I can’t believe this is my final day here. I awake full of silent comedy images half asleep, half jet lagged and half mad!



For the final day I resolve to attend as much as possible – for some of these films, probably all of them, this will be my one and only chance to view them.

The morning starts with a programme called More Talkies shorts and the first film is Dangerous Females (1929), which obviously grabs my attention immediately. No Femme Fatales in the this short though (boo!) but the first sound pairing of comedy screen legends Marie Dressler and the wonderful under rated Polly Moran. I tragically miss these sounds shorts, which include a rare, late sound short which I really wanted to see from Fatty Arbuckle called TOMALIA (1933). Yes, its true, I fell asleep in my room and woke up half way through the programme.

In the afternoon I resolve to stay awake and I see a delightful early Doug Fairbanks comedy MANHATTAN MADNESS (1916) and a great Johnny Hines feature THE BROWN DERBY (1926). Hines doesn’t have the charisma of the great silent comics on screen but he displays an onscreen innocence and optimism of the everyman much in the way of Lloyd. The film also has a lovely opening credit sequence in 2-strip Technicolor. The last three shorts are from three of the great underrated and too often forgotten comics today: Lupino Lane in HIS PRIVATE LIFE (1926), Charley Chase again in NO FATHER TO GUIDE HIM (1925) and the festival ends with Harry Langdon in THE SHRIMP from 1930.

Seeing these films can be challenging as they debunk for me some previously held myths. Such as Arbuckle dying sad and broken unable to work and Langdon not really working his character after falling out with Frank Capra in 1927. They just don’t seem to be true - the evidence is on the screen. In the thirties it seems Arbuckle was married, happy and working again, not in huge movies or features but making increasingly interesting short comedies again. Harry Langdon made some good shorts too with Hal Roach and used his character, so he still had the talent when nurtured to put out a good comedy. Langdon made some interesting career mistakes, which I’m sure, didn’t help him but these later shorts show he still had it! Which reminds me, at Slapstick 09 we will be featuring Langdon in TRAMP, TRAMP,TRAMP one of his best features and co-starring a very young Joan Crawford.



As we come to the end of the festival I feel a little sad which is how it should be really. We arrange to meet at a banquet in the Holiday Inn on the 17th floor with a view overlooking Washington. It’s a time to say goodbye and celebrate the films, the music and the fandom. For Slapstick here in Bristol I trust this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

So this morning on Fox news, I see an advert for the Creation Museum but funniest news item has to be a woman filing a law suit against Walmart for suffering trauma for being told to leave after trying to bring her monkey into the store. She claims she needs her monkey as she suffers from social anxiety disorder and the monkey helps her overcome this. It’s a funny old world which brings me to this last full day of six screenings of comedy. The Spectrum theatre holds 300 people or so and the screenings tend to have 40 to 100 people attending. I met one of the festival contributors and dealers Robert Arkus and his wife Jeni Rymer who happen to already know Slapstick's own Dave Wyatt. Rob help me find a number of great Keaton photos which we can use for Slapstick ‘09 - New Yorkers they come every year and Rob has a collection of Max Davidson comedies which we may be able to steal for a screening too.



I missed the animation programme at 9am but was delighted to see one of the best events here, the Hal Roach Rarities. A programme of seven Roach shorts from 1921 to 1933, the real discovery was Charlie Chase in a rare never before screened one reeler Too Many Mamas (1924). It's the funniest film I've seen so far and one of those you hope to discover at a festival like this. The story goes like this. Chase is asked by his boss to cover for him as he plans to go out with someone who's not his wife to a night club. When the boss and Charlie’s wives arrive at the night club, mayhem and extraordinary comic timing and pieces ensue. A real delight which we should screen at Slapstick ‘09. Also James Finlayson (best known for his appearances in Laurel and Hardy shorts) was very good in his own vehicle from 1925, In The Grease. I can see how talented the 'supporting' comic actors from the comedy era were and when like Fin, they were given an opportunity to shine, they often do.

Finlayson also stole the show in a feature screened in the evening Ladies Night in a Turkish Bath (1928). Directed by Keaton collaborator Eddie Cline and with an excellent cast including Dorothy MacKaill and Jack Mulhall along with Fin, the film has a sophistication and gentleness which builds to a delightful climax and allows the festival attendees recovery from some of the more slapstick frenetic action of the others films today.

Another highlight today was a screening of 1915 Keystone featuring Roscoe Arbuckle, Incomplete it was a real treat to be the first people to watch this for many decades. The film will be screened as part of a Mack Sennet Programme in Pordeone in October.



An excellent selection of rare and precious comedies.

