Keystone Kops
Encyclopedia
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
comedies in the early 20th century. The movies were produced by Mack Sennett
Mack Sennett
Mack Sennett was a Canadian-born American director and was known as the innovator of slapstick comedy in film. During his lifetime he was known at times as the "King of Comedy"...
for his Keystone Film Company
Keystone Studios
Keystone Studios was an early movie studio founded in Edendale, California in 1912 as the Keystone Pictures Studio by Mack Sennett with backing from Adam Kessel and Charles O. Bauman, owners of the New York Motion Picture Company...
between 1912 and 1917. The idea came from Hank Mann
Hank Mann
Hank Mann was a comedian and silent screen star who is best known as the last surviving member of the Keystone Cops. According to fellow actor and original member of the ensemble Edgar Kennedy, Mann was the originator of the idea for the Keysotne Cops...
who also played police chief Tehiezel in the first film before being replaced by Ford Sterling
Ford Sterling
Ford Sterling was an American comedian and actor best known for his work with Keystone Studios. One of the 'Big 4' he was the original chief of the Keystone Cops.-Biography:...
. Their first film was Hoffmeyer's Legacy
Hoffmeyer's Legacy
Hoffmeyer's Legacy is a 1912 comedy short directed by Mack Sennett and notable for being the first Keystone Cops comedy. However, the film many people consider the first real Keystone Cop comedy to be is The Bangville Police .-Cast:...
(1912) but their popularity stemmed from the 1913 short The Bangville Police
The Bangville Police
The Bangville Police is a 1913 comedy short starring Mabel Normand and the Keystone Kops . The film, notable for being regarded as the seminal Keystone Cops short, was directed by Henry Lehrman...
starring Mabel Normand
Mabel Normand
Mabel Normand was an American silent film comedienne and actress. She was a popular star of Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios and is noted as one of the film industry's first female screenwriters, producers and directors...
.
As early as 1914, Sennet shifted the Keystone Kops from starring roles to background ensemble, in support of comedians like Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
and Fatty Arbuckle. The Keystone Kops serve as supporting players for Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler was a Canadian-American actress and Depression-era film star. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930-31 in Min and Bill.-Early life and stage career:...
, Mabel Normand, and Chaplin in the first full-length Sennett comedy feature, Tillie's Punctured Romance
Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914 film)
Tillie's Punctured Romance is the first feature-length comedy film from Keystone Film Company and the Christie Film Company, produced in 1914. A silent film directed by Mack Sennett, the film stars Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand, Charles Chaplin, and the Keystone Cops...
(1914), as well as in Mabel's New Hero
Mabel's New Hero
Mabel's New Hero is a 1913 short comedy film featuring Fatty Arbuckle.-Cast:* Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle* Charles Avery* Nick Cogley* Edgar Kennedy* Mabel Normand...
(1913) with Normand and Arbuckle, Making a Living
Making a Living
Making a Living is the first film starring Charlie Chaplin. It premiered on February 2, 1914. Chaplin plays Edgar English, a lady-charming swindler who runs afoul of the Keystone Kops....
(1914) with Chaplin in his first screen appearance (pre-Tramp), In the Clutches of the Gang
In the Clutches of the Gang
In the Clutches of the Gang is a 1914 short comedy film featuring Fatty Arbuckle.-Cast:* Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle* Charles Avery* Nick Cogley* George Jeske - Keystone Kop* Edgar Kennedy* Hank Mann* Harry McCoy* Rube Miller* George Nichols...
(1914) with Normand, Arbuckle, and Al St. John, and Wished on Mabel
Wished on Mabel
Wished on Mabel is a 1915 short comedy film directed by Mabel Normand and starring Fatty Arbuckle.-Cast:* Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle - Fatty* Mabel Normand - Mabel* Alice Davenport - Mabel's mother* Joe Bordeaux - Thief* Edgar Kennedy - Cop...
(1915) with Arbuckle and Normand, among others.
Two Keystone Kop players who starred in the Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops
Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops
Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops is a 1955 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello.After the film was completed, Universal wanted to rename it Abbott and Costello in the Stunt Men, because they did not consider the "Keystone Kops" to be relevant anymore...
