A FISHY AFFAIR (1913)

[Gloria Rampage]

This Keystone comedy aired last night on TCM's Mack Sennett Collection Tribute. Starring Ford Sterling, it is a funny and very silly short. One scene has Ford being chased by a cop, hopping over live alligators. No faking going on. Quite a sequence.
Anyone know where the location this was shot at? Guessing the LA Zoo, am sure others would have more knowledge about it.

[silentfilm]

Paul's restoration was screened at Cinecon last Monday, and there were gasps from the audience when the actors jumped over the obviously live alligators. I didn't think that it was that great of a comedy though.

[Richard M Roberts]

This Keystone comedy aired last night on TCM's Mack Sennett Collection Tribute. Starring Ford Sterling, it is a funny and very silly short. One scene has Ford being chased by a cop, hopping over live alligators. No faking going on. Quite a sequence.
Anyone know where the location this was shot at? Guessing the LA Zoo, am sure others would have more knowledge about it.

Hey, an actual comment regarding one of the Sennett films!

I don't believe the LA Zoo existed at the time, it may have been at the Selig Zoo, but I think it is most likely someone's private Alligator Farm. There was good money raising Alligators in those days of Alligator shoes and handbags. The whole location for A FISHY TALE looks even more rural than average even for the 1913 Los Angeles area, so they may have gone out to somebody's farm for the day to cavort among the gators.

I think A FISHY TALE is a fun little film, and Sterling's performance is delightful.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

[boblipton]

I thought the argument with the embankment was very funny.

Bob

[Gloria Rampage]

Seems it just might be an alligator farm. Ford Sterlings performance makes it worth while. As usual he is full of comic energy. It's a split reel only about six minutes. Made me laugh.

When the cop runs through he slips and you can see a few alligators snapping at him. It cuts away quick to the next scene.

[odinthor]

There was an alligator farm across the street from East Lake Park (Lincoln Park) in L.A. Here's a link to a site about it, with many pictures:

http://www.lincolnheightsla.com/alligator/" target="_blank" target="_blank

You'll note in the text a statement that it eventually moved to Buena Park, just across the street from Knott's Berry Farm. I visited it in that incarnation of the attraction.

[Gloria Rampage]

Very interesting. That must be the place Sennett shot at. Stan Laurel can be seen near the Los Angeles Ostrich Farm in early scenes of THE LUCKY DOG, the fence behind him is visible with large lettering "LO-ANGELES" and I think "OS" in some shots.

[Richard M Roberts]

There was an alligator farm across the street from East Lake Park (Lincoln Park) in L.A. Here's a link to a site about it, with many pictures:

http://www.lincolnheightsla.com/alligator/" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

You'll note in the text a statement that it eventually moved to Buena Park, just across the street from Knott's Berry Farm. I visited it in that incarnation of the attraction.

Well, there you go, and how could Sennett pass up an opportunity like an Alligator Farm? At least it appears that nobody is running through full-grown gators in A FISHY TALE. If it was Henry Lehrman, the comics would have been starring in the "Stumpy" comedies after appearing there.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

[entredeuxguerres]

There was an alligator farm across the street from East Lake Park (Lincoln Park) in L.A. Here's a link to a site about it, with many pictures:

Astonishing! Always assumed Florida held the patent on such attractions! Having owned two pet-store "alligators" (actually, South Am. caimans, I much later learned) in my reptile-mad boyhood, my parents would have had to drag me out of the place.

So did this farm supply the gators seen in Sparrows?

[Gloria Rampage]

Just adore the thought process behind the scenes to these comedies...Ford Sterlings out fishing, what does he catch? An alligator! Sure why not. It's not even questioned there are no alligators in desert climate southern California. It's an outragous, silly gag coming out of no where. Really made me laugh.

Then it was realized I'm watching a 100 year old comedy that's funnier than anything modern. Thank you Keystone, happy 100th anniversary.

[Richard M Roberts]

Just adore the thought process behind the scenes to these comedies...Ford Sterlings out fishing, what does he catch? An alligator! Sure why not. It's not even questioned there are no alligators in desert climate southern California. It's an outragous, silly gag coming out of no where. Really made me laugh.

Then it was realized I'm watching a 100 year old comedy that's funnier than anything modern. Thank you Keystone, happy 100th anniversary.

The creative process with Sennett would most likely have been the opposite direction, a case of "Hey, there's an Alligator Farm, how can we get Ford Sterling mixed up in it?'. Sennett was great at happy accidents. A Kid Auto Race in Venice? Send Lehrman and Chaplin out there and see what happens. They're draining Echo Lake? Mabel in the Mud. Oil Fire? THE GUSHER! When you're cranking out a reel or more a week, you take advantage of whatever scenery or event is being offered you.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

[Tommy Stathes]

Richard,

Several are curious to know...was this most fascinating film from the Roberts collection?

Cordially,
Tom

[Richard M Roberts]

Richard,

Several are curious to know...was this most fascinating film from the Roberts collection?

