[What is Slapstick? A Discussion of Definitions]

I think that something is missing from the definition. Slapstick is not 'ritualistic' in the sense that it demands absolute repetition. Like all comedy, it is repetition, with variation. The audience is shown what is probably going to happen, then is given a surprise. This is shown clearly in the BY THE SEA clip where Chaplin repeats a gag that he first used in THE TRAMP  a year previously; giving a back kick as he tosses something over his shoulder. But he tosses the banana peel with his right hand and does the little kick with his left foot. This makes the subsequent slip and fall on the banana peel as he heads screen left much funnier than if he simply dropped it and then slipped on it while walking screen left.

 

The number 3 is important in slapstick. The comic hero tries once and fails. They fail again on the second try. On the third try, they either succeed, or fail spectacularly. What is amazing to me is that the same template can be used in tragedy.

 

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[Discussion of the First Slapstick Film: "L'Arroseur Arrosé" (1896)]

I have an extremely rare copy of the 1888 edition of A. B Frost's STUFF AND NONSENSE cartoon book, and it contains the gag that was later developed into L'Arrouseur Arrosee by the Lumieres. This image does not appear in the reprint of the 1882 edition that was published by Fantagraphic Books a few years ago.

 

The image is attached.

 

As you can see the gag is is six years older than the film. Since Frost's book was a best seller, it is a good bet that the cartoon inspired the film

 

In fact, many silent comedies owe something to cartoons, including most early Keystones, quite a few Buster Keaton films, and (amazingly) one entire Roscoe Arbuckle comedy that was a remake of an animated film made six years earlier.

 

I'm looking forward to discussing this with some of you.

 

cheers!