the window and into the swimming pool. Keaton and
Roberts collide and end up in the pool too.
Roberts and Fox order Keaton to leave, so he dejectedly ties
a rock around his neck and tries to drown himself. Fox has
misgivings and drains the pool. Seeing Keaton sitting on the pool's
bottom, Roberts quickly fills it back up again. Fox frantically
empties it once more, only to find that Keaton is gone. Keaton
and the engineer find themselves all washed up and out, under
the sign for the "Los Angeles Sewer." — Janice Agnello
The Balloonatic
More fish, more bears, another boat,
but a girl worth winning
(longer version)
Release date: January 22, 1923
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Buster Keaton Productions, Inc.
Distribution: Associated-First National
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director/Script: Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline
Photography: Elgin Lessley
Technical Director: Fred Gabourie
Cast:
Buster Keaton: Boy
Phyllis Haver: Girl
Alone in a dark, foreboding room, Keaton lights a match illuminating
that he's in the "House of Trouble" at an amusement park. After
trying several exits to escape, he falls through a trap door and
lands on the sidewalk outside. He is flattened when a rotund girl
falling through the trap door lands on him. Next, Keaton opts
for a Ye Old Mill boat ride, seating himself with attractive passenger
Haver. As the boat emerges from the tunnel, Keaton sports a black
eye and crushed porkpie hat, while Haver waits to escape.
Meandering over to a hot air balloon launch, Keaton volunteers
to attach a "Good Luck" flag to the balloon's top. Unbeknownst
to Keaton, the balloon suddenly takes flight without its pilot.
Now high in the sky, Keaton sets up house, doing his laundry and
duck hunting for food. He accidentally shoots the balloon and
plunges to earth.
Keaton uses the remains of the balloon to make camp near a bucolic
stream. Avid outdoorswoman Haver just happens to be camping a
few yards away. A comical battle of the sexes erupts as they both
exhibit ineptitude in fishing, hunting and, basic survival skills.
Haver's frustration at Keaton's lack of bravado ounts, as he fails
to come to her rescue time and again. Keaton stares in amazement
as Haver wrestles a wild steer to the ground then he runs off
in fear of his fellow camper's strength. Haver reveals her admiration
for Keaton when he knocks out a bear with the handle of his shotgun,
while unintentionally shooting another that is lurking behind
him.
Together, they sail downstream in Keaton's canopied canoe, the
"Minnie-Tee-Hee," unaware of the upcoming waterfall. The now amorous
couple proceeds to float off into the sunset over the waterfall,
the balloon having been patched up by Keaton and attached to the
canoe. — Janice Agnello
The Love
Nest
Call him Ishmael
(longer version)
Release Date: March 1923
Length: Two reels
Presented by: Buster Keaton Productions, In.
Distribution: Associated-First National
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director/Script: Buster Keaton
Photography: Elgin Lessley
Technical Director: Fred Gabourie
Cast:
Buster Keaton: The Sailor
Joe Roberts: The Captain
Virginia Fox: The Girl
Keaton, in a boat, writes a farewell letter to his girl (he won't
marry her because she cancelled their engagement). He hands it
to someone on the dock and pushes off.
Several days later, a bearded Keaton sees a whaling ship, the
Love Nest. The captain (Joe Roberts) has him hauled on board and
adds him to the crew as the steward, the incumbent having been
thrown overboard for spilling coffee on the captain. Keaton attends
to his duties, swabbing the deck, dusting the cabin, and carefully
poring coffee, and narrowly escapes the first steward's fate.
Another crewmember sights a whale and they man the harpoon gun.
Keaton holds the end of the harpoon rope and after it's shot,
the whale pulls him overboard. He tows it back and hands the rope
to Roberts, who gets yanked off. Keaton declares himself captain,
but Roberts returns and frightens the rest of the crew away. He chases
Keaton around the boat Buster falls overboard.
That night, Keaton sits on the boat's ladder. He goes back on
deck where he finds a lifeboat. He can't lift it over the rail,
so he smashes a hole in the Love Nest's hull and waits for it
to sink. The next morning he runs into a floating platform and
decides to fish from it. It's a navy target and they blow it up.
Keaton flies through the air, then wakes up. He's in his boat
which is still tied to the dock. — Lisle Foote
Keaton's Silent Features
The Saphead
Spoiled
rich boy makes good; Buster finds a prototype
Release date: October 18, 1920
Length: Seven reels
Presented by: John L. Golden and Winchell Smith in conjunction
with Marcus Loew
Distributed by: Metro Pictures
Producer: Winchell Smith
Director: Herbert Blanche
Script: June Mathis, based on The New Henrietta by Winchell Smith
and Victor Mapes, and The Henrietta, a play by Bronson Howard
Photography: Harold Wenstrom
Cast:
Buster Keaton: Bertie Van Alstyne
William H. Crane: Nicholas Van Alystyne
Irving Cummings: Mark Turner
Carol Holloway: Rose Turner
Beulah Booker: Agnes Gates
Edward Alexander: Watson Flint
Unknown: Jim Hardy
Jeffrey Williams: Hutchins
Edward Jobson: Rev. Murray Hilton
Jack Livingston: Dr. George Wainright
Helen Holt: Henrietta Reynolds
Odette Taylor: Corneila Opdyke
Edward Connelly: Musgrave
Katherine Albert: Hattie
Alfred Hollingsworth: Hathaway
Henry Clauss: valet
The Saphead isn’t really a Keaton film; he only acts in
it. It opens in Nicholas Van Alstyne’s office, where his
old friend Jim Hardy convinces him to invest in a Western mine,
the Henrietta. Meanwhile, his son in law Mark Turner juggles receiving
a note from his dying mistress Henrietta Reynolds and a visit
from his wife Rose.
