The Rough House
About The Rough House
Mr. Rough falls asleep while smoking and wakes to a bed on fire. He carries water one cup at a time, flirts with the maid, and finally douses the flames with a garden hose. The cook and the delivery boy fight over the maid until Rough throws them out and a policeman puts them on the force. With the cook gone, Rough cooks for two guests who are thieves, and they steal Mrs. Rough's necklace in the mess. The new officers catch them, and Rough gets the necklace back.
Cast & crew
More about The Rough House
Joseph M. Schenck produced the two-reeler for Paramount. Roscoe Arbuckle and Buster Keaton directed it, Keaton's first directing credit, from a story by Joe Roach. Frank D. Williams photographed it at the Norma Talmadge studio in New York. It was copyrighted on June 20, 1917, and released on June 25 as Paramount-Arbuckle Comedy A-3103.
Themes
Background
City and state boards cut many American films of 1917. Chicago removed the bead-theft scene from this short.
Look
Frank D. Williams photographed the short at the Norma Talmadge Film Corporation studio in New York.
Preservation
A 35 mm print is held by George Eastman House.
Notes
- Keaton plays the gardener, the delivery boy, and a policeman.
- Al St. John is the cook, Alice Lake is Mrs. Rough, Agnes Neilson is the mother-in-law, and Josephine Stevens is the maid.
- Herbert Warren edited the short.
- Rough slices potatoes by feeding them into an electric fan and sets a gasoline-soaked steak alight at the table.
- The Chicago Board of Censors cut the scene of the guests stealing beads.
Scenes
- Rough carries one cup of water at a time from the kitchen to the burning bed.
- He slices potatoes through an electric fan.
- He pours gasoline on the steak and lights it at the table.
Influenced by
- Arbuckle's Keystone comedies
Also available
- Internet Archive (Silent_TheRoughHouse_1917)
- George Eastman House
