Mabel Normand

One way or another, the Hollywood police have been kept busy with murders on their ground. There are numerous theories about the killings of Thelma Todd, Jack Healy (Three Stooges), Elizabeth Short, alias The Black Dahlia, Bugsy Siegal and Johnny Stompano. The files of William Desmond Taylor, Raymond Navarro and Sal Mineo are also re-opened. Femmes fatales are often deadly for the man's wallet or reputation -- these ladies killed for real. From Calamity Jane, gang boss Ma Baker and New York madame Polly Adler to axe-murderess Winnie Ruth Judd and others, we look at the Black Widow Spider syndrome. Rare archival footage and many hitherto unseen interviews, film, video clip tapes, and photographs are included in this hour-long program.

A frustrated, protective father tries to stop his secretaries from falling in love with his charming daughter, Betty. He hires two secretaries— only for them to be in on the practical jokes Betty plays on her father.

Before the G, PG and R ratings system there was the Production Code, and before that there was, well, nothing. This eye-opening documentary examines the rampant sexuality of early Hollywood through movie clips and reminiscences by stars of the era. Gloria Swanson, Mary Pickford, Marlene Dietrich and others relate tales of the artistic freedom that led to the draconian Production Code, which governed content from 1934 to 1968. Diane Lane narrates.

A Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle & Mabel Normand comedy short. The film is considered lost.

A womanizing city man meets Tillie in the country. When he sees that her father has a very large bankroll for his workers, he persuades her to elope with him.

The manager of a small town hotel installs a cabaret in an attempt to achieve the standard set by restaurants in the large cities. His effort is ludicrous because of the fact that his talent is all recruited from the help in the hotel. Roscoe, the cook, is forced to appear in a dress suit and when Al St. John appears from the bar there is a lively rivalry between the two for the applause of the crowd. Mabel, the waitress, vies with a professional dancer from the city. Into this setting comes William Jefferson, a polished sharper, who takes the innocent Mabel by storm.

A constable and his sergeant are rivals for a girl, and to impress her they both attempt to apprehend an escaped convict. Probably the first Keystone film with comedic cops; Keystone trade ads upon its release heralded as, "An uproarious 'Cop' picture."

Donald Gray, living with his mother in Scotland, through the friendship of the family physician, is offered an opportunity to go to America to study medicine. He leaves with his mother's blessings. Five years later, Donald is a physician with a successful practice in New York City. One of his patients has grown very fond of him; at the same time the young physician has grown fond of this gentleman's daughter, and is engaged to be married to her. His mother resolves to pay him an unexpected visit.

Hello, Mabel (also known as On a Busy Wire) is a 1914 American short silent comedy film directed by Mack Sennett.

Charlie plays an actor who bungles several scenes and is kicked out. He returns convincingly dressed as a lady and charms the director, but Charlie never makes it into the film.

Bashful Mack has his friend Fred take flowers and presents to his girl Mabel by proxy, but the "friend" takes advantage and lures her to the altar in Mack's place.

Three men compete for the attentions of a pretty girl. One of them, a little tramp, plays dirty.

A short silent comedy starring Mabel Normand and Ford Sterling.

The whole world knows him. Burlesque comedy genius, popular actor, author, director, producer, composer, choreographer, Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) used his talent to serve an ideal of justice and freedom. But his best scenario was his own destiny, a story written into the political and artistic history of the 20th century.

John and Mary divorce their spouses to marry each other. Mary dies after giving birth and the baby is taken in by John's first wife, Martha. She refuses all contact with John until many years later when he becomes ill and she finally forgives him for deserting her.

First National gala celebrity banquet with stars.

A tramp gets drunk in a hotel lobby and, upstairs, causes some misunderstandings between Mabel, two hotel guests across the hall from her room, and Mabel's visiting sweetheart.

Sis is an eccentric young girl in a small rural village. While most around Sis view her as a joke, she is loved by Ridy Scarboro, the clerk at the general store. One day Sis's dog knocks an oil can into the Hopkins well and when wealthy old Vibert tastes the water, he believes the Hopkins have an oil strike.....

A compilation featuring comedic stars of the silent era including Fatty Arbuckle, Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Charley Chase, and Laurel and Hardy.

Sue Graham is a small town girl who wants to be a motion picture star. She wins a contract when a picture of a very pretty girl is sent to a studio instead of her picture. When she arrives in Hollywood, the mistake is discovered and she starts working in the props department of the studio instead. Her parents then come out to California and invest some money with a very shifty individual.

The edition of Screen Snapshots celebrates 25 years of production. It looks at the content of edition #1, then a tribute to movie people who have died in those 25 years. Finally there are tributes to the Screen Snapshots series by Cecil De Mille, Walt Disney, Louella Parsons and Rosalind Russell.

Two rivals for Mabel's hand play a series of dirty tricks on each other. Finally, one of them gets Mabel alone and is about to marry her, but his rival comes up with a strange scheme to stop them. Soon the Keystone Kops arrive on the scene, and chaos quickly ensues.