Today is the first full day at Slapsticon with six separate programmes from 9am until midnight. Programme highlights include The Sennett Spot a series of films from the legendary Lot of Fun. Rob Stone formally of UCLA and now of Library of Congress provided an afternoon of rarities from those archives including an Al Joy film. Al Joy is not popular here (long story) but it’s like a right of passage for silent comedy fans - you have to watch at least one Al Joy film. We had to sit through The Hopeless Helper. Bowled Over, a rare Paul Parrot two reeler was very good.



So I’m discovering a whole world of silent comedy outside of the top guys (Chaplin, Keaton etc) and some of it is very good. What I see though is that the performer doesn’t guarantee a good film. It’s more about the plot and the acting. So I was disappointed by some of the Ben Turpin and Monte Banks films here as I knew their names and wanted to see more of their work, whereas the films that I loved and think would work really well for Slapstick feature people I’ve never come across on film before such as Edward Everett Horton and Harrison Ford (Not Indy, the 1st one!) have turned out to be the most impressive in Vacation Waves (1928) and the wonderful Golf Widows (1928). Both build situations intelligently and the characterisations are very strong. On a more disappointing note, I managed to get to a late night screening of a rare 1934 Harry Langdon talkie which I was looking forward to, but this turned out to be far from his best work.

Today the festival begins at 1pm. Washington feels like a huge developed city, which it clearly is, but it isn’t really beautiful or elegant, it’s not Milan it’s more big and brash. To be fair, it is very big and I’m staying in Rosslyn so haven’t seen Georgetown of other more affluent parts of the state. The heat is intense too, 94 degrees today. As I arrive at the festival doors, a stack of delegate files are piled onto a table containing our packs. There is the buzz of excitement and anticipation, which I recognise from our very own Slapstick festival in Bristol. Richard Roberts the festival’s programmer and co-ordinator greets me. At last we meet. Slapsticon are celebrating their sixth festival and we [Slapstick] will be celebrating our fifth in ‘09 and this is the first time we’ve met. I feel very welcome and start chatting to delegates and looking at the dealers’ stalls as you do... A selection of Audio CDs, Books, DVDs and what looks like three stooges vintage memorabilia takes up the three stalls. As I sit for the 1st screening, I count about 50 people in a large spacious theatre. The highlight from today has to be The Three Stooges rarities show. I never liked them when growing up and hadn’t considered them for Slapstick as they worked during the thirties and forties. Larry, Mo and Curly perhaps didn’t make the same impact in the UK as they did in the US but I really enjoyed the home movies and TV rarities. As they’re the very embodiment of visual comedy and Slapstick knockabout comedy I’m sure we could programme at least a sketch for Slapstick 09.



Musical accompaniment is provided by the wonderful Dr Phil Carli. Phil also plays for the British Silent Comedy Festival in Nottingham and the Pordenone Silent Film Festival (Le Giornate del Cinema Muto) in Italy. Ben Mode works with Phil accompanying the films and they make a formidable pair swapping piano stool duty in the brief few seconds between films, very agile!

Slapsticon grew from a few individuals (mostly film collectors) getting together to share their passion. Over the years, Richard Roberts has emerged as the programmer and overall Director of the festival. Photo chris and richard From a rough scan I would guess 80% plus of the audience is male. The WC Fields feature of the evening was changed at the very last minute by a vote from the audience who preferred to see a rarer Sid and Nancy Drew feature instead. Democracy and chaos in process! It’s great to see how laidback it is and everyone is here not to promote a product but to share and have fun.

Today, I woke up early and with a day to sightsee before the festival kicks off, I took the metro one-stop from Rosslyn and walked around the memorials for the Korean and Vietnam war, World War II and Washington and Lincoln.

I sought refuge from the heat in the Holocaust Museum, which turned out to be a deeply moving experience. The most disturbing exhibits were photos and films of live experiments performed on jews and photos of children who today would be described as having learning difficulties. The images were taken just prior to them being killed.

Anyway, no doubt this sombre experience will be in stark contrast to 4 days of falling off my seat laughing to the films of the lost great silent comedians. No Charlie Chaplin or Harold Lloyd no Keaton, not even a whiff of Stan and Olie Slapsticon is for the big boys, it’s for the Snub Pollards and Charley Chases and this year, The Three Stooges and Harry Langdon. What I’m hoping for tomorrow is to meet like minded fans of the genre and more importantly see funny, very funny silent comedy and bring a taste of Slapsticon to Bristol for Slapstick 2009. Last night, after a beer or two, I searched for the cinema Rosslyn’s Spectrum theatre and found it!.



Funniest thing that happened today was a woman in the Taco bar asking me for a photo ID so I could buy a beer ! At 43, what does that mean? The Taco was excellent and only cost $8, like £4. It took a manager to clear me for the beer, she obviously thought I must be at least 21!