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Mack Sennett
Sennett, Mack (1880-1960), American motion-picture
producer and director, who made a significant contribution to
silent films in the United States with the frenetic slapstick
comedy that he introduced and perfected. Sennett was the film
industry's first real producer, a versatile entrepreneur who
recognized and encouraged talent and who created a systematic
approach to production that yielded a large quantity of films.
Born Michael Sinnott in Danville, Quebec, Canada, he initially
worked as a laborer, although he had ambitions to become a singer.
He soon went to New York City, where he worked for a time in
burlesque and as a Broadway chorus boy. In 1908 he began his
film career at the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, working
with director D. W. Griffith as an actor and scriptwriter. By
1910 he was also doing some directing. In 1912, with financial
backing, he formed a new studio, Keystone, which rapidly became
the industry leader in the production of slapstick comedy films,
a genre that had originated in French silent films but was transformed
by Sennett into a more complex art form, inventive and often
even surrealistic. His particular style of comedy was largely
a result of his superb comic timing (demonstrated most vividly
in his chase scenes), a fondness for rude visual humor, and a
willingness to improvise. Indeed, at the outset his films were
mostly improvised farces with an endless stream of physical humor,
often at the expense of the established social order-as with
the antics of his popular Keystone Kops.
A discerning judge of talent, Sennett assembled a broad range
of performers in his company, among them actor Mabel Normand
(whom he had taken away from Biograph and with whom he had a
close relationship for many years) and others who became major
figures in silent comedy: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle,
Edgar Kennedy, Slim Summerville, Harry Swain, Chester Conklin,
and Ben Turpin. As the studio prospered, Sennett's films became
longer and more carefully planned, other directors were brought
in, and new series were added-notably the Mack Sennett Bathing
Beauties and the Kid Komedies (an early precursor of the Our
Gang films). Released from the responsibilities of directing,
Sennett devoted most of his time to administration and to editing,
overseeing the final cut of all his films.
In 1915 Keystone was merged as an autonomous unit into the new
Triangle Film Corporation, which united the talents of Sennett,
D. W. Griffith, and American producer Thomas Ince. With more
production funds at Sennett's disposal, his films became more
commercial and varied; he even made some romantic comedies with
actor Gloria Swanson. When Triangle folded in 1917, Sennett formed
a new company, Mack Sennett Comedies, producing longer comedy
short films and even a few feature-length films, usually with
Normand or Turpin. The most memorable of Sennett's features,
however, had been made earlier: Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914),
which starred Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand, and the young Charlie
Chaplin, who was discovered by Sennett in 1913. By 1923, when
Sennett ceased to work independently and began the first of a
series of associations with other organizations, his best films
were behind him. However, he continued to have a keen eye for
talent, launching the great comedian Harry Langdon during his
stint with the international motion-picture production studio
Pathé (1923-1929), making short films in sound with actors
W.C. Fields and Bing Crosby at Paramount Pictures (1932-1935),
and working with actor Buster Keaton in 1935 at Educational Pictures.
During the course of his 25-year career, Sennett produced more
than 1000 silent films and several dozen sound films. He retired
in 1935 at the age of 55.
In 1937 Sennett was honored with a special Academy Award "for
his lasting contribution to the comedy technique of the screen."
His autobiography, King of Comedy, was published in 1954.