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Mack Sennett (January 17, 1880 – November 5,
1960) was an innovator of slapstick comedy in
film. During his lifetime, he was known as "the
King of Comedy."


Born Michael Sinnott in Richmond, Quebec, Canada,
Sennett was a son of Irish immigrants. His father
was a blacksmith in the small Eastern Townships
village. 

Sennett became a singer, dancer, clown, actor, set
designer and director for American Mutoscope and
Biograph Company|Biograph, and founded Keystone
Studios in 1912 together with Adam Kessel. Many
important actors were discovered by him and
started their career at Keystone. Those include
Charlie Chaplin, Raymond Griffith, Gloria Swanson,
Ford Sterling, the Keystone Kops and many more.

Sennett first acted in films at Biograph Studios,
playing low comedy parts, usually oafish rural
types. His chance at directing came in 1912 at the
new Keystone brand. His fast-paced knockabout
style and good distribution as part of the Mutual
program, insured recognition of the Keystone trade
mark as well as his stars and his own name. In a
very short space of time, that name became
synonymous with screen comedy. In fact, when he
left to produce independently, to be released by
Paramount Pictures|Paramount in 1917, he didn't
fight to take the Keystone Brand with him, his own
name proved more valuable.

Into the 1920s, his short subjects were in great
demand, with stars such as Billy Bevan, Harry
Gribbon, Vernon Dent, Alice Day, Ralph Graves,
Charley Murray, and Harry Langdon. He produced
several features with his brightest stars such as
Ben Turpin and Mabel Normand.

In an ultimately poor business move in the mid
1920s, he moved over to Pathé distributors, which
although had a huge exchange, made bad decisions,
such as handling too many comedies at once,
including Sennett's main competitor, Hal Roach. In
1927, Hollywood's two top studios, Paramount
Studios|Paramount and MGM, seeing the profits
coming in from short-subject companies like Pathé
and Educational, both got back into their own
distribution and production after several years.
Roach signed up with MGM, leaving Sennett now by
himself at Pathé, but they were now on hard times
because the hundreds of exhibitors that used to
take their shorts had switched to the new MGM or
Paramount subjects. 

In 1928, Sennett bought property in the San
Fernando Valley on Ventura Boulevard in
Studio_City,_Los_Angeles,_California|Studio City,
founding his 38 acre (154,000 m²)
Keystone Studios.

Sennett occasionally experimented with color and
was the first to get a talkie short subject on the
market in 1928.  Less than successful films such
as "Hypnotized" with blackface comedians Mack and
Moran were done in the early 1930s near the end of
his career when he sold his backlog of films to
Warner Brothers. As moviegoers' tastes changed,
Warner used it for occasional stock footage and
eventually destroyed them when they took up too
much space. Today many Sennett films, especially
from his most productive and creative period no
longer exist.

In sum, Sennett's style made our great
grandfathers laugh, but he was loath to ever
change his formula of chases and messy fights. It
was very nearly the same from his first to his
last, aimed at the less demanding in the audience.
Today his name is still highly recognizable, even
to those who will have virtually no contact with
his films, and the term "Keystone Kops" has become
part of the language to describe incompetent
buffoons with some supposed authority.

He died in Woodland Hills, California|Woodland
Hills, California and was interred in the Holy
Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California|Culver
City, California.

	Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Mack Sennett (January 17, 1880 – November 5,
1960) was an innovator of slapstick comedy in
film. During his lifetime, he was known as "the
King of Comedy."


Born Michael Sinnott in Richmond, Quebec, Canada,
Sennett was a son of Irish Catholic immigrants.
His father was a blacksmith in the small Eastern
Townships village. 

Sennett became a singer, dancer, clown, actor, set
designer and director for American Mutoscope and
Biograph Company|Biograph, and founded Keystone
Studios in 1912 together with Adam Kessel. Many
important actors were discovered by him and
started their career at Keystone. Those include
Charlie Chaplin, Raymond Griffith, Gloria Swanson,
Ford Sterling, the Keystone Kops and many more.

Sennett first acted in films at Biograph Studios,
playing low comedy parts, usually oafish rural
types. His chance at directing came in 1912 at the
new Keystone brand. His fast-paced knockabout
style and good distribution as part of the Mutual
program, insured recognition of the Keystone trade
mark as well as his stars and his own name. In a
very short space of time, that name became
synonymous with screen comedy. In fact, when he
left to produce independently, to be released by
Paramount Pictures|Paramount in 1917, he didn't
fight to take the Keystone Brand with him, his own
name proved more valuable.

Into the 1920s, his short subjects were in great
demand, with stars such as Billy Bevan, Harry
Gribbon, Vernon Dent, Alice Day, Ralph Graves,
Charley Murray, and Harry Langdon. He produced
several features with his brightest stars such as
Ben Turpin and Mabel Normand.

In an ultimately poor business move in the
mid-1920s, he moved over to Pathé distributors,
which although had a huge exchange, made bad
decisions, such as handling too many comedies at
once, including Sennett's main competitor, Hal
Roach. In 1927, Hollywood's two top studios,
Paramount Studios|Paramount and MGM, seeing the
profits coming in from short-subject companies
like Pathé and Educational, both got back into
their own distribution and production after
several years. Roach signed up with MGM, leaving
Sennett now by himself at Pathé, but they were
now on hard times because the hundreds of
exhibitors that used to take their shorts had
switched to the new MGM or Paramount subjects. 

In 1928, Sennett bought property in the San
Fernando Valley on Ventura Boulevard in
Studio_City,_Los_Angeles,_California|Studio City,
founding his 38 acre (154,000 m²)
Keystone Studios.

Sennett occasionally experimented with color and
was the first to get a talkie short subject on the
market in 1928.  Less than successful films such
as "Hypnotized" with blackface comedians Mack and
Moran were done in the early 1930s near the end of
his career when he sold his backlog of films to
Warner Brothers. As moviegoers' tastes changed,
Warner used it for occasional stock footage and
eventually destroyed them when they took up too
much space. Today many Sennett films, especially
from his most productive and creative period no
longer exist.

In sum, Sennett's style made our great
grandfathers laugh, but he was loath to ever
change his formula of chases and messy fights. It
was very nearly the same from his first to his
last, aimed at the less demanding in the audience.
Today his name is still highly recognizable, even
to those who will have virtually no contact with
his films, and the term "Keystone Kops" has become
part of the language to describe incompetent
buffoons with some supposed authority.

He died in Woodland Hills, California|Woodland
Hills, California at the age of 80, and was
interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver
City, California|Culver City, California.

==See also==
*List of Quebec film directors
*Cinema of Quebec
*Culture of Quebec
*Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood