Saw this appear with the old monthly YouTube search for content and thought it was pretty much a hidden gem of a pie fight that not too many peeps reference when it comes to mainstream content. Made me think. Is there any WAM hidden gems that don't get the time of day as they might deserve?
Sadly there's not a full cast list for this film, but the woman who gets hit after exclaiming "The police will hear of this!" is Marie Provost, who sadly died just a few years after making this, aged only 40. She started out in films when she was just 19.
It's actually amazing how young some of the women who starred in the silent slapstick films were - for example, it's not included in her wikipedia, but Marie had a younger sister called Peggy, who was only 13 or 14 when she started appearing in some Sennett and then Fox shorts. She retired from acting - to work in the art department at MGM - barely 21!
Sadly because slapstick history was chosen to mostly be written about the men - Mabel Normand gets a look in, as she should, given that she started directing films before Chaplin did - a lot of these actors have been underrated and ignored by film history.
I'm a huge fan of the "Keystone Hotel" short. I first saw parts of it used in a pasta commercial in the 90s (while watching Stooge TV on The Family Channel, no less). This is the definitive Keystone pie fight and every person who gets hit gets pied quite well, male and female alike. That first woman who gets hit has that great pre-pie line when she says "How DARE you give it to her when I should get it!" and gets absolutely plastered with a perfectly thrown creamy pie. Unfortunately I've never read anywhere what her name is since so many of the cast are uncredited.
Though it's a tribute to Mack Sennett's Keystone Kops shorts, "Keystone Hotel" is one of the reasons people believe there were more pies thrown in those films. It's really an excellent little slapstick film all by itself and because of the later year it was made it's been saved and seen by very many people (it was sold as a reel that collectors could play on their home projectors).
For those who are interested, I highly recommend a book called "Slapstick Divas: The Women of Silent Comedy" by Steve Massa. It features all of the women of that era, including many known and unknown character actresses.
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