That afternoon, Bertie Van Alstyne breakfasts and decides to
declare his love to Agnes, Nick’s ward, who is to return
from school that evening. He goes to the wrong station to meet
her, and he runs into some pals who take him gambling (he’s
trying to get a fast reputation to impress the modern girl he
thinks Agnes is). The police raid the den, and despite his best
efforts to be arrested they let him go. A reporter takes his card.
The next morning, Agnes sees the newspaper story. Bertie’s
sister Rose confronts him with it. He explains that he did it
out of love for Agnes. She overhears, and the lovers are united.
They tell Nick, who says that Bertie must make something of himself
before he may marry her. He cuts him off with only one million
dollars.
Bertie moves to the Ritz and buys a seat on the Stock Exchange.
He and Agnes decide to marry the next Tuesday. The evening arrives
and Bertie goes to pick her up but Rose offers to have the ceremony
at the Van Alstyne mansion. Midway through, Henrietta’s
nurse interrupts with news of her death and a packet of Mark’s
letters to give to Mrs. Turner. Mark takes them, accuses Bertie
of their authorship, and throws them into the fire. Bertie can
do nothing but retreat, crestfallen, to his new Long Island honeymoon
cottage.
A few days later, to keep his mind off of Agnes, he visits the
Stock Exchange. The regulars welcome him by knocking off his hat
repeatedly. Meanwhile, Nick has gone on a yachting vacation and
Mark plots to ruin him and enrich himself by driving down the
price of the Henrietta mine stock, then buying it for himself.
Nick returns unexpectedly and finds the price disastrously low,
but it’s too late: the Exchange is to close in ten minutes.
Luckily, the family broker Flint sees Bertie on the floor and
shows him how to buy the shares. Bertie does so, and saves the
day.
Nick’s secretary tells him that Turner was also responsible
for Henrietta Reynolds, and Flint tells him that Bertie saved
the shares. Police haul Turner away. Nick goes to Bertie’s
cottage, they reconcile, and Agnes and the minister are sent for.
The next year, Bertie paces in front of a door. A doctor comes
out and tells him it is twins. When he hears, Nick does a jig.
– Lisle Foote
Three Ages
Keaton’s Colossal
Spectacle
Release date: September 24, 1923
Length: Six reels
Presented by: Buster Keaton Productions
Distributed by: Metro Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Directors: Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline
Script: Clyde Bruckman, Jean Havez, and Joseph Mitchell
Photography: Elgin Lessley and William McGann
Technical Director: Fred Gabourie
Cast:
Buster Keaton: The Boy
Margaret Leahy: The Girl
Wallace Beery: The Rival
Joe Roberts: The Girl’s Father
Lillian Lawrence: The Girl’s Mother
Blanche Payson: The Giantess
Horace Morgan: The Emperor
As D.W. Griffith portrayed intolerance over four ages in his
1916 film, Keaton compares love in Three Ages: the Stone Age,
the Roman Age, and the Modern Age. It opens with man finding woman.
In caveman days, Beauty (Margaret Leahy) is sought by an adventurer
(Wallace Beery) and a faithful worshipper (Keaton). Her father
selects the stronger Beery, so Keaton visits a fortune teller
and learns that she loves only him. In Rome, charioteers Beery
and Keaton converge on Leahy’s domicile. Roberts again favors
Beery, so Keaton visits a soothsayer to know the future and shoot
some dice. In contemporary times, the two suitors drive to her
house (Keaton’s car hits a bump and disintegrates) where
her mother selects Beery on the basis of his bank balance. Keaton
consults a daisy, playing “loves me/loves me not.”
She loves him.
Next, man attempts to arouse jealousy. In front of Leahy, Keaton
flirts with a woman, but when she stands up she’s a foot
taller than he is. She clubs him into the lake. Roman Keaton,
his serenade interrupted by Beery dropping an urn on him, seems
to succumb to the wiles of a vamp – but he wrestles her
instead. Modern Keaton follows Beery and Leahy into a restaurant,
where he briefly tries to charm a young lady with a very large
boyfriend, drinks spiked water, and falls asleep. With a mash
note purportedly from Keaton to the girl, Beery tricks the boyfriend
into throwing Keaton out.