(which starred Sennett in a cameo
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
role-as himself) were Heinie Conklin
Heinie Conklin
Heinie Conklin was an American actor of the silent film era, who appeared in nearly 400 films. Claimed to be one of the original Keystone Kops, Conklin's silent screen makeup consisted heavy eyebrow lining and a thinnish, upside-down, painted-on variation of Kaiser Wilhelm's moustache...
as an elderly studio Guard; and Hank Mann
Hank Mann
Hank Mann was a comedian and silent screen star who is best known as the last surviving member of the Keystone Cops. According to fellow actor and original member of the ensemble Edgar Kennedy, Mann was the originator of the idea for the Keysotne Cops...
as a prop man. Comedian/actors Chester Conklin
Chester Conklin
Chester Cooper Conklin was an American comedian and actor. He appeared in over 280 films, about half of them in the silent era.-Early life:...
; Jimmy Finlayson
Jimmy Finlayson
James Henderson "Jimmy" Finlayson was a Scottish actor who worked in both silent and sound comedies. Bald, with a fake moustache, Finlayson had many trademark comic mannerisms and is famous for his squinting, outraged, "double take and fade away" head reaction, and characteristic expression...
; Ford Sterling
Ford Sterling
Ford Sterling was an American comedian and actor best known for his work with Keystone Studios. One of the 'Big 4' he was the original chief of the Keystone Cops.-Biography:...
and director Del Lord
Del Lord
Del Lord was a Canadian film director and actor best known as a director of Three Stooges films.-Career:Delmer Lord was born in the small town of Grimsby, Ontario, Canada...
were also Keystone Kops.
In 2010, the previously lost short A Thief Catcher
A Thief Catcher
A Thief Catcher is a one-reel 1914 American-made motion picture, produced by Mack Sennett for his Keystone film company, directed by Ford Sterling, and starring Sterling, Mack Swain, Edgar Kennedy, and Charles Chaplin as a policeman...
was rediscovered at an antique sale in Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. The short, filmed in 1914, stars Ford Sterling
Ford Sterling
Ford Sterling was an American comedian and actor best known for his work with Keystone Studios. One of the 'Big 4' he was the original chief of the Keystone Cops.-Biography:...
, Mack Swain
Mack Swain
Mack Swain was an American actor and vaudevillian, prolific throughout the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s.-Film career:...
, Edgar Kennedy
Edgar Kennedy
Edgar Livingston Kennedy was an American comedic film actor, known as "the king of the slow burn". A slow burn is an exasperated facial expression, performed very deliberately; Kennedy embellished this by rubbing his hand over his bald head and across his face, in an attempt to hold his temper...
, and Al St. John and includes a previously unknown cameo with Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
as a Keystone Kop.
Revivals
Mack Sennett continued to use the Keystone Kops intermittently through the 1920s. By the time sound movies arrived, the Keystone Kops' popularity had waned. In 1935, director Ralph Staub staged a revival of the Sennett gang for his Warner Brothers short subject Keystone HotelKeystone Hotel (film)
Keystone Hotel is a 1935 2-reel comedy short subject, directed by Ralph Staub.The story follows the arrival of the cross-eyed Count Drewa Blank at a downtown hotel, to judge a beauty contest. While downstairs various parties try to sway the Count's decision, the house detective investigates...
, featuring a re-creation of the Kops clutching at their hats, leaping in the air in surprise, running energetically in any direction, and taking extreme pratfalls. This footage has been used countless times in later productions purporting to use silent-era material.
The Staub version of the Keystone Kops became a template for later re-creations. 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
's 1939 feature Hollywood Cavalcade had Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
in a Keystone chase scene. However, during his own silent film career, the nearest Keaton had appeared in a "police comedy" was The Goat
The Goat (1921 film)
The Goat is a 1921 short comedy film written, directed by and starring comedian Buster Keaton.- Plot :Buster Keaton is walking by and peers through a barred window while captured murderer "Dead Shot Dan" is having his picture taken. Seeing that the photographer is looking away, Dan moves his head...
(1921) and Cops
Cops (film)
Cops is a 1922 comedy short silent film about a young man who accidentally gets on the bad side of the entire Los Angeles Police Department during a parade, and is chased all over town. It was written and directed by Edward F. Cline and Keaton.- Background and plot :This very Kafka-esque film is...
(1922). Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops
Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops
Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops is a 1955 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello.After the film was completed, Universal wanted to rename it Abbott and Costello in the Stunt Men, because they did not consider the "Keystone Kops" to be relevant anymore...
(1955) included a lengthy chase scene, showcasing a group of stuntmen dressed as Sennett's squad. (An original Keystone Kop in this movie was Heinie Conklin
Heinie Conklin
Heinie Conklin was an American actor of the silent film era, who appeared in nearly 400 films. Claimed to be one of the original Keystone Kops, Conklin's silent screen makeup consisted heavy eyebrow lining and a thinnish, upside-down, painted-on variation of Kaiser Wilhelm's moustache...
.) Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
directed a Keystone Kops-type car chase in his comedy film Silent Movie
Silent Movie
Silent Movie is a 1976 satirical comedy film co-written, directed by, and starring Mel Brooks, and released by 20th Century Fox on June 17, 1976...
.
By the 1950s surviving silent movie comedians could be pressed into service as Keystone Kops regardless of whether they appeared with the troupe authentically. In the This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
TV tribute to Mack Sennett
Mack Sennett
Mack Sennett was a Canadian-born American director and was known as the innovator of slapstick comedy in film. During his lifetime he was known at times as the "King of Comedy"...
several Sennett alumni ran on stage dressed as Keystone Kops.
In popular culture
The term has since come to be used to criticize any group for its mistakes, particularly if the mistakes happened after a great deal of energy and activity, or if there was a lack of coordination among the members of the group. For example, the June 2004 electionCanadian federal election, 2004
The Canadian federal election, 2004 , was held on June 28, 2004 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority, but was able to form a minority government after the elections...
campaign of the Liberal Party of Canada
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
was compared with "the Keystone Kops running around" by one of its parliamentary members, Carolyn Parrish. In criticizing the Department of Homeland Security's response to Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
, Senator Joseph Lieberman claimed that emergency workers under DHS chief Michael Chertoff
Michael Chertoff
Michael Chertoff was the second United States Secretary of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush and co-author of the USA PATRIOT Act. He previously served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, as a federal prosecutor, and as assistant U.S. Attorney...
"ran around like Keystone Kops, uncertain about what they were supposed to do or uncertain how to do it". Another example is a statement by Peter Beattie, Premier of the Australian state of Queensland, on the counter-terrorism investigation into Gold Coast doctor Mohamed Haneef
Mohamed Haneef
Muhamed Haneef is an Indian doctor who was wrongly accused of aiding terrorists, and left Australia upon cancellation of his visa amid great political controversy....
in July 2007. After the Australian Federal Police committed a series of blunders, the Premier likened their actions to those of the "Keystone Kops".
The Keystone Kops re-emerge every year in the town of Cedar Springs, Michigan
Cedar Springs, Michigan
Cedar Springs is a city in Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan, 20 minutes north of Grand Rapids. Known as "Red Flannel Town", the city is home to an annual Red Flannel Festival...
during their Red Flannel Festival, and also in Sitka, Alaska during the annual Alaska Day
Alaska Day
Alaska Day is a legal holiday in the U.S. state of Alaska, observed on October 18. It is the anniversary of the formal transfer of the Territory of Alaska from Russia to the United States which took place at a flag-raising ceremony at Fort Sitka on Friday October 18, 1867 Alaska Day is a legal...
festival.
The Police Academy movies that began in 1984 are frequently considered a modern day version of the Keystone Kops.
In sport, the term has come into common usage by television commentators, particularly in the United Kingdom and Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. The rugby commentator Liam Toland uses the term to describe a team's incompetent performance on the pitch. The phrase "Keystone cops defending" has become a favorite catchphrase for describing a situation in an English soccer match where a defensive error or a series of defensive errors leads to a goal.
According to Dave Filoni
Dave Filoni
Dave Filoni is an American film director, writer, and animator. He's most known for his work on Avatar: The Last Airbender and Star Wars: The Clone Wars.-Early life:...
, supervising director of the animated television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008 TV series)
-Production:At April 2005's Star Wars Celebration III, Lucas stated that "we are working on a 3-D continuation of the pilot series that was on the Cartoon Network; we probably won't start that project for another year." In July 2005, pre-production had begun on the series, according to Steve...
, the look of the Police 'droid is based on the appearance of the Keystone Kops.
Video games
In 1983, a video game called Keystone KapersKeystone Kapers
Keystone Kapers was a 1983 game published by Activision for the Atari 2600, and later ported to Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit family, ColecoVision and MSX...
was released for the Atari 2600
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
, 5200
Atari 5200
The Atari 5200 SuperSystem, commonly known as the Atari 5200, is a video game console that was introduced in 1982 by Atari Inc. as a higher end complementary console for the popular Atari 2600...
, and later Colecovision
ColecoVision
The ColecoVision is Coleco Industries' second generation home video game console which was released in August 1982. The ColecoVision offered arcade-quality graphics and gaming style, and the means to expand the system's basic hardware...
. Playing as Keystone Kop Officer Kelly, the player's objective is to stop would-be robber Hooligan Harry from escaping Southwick's Mall. The game, which became a hit, was produced by Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
; a similar later game, whose title features similar alliteration, is Bonanza Bros.
