Mack Sennett: Encyclopedia II - Mack Sennett - Keystone Studios

Mack Sennett - Keystone Studios

Born Michael Sinnott in Richmond, Quebec, Canada Sennett was a son of Irish Catholic immigrant farmers; his father was a blacksmith in the small Eastern Townships village. At age seventeen his family moved to Connecticut.

In New York City, Sennett became a singer, dancer, clown, actor (mostly playing low comedy parts, usually oafish rural types), set designer and director for Biograph. With financial backing from Adam Kessel and Charles O. Bauman of the New York Motion Picture Company, in 1912 Sennett founded Keystone Studios in Glendale, California. Many important actors started their careers at Keystone, including Charlie Chaplin, Raymond Griffith, Gloria Swanson, George O'Hara, Ford Sterling, the Keystone Kops plus he hired and trained F. Richard Jones who would become a brillant director/producer.

Sennett's slapstick comedies were noted for their wild car chases and custard pie warfare. His films featured a bevy of girls known as the Sennett Bathing Beauties which included Juanita Hansen and Phyllis Haver, as well as Mabel Normand, who became a major star (and with whom he embarked on a tumultuous personal relationship). Sennett also developed the Kid Komedies, a forerunner of the Our Gang films and in a short time his name became synonymous with screen comedy. In 1915 Keystone Studios became an autonomous production unit of the Triangle Pictures Corporation with D. W. Griffith and Thomas Ince.

In 1917 Sennett gave up the Keystone trademark and organized his own company, Mack Sennett Comedies Corporation, producing longer comedy short films and a few feature-length films. During the 1920s his short subjects were in much demand, with stars like Billy Bevan, Harry Gribbon, Vernon Dent, Alice Day, Ralph Graves, Charley Murray and Harry Langdon. He produced several features with his brightest stars such as Ben Turpin and Mabel Normand.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Keystone Studios", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki