On the Trail of the Keystone Kops

Posted on December 3, 2010 by lmharnisch

  Oct. 25, 1915, Costume Ball  
 
Dec. 11, 1914, Keystone Comedians 		 

  Feb. 28, 1913, Keystone  

Oct. 25, 1915: Charlie Chaplin, Fatty Arbuckle … and Mayor Sebastian?

The ad for the costume ball is the earliest reference to the “Keystone Kops” that I can find in The Times. However, a little more digging turned up a Dec. 11, 1914, ad that refers to a live performance featuring the Keystone Comedians with the Keystone “Cops.”

One of the first references I found to the Keystone Comedy Co. is a Feb. 28, 1913, article about Mack Sennett taking over a mile of streetcar tracks around Central and Vernon for a picture (possibly “The New Conductor”) starring Ford Sterling.

The earliest reference I can find to Sennett in The Times is the Feb. 20, 1913, story of Barney Oldfield speeding him to rescue Mabel Normand, who had been tied to the railroad tracks. 

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About lmharnisch

I am retired from the Los Angeles Times
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2 Responses to On the Trail of the Keystone Kops

  1. Eve's avatar Eve says:
    December 3, 2010 at 6:51 am

    PLUS an impromptu cabaret with Blanche Ring and Lillian Lorraine? I’d pay five dollars to see that!

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  2. Brent Walker's avatar Brent Walker says:
    December 3, 2010 at 12:39 pm

    The 1913 streetcar production was indeed THE NEW CONDUCTOR. And “Spotter” Hatton is Raymond Hatton–the longtime character actor whose last role was in IN COLD BLOOD (1967).
    By the way, there’s a Keystone “split-reeler” (released with Charlie Chaplin’s A BUSY DAY on May 7, 1914) called THE MORNING PAPER, which is a documentary visit to the Los Angeles Times, where the cartoonist Gale is visited in his offices, and various printing, engraving, and linotype processes are shown. Unfortunately, no prints are known to exist.

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