Immigrant of the Day: Mack Sennett (Canada)

Mack Sennett (1880-1960) was an innovator of slapstick comedy in film. During his lifetime he was known as the “King of Comedy.”

Born Michael Sinnott in the province of Quebec, Canada, Sennett was a son of Irish Catholic immigrant farmers. At age 17, his family moved to Connecticut. The family lived for a time in Massachusetts, where, according to his autobiography, Sennett first got the idea to go on stage after seeing a vaudeville show.

In New York City, Sennett became a singer, dancer, clown, actor set designer and director for Biograph. In 1912, Sennett founded Keystone Studios in Edendale, California, (which is now a part of Echo Park). Many important actors started their careers with Sennett, including Mabel Normand. Charlie Chaplin, Raymond Griffith, Gloria Swanson, Ford Sterling, Andy Clyde, The Keystone Kops, Bing Crosby, and W. C. Fields.

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. Sennett also developed the Kid Comedies, 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 ambitious Triangle Pictures Corporation, as Sennett joined forces with D. W. Griffith and Thomas Ince.

In 1917, Sennett gave up the Keystone trademark and organized his own company, Mack Sennett Comedies Corporation. Sennett went on to produce more ambitious comedy short films and a few feature-length films. During the 1920s his short subjects were in much demand.

Today the name of Mack Sennett is still highly recognizable and the term “Keystone Cops” has become part of the American lexicon, describing incompetent buffoons with supposed authority.

KJ