Cordially,
Tom

Yeah.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

[Tommy Stathes]

Thank you, Robert. It is this dedication to access that will hopefully give collectors a better name in our preservation circles as time moves forward.

Tom

[Richard M Roberts]

Thank you, Robert. It is this dedication to access that will hopefully give collectors a better name in our preservation circles as time moves forward.

Tom

You're Welcome Tom,even if you called me Robert, happy to oblige, at least until some whiner makes noises about pointless things like copyright notices on end titles. One of these days I might just take my films and stay home.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

[Tommy Stathes]

Thank you, Robert. It is this dedication to access that will hopefully give collectors a better name in our preservation circles as time moves forward.

Tom

You're Welcome Tom,even if you called me Robert, happy to oblige, at least until some whiner makes noises about pointless things like copyright notices on end titles. One of these days I might just take my films and stay home.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

Hah! “My bad”, as the kids say. You are definitely Richard, not Robert.

And as you may be seeing now, I’ve given my own thoughts on the copyright situation.

[Gloria Rampage]

RICHARD M ROBERTS
When you're cranking out a reel or more a week, you take advantage of whatever scenery or event is being offered you.

Yes of course. But there was still a planning of the situations involved. Ford fishing a live alligator needs preparation before they shoot the scene so the gator is attached securely to the fishing line so it doesn't leap and scamper about to prevent Sterling from getting bitten.

As simple as it sounds of "shooting off the cuff" these filmmakers did have to plan ahead, especially for location shooting. No matter how fast the schedule, they had to have gathered all the props, costumes, mustaches, etc they figured would be needed with them before they went.

[Richard M Roberts]

Thank you, Robert. It is this dedication to access that will hopefully give collectors a better name in our preservation circles as time moves forward.

Tom

You're Welcome Tom,even if you called me Robert, happy to oblige, at least until some whiner makes noises about pointless things like copyright notices on end titles. One of these days I might just take my films and stay home.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

Hah! “My bad”, as the kids say. You are definitely Richard, not Robert.

And as you may be seeing now, I’ve given my own thoughts on the copyright situation.

Not a problem, and a tip of the hat this sides to you for the work you've done and do in preserving and sharing silent animation. You hit the nail on the head, a lot more diplomatically than I care to (or Mr. Gebert's thought police will allow apparently), but the losers and whiners who couldn't do it if they tried let the screaming voices in their heads spoil the fun for them and all. The miracle they miss is that Sennett films, including some that even Brent Walker hadn't seen before actually ran on prime-time television in beautiful versions, darn good scores, and proper film speeds, a hundred or so years after they were made, and it cost pennies to see them, and yet they speak faster than their brains. They deserve to be bugged by the copyright notices, or whatever nit-picky nonsense their demons can raise to stop their enjoyment. As always, they are not really entitled to see any of it and they are damn lucky to see what they get, but that doesn't mean we that actually bring it to them are going to put up with their nonsense, the pay ain't enough.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

[Richard M Roberts]

RICHARD M ROBERTS
When you're cranking out a reel or more a week, you take advantage of whatever scenery or event is being offered you.

Yes of course. But there was still a planning of the situations involved. Ford fishing a live alligator needs preparation before they shoot the scene so the gator is attached securely to the fishing line so it doesn't leap and scamper about to prevent Sterling from getting bitten.

As simple as it sounds of "shooting off the cuff" these filmmakers did have to plan ahead, especially for location shooting. No matter how fast the schedule, they had to have gathered all the props, costumes, mustaches, etc they figured would be needed with them before they went.

Nobody said the films weren't planned. In fact, it's a total myth that most comedy movies were ad-libbed as they went along. Sennett Comedies were well planned indeed, you can't do wild stunts, special effects, camera set-ups sometimes numbering in the hundreds for a two-reeler without planning and a large staff. As we go through a pretty decent sampling of the whole Sennett canon, you'll see as he spends more and more money on production just how well-oiled a machine the Sennett Studio became, and how many of Sennett's employees and staff were the best at what they did. When Sennett essentially closed the Studio and laid everyone off in the late 20's as he shut down silent production and built his new soundstages in Studio City, the technical staffs at a number of other studios, especially Warner Brothers and Columbia, swelled and improved mightily. For years, Warner Brothers Special Effects Department was headed by old Sennett staffers like Hans Koenekamp and Byron Haskin.

The point being made was that Sennett, especially in the early days, frequently created comedy films around incidents, events, and locations that might make for an exiting story, and they're budget would never allow them to stage, and yes, sometimes without little advance notice, crews would be sent to parades, public dances, accidental conflagrations, car races, and footage was shot, then sometimes stories were developed around the footage they got AFTER it had been shot. Once Sennett was able to build his staff and studio to what it became, this ceased happening, and one of the charms of the early Keystone films was lost.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

[Jim Reid]

They're draining Echo Lake? Mabel in the Mud.

I noticed that they have again drained Echo Lake. Where's Mabel and a cameraman when you need them!