Men continue to fight over women. Beery challenges cave-Buster
to a club fight, which Keaton wins by wedging a rock in his club.
Beery’s friends discover his cheat, and they tie Keaton
up to be dragged by a mammoth. Classical Beery challenges Keaton
to a chariot race on a snowy day. Keaton wins by using a dog sled.
Beery has him tossed into a lion’s den. In 1923, the rivals
are on opposing football teams. Although Beery tackles him several
times, Keaton scores the winning goal. Beery plants a flask on
him, tips a cop off, and right before he’s hauled away,
tells him of his impending marriage to Leahy.
Finally, man gets woman. In the Stone Age, Keaton snatches Leahy
away from Beery and, after a chase, Keaton catapults himself onto
Beery and knocks him out. He drags Leahy away by her hair. In
Rome, Beery kidnaps Leahy. Keaton, after winning the lion’s
affection with a manicure, saves her, knocking Beery out by removing
the roof support columns. In modern times, at the police station
Keaton steals Beery’s mug shots: he’s wanted for bigamy
and forgery. He escapes over a roof, through a firehouse, and
on a fire truck, and right back to the police station. Then he
goes to the church where he pays for two taxis. He waits in a
pew and pulls Leahy out when she comes up the aisle. While the
party chases the first cab, the couple gets away in the second.
He shows her Beery’s rap sheet. She kisses him, and he decides
to go back to the church.
Has love changed in the three ages? Prehistoric Keaton and Leahy
leave their cave, followed by a dozen children. The Roman pair
has five kids in tow. The moderns walk out their door with their
cute little dog. – Lisle Foote
Our Hospitality
Romeo and Juliet with better gags and
no nasty suicides
Release date: November 19, 1923
Length: Seven reels
Presented by: Buster Keaton Productions
Distributed by: Metro Pictures
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Directors: Buster Keaton and Jack Blystone
Script: Clyde Bruckman, Jean Havez, and Joseph Mitchell
Photography: Elgin Lessley and Gordon Jennings
Technical Director: Fred Gabourie
Electrician: Denver Harmon
Costumes: Walter Israel
Cast:
Buster Keaton: Willie McKay
Natalie Talmadge: Virginia Canfield
Joe Roberts: Joseph Canfield, the father
Buster (James) Keaton, Jr.: Willie McKay, at age one
Kitty Bradbury: Willie's Aunt Mary
Ralph Bushman: Clayton Canfield
Craig Ward: Lee Canfield
Edward Coxen: John McKay
Jean Dumas: Mrs. John McKay
Monty Collins: The Parson
James Duffy: Sam Gardner
Leonard Clapham: James Canfield
Joseph Keaton: Train Engineer
The feud between the McKay and the Canfield clans goes back to
1810, when John McKay is killed in a gun battle outside his humble
cabin, as his wife and baby, Willie, huddle inside. To escape
the Canfield's wrath, and save her son, the last McKay namesake,
Mrs. McKay takes the boy to New York, where he grows up under
his aunt's care, unaware of the terrible legacy. Twenty years
later, Willie McKay, now heir to John McKay's Rockville estate,
imagines a lovely southern plantation, all dressed up in magnolias.
Ready to leave the big city for points south, Willie is told the
truth by his aunt, who admonishes him to avoid the Canfield clan.
Boarding the Out of Town Limited, Willie shares the ride with
Virginia, who is returning to her southern home. The unpredictable
journey on the iron horse takes the passengers over logs, rocks,
and bumps, stopping only to eject the occasional hobo, or to right
a derailment. Arriving in Rockville, looking the worse for wear,
Willie accepts an invitation to dinner from the young lady, who
has taken a fancy to him. Willie innocently
seeks direction to his new estate from the young lady's brother,
a Canfield, who has come to fetch her from the train. Informing
his father and brother that there's a McKay back in town, they
set out to exact their long-awaited revenge.
Meanwhile, Willie's dream of a palatial homestead is blown to
bits, when the real house turns out to be a rundown shack. Disappointed,
he goes fishing at a nearby stream unaware that he is being stalked
and shot at by the Canfield brothers. Not wanting to be late for
dinner, Willie goes to Virginia’s home and meets her family
and a visiting parson. Although the men eye him suspiciously and
agree not to kill him while he is under their roof, Willie and
Virginia remain oblivious to the plan. Only when Willie overhears
the brothers talking about killing him, does he realize that he
is in grave danger. After dinner Willie is afraid to leave the
house, so he stalls by showing the family some tricks, and then
misplacing his hat. A sudden thunderstorm keeps both Willie and
the parson there, as overnight guests.
The next day, Virginia is shocked by her father's intention to
kill Willie, the last of the McKay's. Willie escapes from the
house, but is chased to a very precarious cliff near the river.
He grabs at a rope, hoping to be rescued, but on the other end
is one of the Canfield brothers. Both tumble into the water, but
Willie manages to scramble up the riverbank dodging bullets. By
chance, the Out