Looking for Mabel Normand

 

 

‘Fatty and Mabel at the San Diego Exposition’ was filmed in 1915 but others Keystone comedies were also done in San Diego, One interesting reference that I found at the San Diego Historical Society was that they thought that Sennett made ‘Barney Olfield’s Race for Life’ at Lakeside, but from what I have been able to find it was made on the train track at the Inglewood Station and the races were filmed in Los Angeles.  Sennett did make in 1913, a Roscoe Arbuckle comedy called ‘Fatty at San Diego: A Jealous Husband ‘, IMDb reports that Mabel was in the film, she wasn’t. Keystone made a number of short documentaries about the Exposition.

 

In ‘Fatty and Mabel at the San Diego Exposition’ , Minta Durfee, Roscoe Arbuckle’s wife, plays the part of the victim of Roscoe’s flirting and Mabel plays his ‘jealous’ wife.  The next time you view this fun ramp watch for the film processing at the Exposition’s movie studio, Mabel does and the electric chairs, what fun.  This is truly a modern ‘Punch and Judy Show.’

 

After doing the little article on Ferris Hartman, I realized that Roscoe’s dancing with the ‘hula’ dancers found in ‘Fatty and Mabel at the San Diego Exposition’ wasn’t the first time, Roscoe danced the hula.  According to the Ferris, Roscoe had been in Hawaii for 3 weeks learning to dance the hula and teaching the “The Honolulu maid” to ‘RAG’.

 

 

 

For the beginning of the planning of the Panama-California Exposition, the moving picture industry had a hand in promoting the Exposition in 1915. San Diego staged this Exposition in 1915 to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal. San Diego would be the first American port of call north of the Panama Canal on the Pacific coast. They had been working on the Exposition from braking ground in 1907.

Mabel was very aware of the power of advertising and the whole comedy is a promotional piece for the  Exposition, she was the guest of honor at Los Angeles Ad Club she had extolled the virtues of advertising

 

While Mabel was working on Mickey a story appeared in the Motion Picture Magazine of January 1917 that she was taking a one-day vacation to return to the San Diego Exposition, to see the sights again and deliver two little talks and sign around three thousand autographs, pose with the Mayor and was the guest at a banquet.

 

FATTY AND MABEL AT THE SAN DIEGO EXPOSITION

Keystone-Mutual

1 reel,  © January 23, 1915

Fatty and Mabel at the Fair

Director Roscoe Arbuckle

Cast:  Roscoe Arbuckle, Mabel Normand, Minta Durfee, Harry Gribbon, Edgar Kennedy, Frank Hayes

Finished:  January 11, 1915

Location:  San Diego, CA