Coney Island (1917 film)

Coney Island
Coney Island
	French theatrical poster for film
Directed by	Roscoe Arbuckle
Written by	Roscoe Arbuckle
Produced by	Joseph M. Schenck
Starring	Roscoe Arbuckle ; Buster Keaton ; Al St. John
Cinematography	George Peters
Edited by	Herbert Warren
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	October 29, 1917;
Running time	24 minutes
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

Last updated January 26, 2024

Coney Island (also known as Fatty at Coney Island) is a 1917 American two-reel silent comedy film starring, written and directed by Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and featuring Buster Keaton.

Synopsis

Fatty has been dragged along to Coney Island by his wife who insists they spend their time together on the beach. Getting inspiration from a dog digging a hole in the sand, Fatty ditches his wife by burying himself in the sand then making a run for the amusement park as she searches for him. Fatty's wife enlists the help of an old friend (Al St. John, referred to as "Old Friend") who enters the park to look for Fatty, however once inside he notices an attractive young lady (Alice Mann, referred to as "Pretty Girl") who is there on a date with a young man (Buster Keaton, referred to as "Rival") and promptly woos her into entering the park with him rather than Rival, leaving the latter distraught.

Finding he has no money, Rival gains entry to the park by hiding in a barrel and follows Pretty Girl and Old Friend around the park. Once inside, Rival and Old Friend both attempt to impress Pretty Girl, Rival by trying to win on the high striker and Old Friend by buying her ice cream but Pretty Girl is ultimately unimpressed by both men's childish behavior

Fatty shows up on the scene and is likewise smitten with Pretty Girl and begins making polite conversation with her. When Old Friend returns with the ice cream, Fatty pretends he got them for her in order to impress her which it does. Old Friend furiously threatens Fatty, but Fatty kicks a nearby policemen in the rear and makes him think Old Friend did it leading to the latter being arrested.

Fatty and Pretty Girl next go for a ride on the log flumes but the force of the impact upon hitting the water sends both flying into the surrounding pool. Rival saves Pretty Girl and Fatty but is immediately knocked accidentally into the pool by Fatty who, seeing that Rival can swim and will not drown, once again walks off with Pretty Girl. Spotting his wife looking for him, Fatty takes Pretty Girl into a nearby boathouse and the two dress up (Fatty as a woman and Pretty Girl in a new dress and a long wig) to avoid detection before heading to the beach.

Arbuckle's wife has heard that Old Friend has been arrested and bails him out of jail and the two go to the beach to come up with a new plan where they bump into Fatty and Pretty Girl in their disguises. Old Friend finds himself attracted to Fatty dressed up as a woman and flirts with him before Rival arrives on the scene and reveals that the woman is in fact Fatty. Furious, Old Friend chases Fatty to the sea where they begin to fight. Pretty Girl, realizing that Old Friend is a sleazy womanizer and Fatty has a wife, decides to return to Rival and the two run off down the beach together. Fatty's wife calls the police to break up the fight and three police officers (The Keystone Cops) arrive at the beach to arrest both men. They are taken to jail but before they can be locked up they overpower all of the cops and throw them in the jail cell. Before Fatty can leave he receives a furious dressing down from his wife until he can take no more and throws her in the jail cell as well.

In the film's closing moments Fatty and Old Friend stand on the police steps and agree that the pursuit of women was the reason for all of their misfortune today and both swear off women for good. However, just after making this pact two attractive women walk past them and the two gleefully give chase.

In the original ending to the film Arbuckle approaches a well-dressed woman on the street. She turns and is revealed to be a Black woman. Arbuckle mugs for the camera and runs away in a parody of fear. Most cuts of the film since the 1920's have deleted this reveal and end the film with Arbuckle approaching the woman from behind.

Cast

Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle - Fatty
Agnes Neilson - Fatty's wife
Al St. John - Old friend of Fatty's wife
Buster Keaton - Rival / cop with mustache
Alice Mann - Pretty girl
Joe Bordeaux - Sledgehammer Man / Cop (as Joe Bordeau)
Jimmy Bryant
Alice Lake
Luke the Dog - uncredited

Production notes

The film was shot on location at Coney Island, and prominently features many contemporary rides and attractions as venues for the slapstick action. These include The Witching Waves and Shoot-the-Chutes.

Coney Island was filmed before Keaton had fully established his screen persona. Because of this, he employs a wide range of facial expressions, including mugging and laughing, differing drastically from his subsequent unsmiling, but still eloquent, expression.

Arbuckle breaks the fourth wall in one scene where, about to change his clothes, he directly looks at the camera and gestures for it to raise its view above his waist; the camera obligingly does so.

Reception

Like many American films of the time, Coney Island was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. The Chicago Board of Censors required a cut of a scene with a girl raising her dress above her knee.^[2] The original ending was considered racist by the mid-1920s and was cut from the film.

Related Research Articles

Sherlock Jr. is a 1924 American silent comedy film directed by and starring Buster Keaton and written by Clyde Bruckman, Jean Havez, and Joseph A. Mitchell. It features Kathryn McGuire, Joe Keaton, and Ward Crane.

Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle was an American silent film actor, director, and screenwriter. He started at the Selig Polyscope Company and eventually moved to Keystone Studios, where he worked with Mabel Normand and Harold Lloyd as well as with his nephew, Al St. John. He also mentored Charlie Chaplin, Monty Banks and Bob Hope, and brought vaudeville star Buster Keaton into the movie business. Arbuckle was one of the most popular silent stars of the 1910s and one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood, signing a contract in 1920 with Paramount Pictures for $1,000,000 a year.

Seven Chances is a 1925 American silent comedy film directed by and starring Buster Keaton, based on the play of the same name by Roi Cooper Megrue, produced in 1916 by David Belasco. Additional cast members include T. Roy Barnes, Snitz Edwards, and Ruth Dwyer. Jean Arthur, a future star, has an uncredited supporting role. The film's opening scenes were shot in early Technicolor.

The Butcher Boy is a 1917 American two-reel silent comedy film written by, directed by, and starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and featuring Al St. John, Buster Keaton and Alice Lake. This was the first in Arbuckle's series of films with the Comique Film Corporation, and Keaton's film debut.

Out West is a 1918 American two-reel silent comedy film, a satire on contemporary Westerns, starring Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Buster Keaton, and Al St. John. It was the first of Arbuckle's "Comique" films to be filmed on the West Coast, the previous five having been filmed in and around New York City. The idea for the story came from Natalie Talmadge, who was later to become Keaton's first wife.

The Cook is a 1918 American two-reel silent comedy film written by, directed by, and starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and featuring Buster Keaton and Al St. John. The movie is a slapstick comedy and focuses on goings-on at a high-end restaurant with Arbuckle as the Cook and Keaton as the Waiter.

<i>Good Night, Nurse!</i> 1918 American film directed by Roscoe Arbuckle

Good Night, Nurse! is a 1918 American two-reel silent comedy film written by, and directed by, and starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and featuring Buster Keaton. The action centers in a sanitarium where Arbuckle's character is involuntarily brought to by his wife to be operated on by Keaton's character for alcoholism.

<i>The Garage</i> (1920 film) 1920 film by Roscoe Arbuckle

The Garage is a 1920 American two-reel silent comedy film directed by and starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and featuring Buster Keaton. This was the fourteenth and last film starring the duo before Keaton set up his own studio and Arbuckle started making feature-length films. The film also stars Luke the Dog, who starred in many other short comedies with Arbuckle. The film was also known as Fire Chief.

The Bell Boy is a 1918 American two-reel silent comedy film directed by Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle for the Comique film company.

The Waiters' Ball is a 1916 American silent short comedy film directed by and starring Fatty Arbuckle. Arbuckle's nephew Al St. John has a memorable role as Roscoe's rival. The film is extant.

A Reckless Romeo is a 1917 American short silent comedy film directed by and starring Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle.

The Rough House is a 1917 American two-reel silent comedy film written by, directed by, and starring both Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Buster Keaton. The Rough House was Keaton's first film as a director.

His Wedding Night is a 1917 American two-reel silent comedy film written, directed by, and starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.

Oh Doctor! is a 1917 American two-reel silent comedy film directed by and starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and featuring Buster Keaton.

Moonshine is a 1918 American two-reel silent comedy film directed by and starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and featuring Buster Keaton. The movie is available on Youtube.

The Hayseed is a 1919 American two-reel silent comedy film directed by and starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and featuring Buster Keaton.

The Frozen North is a 1922 American short comedy film directed by and starring Buster Keaton. The film is a parody of early western films, especially those of William S. Hart. The film was written by Keaton and Edward F. Cline. The film runs for around 17 minutes. Sybil Seely and Bonnie Hill co-star in the film.

Alice Mann was an American silent film actress.

Luke the Dog (1913–1926) was an Staffordshire Bull Terrier that performed as a recurring character in American silent comedy shorts between 1914 and 1920. He was also the personal pet of actress Minta Durfee and her husband, the comedian and director Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.

Louis Anger was an American vaudeville performer and movie studio executive. During the early days of the American silent film industry, Anger was considered to be "the king of slapstick comedy producers," and was instrumental in developing the film careers of famed actors Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton.

References

↑ Knopf, Robert (August 2, 1999). The theater and cinema of Buster Keaton. Princeton University Press. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-691-00442-6 . Retrieved 21 October 2010.
↑ "Official Cut-Outs by the Chicago Board of Censors". Exhibitors Herald. New York City: Exhibitors Herald Company. 5 (20): 33. November 10, 1917.

External links

The short film Coney Island is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive .
Coney Island at IMDb
Coney Island at AllMovie
Progressive Silent Film List: Coney Island at silentera.com
Coney Island on YouTube
Coney Island at the International Buster Keaton Society

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[Knopf1999-1] Knopf, Robert (August 2, 1999). The theater and cinema of Buster Keaton. Princeton University Press. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-691-00442-6 . Retrieved 21 October 2010.

[2] "Official Cut-Outs by the Chicago Board of Censors". Exhibitors Herald. New York City: Exhibitors Herald Company. 5 (20): 33. November 10, 1917.

[1]

[2]