Bonanza Bros.
is a 1990 3D-style, 2D shooting platform arcade game by Sega. It is one of the earliest arcade games powered by the arcade system board, the Sega System 24.-Gameplay:Bonanza Bros...
(1990). The Keystone Kops also appear in the computer game NetHack
NetHack
NetHack is a single-player roguelike video game originally released in 1987. It is a descendant of an earlier game called Hack , which is a descendant of Rogue...
, usually when the player steals from one of the shops. They are more dangerous than their cinematic inspiration, however; they typically surround the player's character, so escape is impossible, and then mercilessly beat the player with rubber hoses from all directions, while temporarily blinding the player with cream pie
Cream pie
A cream pie is a type of pie filled with a rich custard or pudding that is made from milk, cream, flour, and eggs. It can come in many forms, including vanilla, lemon, lime, peanut butter, banana, coconut, and chocolate. A constant feature of all cream pies is the whipped cream topping...
.
Further reading
- Basinger, Jeanine, (1999), chapter on Keystone Kops (also covers Mabel NormandMabel NormandMabel Normand was an American silent film comedienne and actress. She was a popular star of Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios and is noted as one of the film industry's first female screenwriters, producers and directors...
) in Silent Stars, (ISBN 0-8195-6451-6).
External links
Feature films- Hoffmeyer's Legacy (1912)
- The Bangville Police (1913) with Mabel NormandMabel NormandMabel Normand was an American silent film comedienne and actress. She was a popular star of Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios and is noted as one of the film industry's first female screenwriters, producers and directors...
- The Gangsters (1913) with Roscoe Arbuckle, Ford SterlingFord SterlingFord Sterling was an American comedian and actor best known for his work with Keystone Studios. One of the 'Big 4' he was the original chief of the Keystone Cops.-Biography:...
, and Al St. John - Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life (1913) with Mabel NormandMabel NormandMabel Normand was an American silent film comedienne and actress. She was a popular star of Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios and is noted as one of the film industry's first female screenwriters, producers and directors...
- Mabel's New Hero (1913) with Mabel NormandMabel NormandMabel Normand was an American silent film comedienne and actress. She was a popular star of Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios and is noted as one of the film industry's first female screenwriters, producers and directors...
and Roscoe Arbuckle - Making a Living (1914) (Available to watch/download from the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
) with Charles Chaplin - Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914) (Available to watch/download from the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
) with Marie DresslerMarie DresslerMarie Dressler was a Canadian-American actress and Depression-era film star. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930-31 in Min and Bill.-Early life and stage career:...
, Mabel NormandMabel NormandMabel Normand was an American silent film comedienne and actress. She was a popular star of Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios and is noted as one of the film industry's first female screenwriters, producers and directors...
, and Charles Chaplin - In the Clutches of the Gang (1914) with Roscoe Arbuckle, Mabel NormandMabel NormandMabel Normand was an American silent film comedienne and actress. She was a popular star of Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios and is noted as one of the film industry's first female screenwriters, producers and directors...
, and Al St. John - The Noise of Bombs (1914) with Edgar KennedyEdgar KennedyEdgar Livingston Kennedy was an American comedic film actor, known as "the king of the slow burn". A slow burn is an exasperated facial expression, performed very deliberately; Kennedy embellished this by rubbing his hand over his bald head and across his face, in an attempt to hold his temper...
as police chiefChief of policeA Chief of Police is the title typically given to the top official in the chain of command of a police department, particularly in North America. Alternate titles for this position include Commissioner, Superintendent, and Chief constable... - Love, Loot and Crash (1915) (Available to watch/download from the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
) with Charley ChaseCharley ChaseCharley Chase was an American comedian, actor, screenwriter and film director, best known for his work in Hal Roach short film comedies... - Wished on Mabel (1915) with Roscoe Arbuckle and Mabel NormandMabel NormandMabel Normand was an American silent film comedienne and actress. She was a popular star of Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios and is noted as one of the film industry's first female screenwriters, producers and directors...
- Love, Speed and Thrills (1915) (Available to watch/download from the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
) with Mack SwainMack SwainMack Swain was an American actor and vaudevillian, prolific throughout the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s.-Film career:...
, Minta DurfeeMinta DurfeeAraminta Estelle "Minta" Durfee was an American silent film actress from Los Angeles, California, possibly best known for her role in Mickey .-Biography:...
, and Chester ConklinChester ConklinChester Cooper Conklin was an American comedian and actor. He appeared in over 280 films, about half of them in the silent era.-Early life:...