They were the bad boy superstars of the Jazz Age. They told jokes without words, with punchlines made from brickbats and cream pies. At a time when pop culture was in its infancy, they made movies that would last for ages. They dressed in drag, wore crazy mostaches, showed a complete disregard for private property, and drove way too fast. This 3-disc collection is their legacy, a deluxe sampler of silent comedy rarities, B-sides, and one-hit wonders.

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Brace yourself for:

Comedians in skirts (some of 'em girls!), the nut who used too much glue, the Frenchman with a mouthful of marbles, Charlie Chaplin comedies that don't have Charlie Chaplin in them, the girl everyone thought was crazy, the incomparable Snub Pollard goes looking for trouble, famous brothers doing their thing, and a portrait of Harold Lloyd as young man.

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These never-before-on-home-video comedy shorts have been mastered from archival elements and rare collections, some of them previously thought lost altogether, and are presented with new musical scores.

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Hold on to your porkpie hat—
here comes AMERICAN SLAPSTICK, VOLUME TWO!

 

DISC ONE:

HAROLD LLOYD: PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN

LUKE JOINS THE NAVY • Harold Lloyd • 1916
Surviving extract from this rare Lonesome Luke short

BY THE SAD SEA WAVES • Harold Lloyd • 1917
Early glasses character short restored from 9.5mm materials.

BLISS • Harold Lloyd • 1917
Reconstructed from the surviving nitrate and 9.5mm materials, with the assistance of the Library of Congress.

HEY THERE • Harold Lloyd • 1918
Harold Lloyd in an early one-reel glasses short.

DON'T SHOVE • Harold Lloyd • 1919
Lloyd riffs on Chaplin's THE RINK in his own idiom.

THE HAL ROACH B-LIST

DODGE YOUR DEBTS • Gaylord Lloyd • 1921
Harold's brother creates his own brand of havoc. With thanks to David Shepard and Film Preservation Associates.

LOOKING FOR TROUBLE • Snub Pollard • 1919
One-reel short restored from nitrate and 16mm, thanks to Bruce Lawton.

WHIRL O' THE WEST • Snub Pollard • 1921
A rare one-reel Snub comedy restored from 9.5mm sources.

THE DIPPY DENTIST • Snub Pollard • 1920
Snub, Gaylord, Paul Parrott, and Sunshine Sammy Morrison--what's not to love?

SHIVER AND SHAKE • Paul Parrott • 1922
Paul Parrott and his bride face a haunted house, restored from 9.5mm.

POST NO BILLS • Paul Parrott • 1923
Paul Parrott and too much glue.

EDUCATIONAL PICTURES

A FRESH START • Jimmie Adams and Lige Conley • 1920
The first ever Educational Mermaid Comedy, directed by Jack White.

KID SPEED • Larry Semon • 1924
Larry the speed demon.

JONAH JONES • Lloyd Hamilton • 1924
Ham and Babe London in a two-reeler.

BREEZING ALONG • Lloyd Hamilton • 1927
Another complete Ham two-reeler.

 

DISC TWO:

CHARLIE WITHOUT CHAPLIN:

CHARLEY CARTOONS BY SULLIVAN/MESSMER • 1919
Excerpts from FELIX IN HOLLYWOOD and CHARLEY AT THE BEACH and the complete cartoon CHARLEY OUT WEST

THE HOBO • Billy West • 1917
A gorgeous print of this faux-Chaplin short with Billy West and Oliver Hardy.

OH SHOOT • Bobby Dunn • 1923
The second reel of this rare Arrow comedy, with special thanks to Steve Massa.

CHAPLIN WITHOUT CHARLIE:

CAUGHT IN A PARK • Syd Chaplin • 1915
Syd's Gussle in a Keystone one-reeler.

GUSSLE'S WAYWARD PATH • Syd Chaplin • 1915
Syd's Gussle in a Keystone one-reeler.

CHARLEY'S AUNT • Syd Chaplin • 1925
Syd in one of his biggest feature hits, sourced from material provided by All Day Entertainment and Film Preservation Associates.

 

DISC THREE:

HEARTS AND HAVOC:

BE REASONABLE • Billy Bevan • 1921
One of Bevan's best comedies.

AT YOUR SERVICE • Sid Smith and Harry McCoy • 1921
A Hallroom Boys comedy.

CALL THE WAGON • Neal Burns • 1923
A gag-addled Christie two-reeler about a fellow who frames his girl as a lunatic, only to get his in return.

THE GIRLIE SHOW:

HOLD STILL • Anne Cornwall • 1926
Anne is an aspiring photojournalist. This premise results in slapstick galore.

CINDERELLA CINDERS • Alice Howell • 1920
If you aren't an Alice Howell fan yet, you will be.

HASH HOUSE FRAUD • Louise Fazenda • 1915
Louise is a waitress at a lunch counter that descends into chaos.

FARO NELL • Louise Fazenda • 1929
Campy, double-entendre-packed Western spoof with Louise as un unwitting bigamist.

THE TALKIE ERA:

PLAYBOY NUMBER ONE • Willie Howard • 1937
Dialogue comedy on a steamship!

HOLLYWOOD RUNAROUND • Monte Collins • 1932
Goodnight, Monte!

AMERICAN SLAPSTICK ONLINE BONUS CONTENT
Silent comedy / classics / 9 mins / 1920 / B&W / silent
    
You know who you are: you've been bitten by the Snub bug. All these terrific Snub Pollard shorts on AMERICAN SLAPSTICK VOLUMES 1 & 2 and BECOMING CHARLEY CHASE have gotten you hungry for more. Well, we here at All Day Entertainment feel your pain--and we've responded. Exclusively available from this site is our version of FRESH PAINT.    
    
This one-reel short was directed by Alf Goulding and released to theaters March 7, 1920.  It stars Snub Pollard and Marie Mosquini, with Harold Lloyd's brother Gaylord Lloyd as a bike messenger, Noah Young as a jealous husband, and Eddie Boland as an artist.

The musical setting is derived from jazz recordings by Manolo Camp and Reno Project, published under a Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike Generic 2.5 license. For more of their music please follow this link.