Author Archive: Retro

Action scenes of early automobile racing highlight this story of Papa’s efforts to thwart Mabel’s romantic infatuation with a race car driver. Of historical interest.

Also known as “Fatty’s Magic Pants,” Fatty looks forward to a formal occasion. But he needs the proper attire. He encounters unbelievable difficulties as he gets ready. A simple idea that’s good for laughs.

After rescuing the Police Commissioner’s daughter from drowning, Fatty is rewarded with a position on the force. But he soon discovers that his job isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. The Keystone Kops meet Franz Kafka.

Also known as “Mabel, Fatty, and the Law,” this sheer delight of a short features the two protagonists as a married couple. After a fight caused by his flirtation with the maid, Fatty and Mabel walk through the park. In typically convoluted Keystone fashion, they are mixed up with another couple. The cops become involved when they believe that the “No Spooning” law has been violated, resulting in Mabel and the other woman’s husband in the clink. An amusing statement on morality in the early 1900s.

Buster bids farewell to his girlfriend and sets out on a small boat. Later, without any food or water, he is taken on board the Love Nest, managed by a despotic captain. Making his escape, he encounters a large flotation device which he does not recognize as a target for nautical maneuvers. It is blown to smithereens. Suddenly Buster realizes that it was all a dream and to his consternation, discovers that his small boat has never left dock.