Mack Sennett - Keystone: The Life And Clowns of Mack Sennett

by Simon Louvish

From his early aspirations of singing at the Metropolitan Opera, to his time under the tutelage of D.W. Griffith, to the fortune and notoriety that his uncanny eye for talent deservedly brought him, the legendary filmmaker Mack Sennett stood steadfastly behind his belief in individuality and originality. Now, more than eighty years after Sennett rose to heights that epitomized the American Dream, the acclaimed biographer of Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers and W.G. Fields offers a compelling account of modern comedy's transformation at the hands of a true master.

Widely regarded as the father of American slapstick, Mack Sennett - iron-worker, boiler-maker, actor, director, producer, writer and creator of the infamous Keystone Kops - held audiences in thrall to a world where chaos was order; the action was unstoppable; and banana peels, car crashes and leaps from tall buildings were a matter of course. As the cameras rolled and vaudeville gags morphed into celluloid wonders, the rising stars of Charlie Chaplin, Harry Langdon, Mabel Normand and Gloria Swanson were launched. Behind it all was the "King of Comedy," governing from his office bathtub.

Keystone offers an irresistible journey into early Hollywood at its peak - where the sweet perfume of the orange groves gently scents the scandals and subterfuges of America's first celebrities - as Louvish crafts a fascinating portrait of the enigmatic entrepreneur with a dogged devotion to the task of laughter. Through film scripts, telegrams, even liquor bills, Sennett's world is skillfully re-created, offering a rare and humorous glance into the infancy and innocence of moving pictures.

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