The first talkie was directed by Alice Guy, the first color film was produced by Lois Weber, who directed more than 300 films over 10 years. Frances Marion wrote screenplays for the Hollywood Star Mary Pickford and won two Oscars, Dorothy Arzner was the most powerful film director in Hollywood. And what do all of them have in common? They are all women and they have all been forgotten. Incredibly, it also took until 2010 for the first woman, Kathryn Bigelow, to win the Oscar for Best Director. Even if underrepresented women have always played a big part in Hollywood and it is this part of the film history left untold that this documentary sets out to uncover.

Charlie is a clumsy waiter in a cheap cabaret, suffering the strict orders from his boss. He meets a pretty girl in the park and tries to impress her by pretending to be an ambassador. Unfortunately she has a jealous fiancé.

A tramp gets drunk in a hotel lobby and, upstairs, causes some misunderstandings between Mabel, two hotel guests across the hall from her room, and Mabel's visiting sweetheart.

Charlie is a clumsy waiter in a cheap cabaret, suffering the strict orders from his boss. He meets a pretty girl in the park and tries to impress her by pretending to be an ambassador. Unfortunately she has a jealous fiancé.

Charlie is a clumsy waiter in a cheap cabaret, suffering the strict orders from his boss. He meets a pretty girl in the park and tries to impress her by pretending to be an ambassador. Unfortunately she has a jealous fiancé.

Mabel is pursued by her boss, despite being engaged to his son, in this gender-bending comedy of errors and mistaken identities.

Mabel is pursued by her boss, despite being engaged to his son, in this gender-bending comedy of errors and mistaken identities.

A villain, competing with his rival's race car, kidnaps the rival before the race. Mabel decides to take the wheel in his place.

Mabel tries to sell hot dogs at a car race, but isn't doing a very good job at it. She sets down the box of hot dogs and leaves them for a moment. Charlie finds them and gives them away to the hungry spectators at the track as Mabel frantically tries to find her lost box of hot dogs. Mabel finds out that Charlie has stolen them and sends the police after him. Chaos ensues.

Mabel tries to sell hot dogs at a car race, but isn't doing a very good job at it. She sets down the box of hot dogs and leaves them for a moment. Charlie finds them and gives them away to the hungry spectators at the track as Mabel frantically tries to find her lost box of hot dogs. Mabel finds out that Charlie has stolen them and sends the police after him. Chaos ensues.

Mickey, an orphan who has been brought up in a mining settlement, is sent to New York to live with her aunt.

Mabel has just gotten engaged during a housewarming party of which her mother is the hostess. When an annoying party guest persuades Mabel to dance with him, Mabel hurries through the dance and then goes to look for her fiancé, only to discover him caressing another woman. Her fiancé finds not only Mabel, but also her mother, very displeased, and not inclined to believe his explanation.

Mabel Normand stars in this comedy short in which she has a world of trouble with her rival lovers.

Mabel attempts to master a bucking horse as it speeds towards a cliff with Mack hot on her trail!

Mabel goes home after being humiliated by a masher whom her husband won't fight. The husband goes off to a bar and gets drunk.

Alice has two persistent suitors, one rich, one poor. Each buys her an engagement ring; the rich man pays cash, but the poor man must pay on installments. He has trouble making the payments, but then he's injured in an auto accident and the settlement allows him to pay off the ring and propose to Alice.

Moving Picture World categorized the film as “a nonsense number”, but Normand's Won in a Closet, her second as director, displays her burgeoning talent. Mabel’s father, the country constable, is smitten with the mother of the boy Mabel imagines “her ideal”. The young couple’s romance is disrupted first by two rival “cut-ups” and then by misapprehension that a tramp is hiding in a closet at the mother’s home. In reality, the mother herself takes refuge in the closet to escape the constable’s attentions.

Moving Picture World categorized the film as “a nonsense number”, but Normand's Won in a Closet, her second as director, displays her burgeoning talent. Mabel’s father, the country constable, is smitten with the mother of the boy Mabel imagines “her ideal”. The young couple’s romance is disrupted first by two rival “cut-ups” and then by misapprehension that a tramp is hiding in a closet at the mother’s home. In reality, the mother herself takes refuge in the closet to escape the constable’s attentions.

Frequent comedy co-stars Fatty Arbuckle and Mabel Normand take viewers on a tour of the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. Attractions shown include the U.S. Battleship "Oregon", the Australian convict ship "Success" (complete with such punishment devices as a flogging rack and a spiked Iron Maiden), the world's tallest flagpole (251 feet), the Court of Abundance, the Court of the Universe (with sunken garden) and the Tower of Jewels. Fatty and Mabel also visit Frisco's still-under-construction City Hall, accompanied by Frisco's then-Mayor James Rolph Jr. Also appearing in the film is opera star Ernestine Schumann-Heink.

A Mack Sennett comedy short starring Dell Henderson & Mabel Normand.

A short comedy starring Mabel Normand being chased by a very lively bear.

A short comedy directed by Mabel Normand and Mack Sennett. believed to be a lost film.