Keystone

Description

An Irish-Canadian of impeccably uncomic ancestry, Mack Sennett founded in Hollywood in 1912 the world's first studio devoted to movie comedy alone. For the next 20 years he presided over cinema's most famous and popular clowns - from Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Mabel Normand and Charlie Chaplin, to Ben Turpin, Chester Conklin, Mack Swain, Ford Sterling, Louise Fazenda, Harry Langdon and very many more. Simon Louvish, acclaimed biographer of W. C. Fields, the Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy, now delves into the dynamic start of Hollywood comedy, tracking the life and clowns of one of cinema's foremost pioneers, and uncovering the mystery of one of the screen's legendary relationships - that of Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand, the first great motion picture comedienne. Be warned, though: the world of Mack Sennett and his Keystone Studio is not for those who want their entertainment refined, their comedy sweetened and their comedians properly house-trained. This is a tale of pratfalls and slapstick, of lecherous husbands and unfaithful wives, mad lovers, moustache-twirling villains, flirtatious floozies, venal vagabonds - and, of course, the perpetually inkompetent Keystone Kops.

Simon Louvish was born in Glasgow in 1947 and misspent his youth growing up in Israel between 1949 and 1968, including a stint as an army cameraman from 1965 to 1967. Having decamped to the London School of Film Technique in 1968, Simon became involved in the production of a series of independent documentary films about apartheid in South Africa, dictatorship in Greece, and general mayhem in Israel-Palestine from 1969 to 1973. He also published a memoir of his Israeli days entitled A Moment of Silence in 1979. Since 1985 Simon has published a series of novels set mainly in the Middle East, including the acclaimed Blok trilogy The Therapy of Avram Blok, City of Blok and The Last Trump of Avram Blok), and a number of thrillers and fantasies, including The Death of Moishe-Ganef, The Silencer, Resurrections from the Dustbin of History, and What's Up, God?

'This is a compelling tale of ambition, lust and financial chicanery that is vividly evocative of its period.' Film Review 'From his founding of Keystone Studios in 1913, Sennett dominated the screen comedy scene, birthing the careers of the likes of Buster Keaton and Fatty Arbuckle while, with the Keystone Kops, defining "madcap" comedy.' Empire 'The story rattles along with all the dash of a Keystone Kops chase... Louvish is expert in vivid description and insightful interpretation, and he brings these movies to life on the printed page like no other film historian.' Sunday Times 'An enjoyable and meticulous recreation of a pioneering, mythical era in Old Hollywood.' Empire