Mabel and Fatty Viewing the World's Fair at San Francisco
About Mabel and Fatty Viewing the World's Fair at San Francisco
Mabel Normand and Roscoe Arbuckle walk the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco and play themselves between the sights. The camera takes in the battleship Oregon in the bay, the Ferry Building, the St. Francis Hotel, and the convict ship Success, including a flogging frame and an iron maiden. The Tower of Jewels appears, and so do Mayor James Rolph Jr. and the singer Ernestine Schumann-Heink. The short closes on the fair at night, with the Captive Aeroplane ride.
Cast & crew
More about Mabel and Fatty Viewing the World's Fair at San Francisco
Normand and Arbuckle directed as well as appeared. Mack Sennett produced it for the Keystone Film Company. Mutual Film released it on 22 April 1915. Fair crowds stand in as extras. Hank Mann and Al St. John are also in the picture. The battleship Oregon is misidentified on screen as a dreadnought.
Themes
Background
The Panama-Pacific International Exposition ran in San Francisco in 1915, and Keystone sent its two leads to film a comedy tour of the grounds in April.
Making
The company shot on the exposition grounds while the fair was open, using the courts and rides as found sets rather than rebuilding them at the Edendale lot.
Look
The camera follows Normand and Arbuckle through real exposition spaces, including the bay, the Success, and a night view of the lights.
Preservation
Prints are in the Library of Congress film archive.
Notes
- James Rolph Jr. was mayor of San Francisco and appears as himself, credited as Mayor Rolph.
- Ernestine Schumann-Heink, the opera singer, appears as herself.
- Prints are held in the Library of Congress film archive.
Scenes
- On the convict ship Success the film shows a flogging frame and an iron maiden.
- The last shots are the fair after dark, including the Captive Aeroplane ride.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-mabel-and-fatty-viewing-the-worlds-fair-at-san-francisco)
