Il garzone di macelleria

The early two reelers of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and his young apprentice Buster Keaton offer a rare opportunity to glimpse the genesis of Keaton's soon to become indelible comic persona, but beyond their not inconsiderable academic interest each is also a lot of fun. When they first met, Arbuckle was an established star while Keaton was only a vaudeville performer with little knowledge of the embryonic movie business, but all that changed when Fatty invited him onto the set of 'The Butcher Boy', and from their first moment on screen together the rapport between the two comedians is instantly apparent. Neither makes any attempt to out-stage the other and their talents are remarkably well matched, with Arbuckle the rotund but surprisingly graceful lead and Keaton (among others) as the acrobatic foil who took the pratfalls. Like all the early Arbuckle/Keaton comedies, 'The Butcher Boy' is loose, unstructured, unsophisticated, spontaneous, primitive, completely informal, and made in the same fun spirit in which they were meant to be seen.

... but don't get your hopes up about Buster contributing that much to this short. He was invited to participate by the short's actual star, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. That's not me calling Mr. Arbuckle names, but is actually his name in the credits of his films.

Fatty is an employee in a general store of the period, and he loves the proprietor's daughter, Amanda. The owner doesn't want Fatty anywhere near his daughter and sends her to a boarding school where men are not allowed and Amanda is only allowed mail from her parents. Fatty decides to dress up like Amanda's female cousin so that he can see her, but a fellow rival for Amanda, Slim (Al St. John), has a similar idea. So the store portion comprises the first half and the boarding school portion the second half.

This short is pure 1910's comedy with food fights, lots of flour throwing, and pants -kicking. Buster is just a guest star in all of this, with his main contribution being posing as a grocery store customer who comes in to get some molasses but winds up with it in his hat and stuck to his head and with it stuck to the bottom of his shoes so that he cannot walk.

Buster's role in the creative process of Arbuckle's shorts increased over the couple of years that they worked together such that, by the time of their last collaboration in "The Garage" in 1920, you can definitely see that Keaton's brand of gadget filled comedy and complex gags have won the day.

This film certainly wasn't very sophisticated. No, the humor was in fact pretty dumb now that I think about it. But, also while I think of it, I did laugh--proving decent comedy doesn't need to be very deep.

Fatty Arbuckle is the definite star of this short, despite Buster Keaton's appearing in the film as well. He is the butcher in an old-time grocery store. A lot of silly stuff occurred in the store and I think I laughed the most at the coffee grinder sequence--you'll just have to see it yourself.

Anyway, later, Fatty's girlfriend is forced to go to a girls' school and because he can't stand to part, he dresses in drag and infiltrates the school. Arbuckle is one ugly woman! So, for silly and unsophisticated fun, see this film. It won't change your life and is a very slight picture, but it's also fun.

The details of how Buster Keaton first met Roscoe Arbuckle are murky, but when they did, the initial encounter introduced to the screen one of cinema's greatest silent movie comics.

Keaton is included in the top handful of comedic actors during that era who's acting continues to have an enormous impact in today's films. His trademark calm demeanor in the midst of utter chaos on the screen stood in stark contrast to the helter skelter world of the popular Keystone comedians, of which Arbuckle was one of them. Yet Keaton's cool film personality not only endured, but created a new kind of comedy acting imitated in future generations of movie humorists.

Keaton's first appearance in film is seen in April 1917's "The Butcher Boy," with "Fatty" Arbuckle starring and directing the two-reeler. He shows up part-way into the movie, examining brooms in their holder at the shop. Keaton does some nifty handling of these sweepers in this debuting sequence. Later on, his struggle with molasses, a cinematic classic, with Fatty literally cements the pair's on-screen association. Altogether, the two actors appeared in 14 movies, proving the first meeting was especially pivotal to the 21-year-old Keaton.

Buster, contracted to play in in the Broadway revue "The Passing Show," met on a New York City street either a mutual friend of Arbuckle's or a professional associate of Paramount Pictures. Either way, the person invited the vaudeville star to stop by the local film studio where Fatty was rehearsing for his next movie, "The Butcher Shop." He did, and Fatty, knowing of Keaton, invited him to play a small role in his movie. Buster had some free time and dived in, and like lightening, the two comedians clicked. An anecdotal tale has Keaton so intrigued by what he had just witnessed in the studio he asked to borrow a camera for the night. He proceeded to take apart and put together again in his hotel room the camera to understand its inner mechanisms.

This Fatty Arbuckle short feature is a historical treasure in that it was the first film appearance of the great Buster Keaton, and it has some decent slapstick too. The first half takes place in the general store where 'Fatty' is working as the "Butcher Boy", and it has some good moments, with a couple of clever gadgets, although no big laughs. The last half is the best part, with Fatty, Buster, Fatty's frequent foil Al St. John, and their dog all converging on a boarding school, in a manic sequence that includes some good material. It's unrefined, old-fashioned slapstick, but good fun for anyone who enjoys Arbuckle and/or Keaton.