Slapstick Blog-a-Thon Announcement

Click Here for The Slapstick Blog-a-Thon
September 7-10
Hosted right here at Film of the Year

Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton! Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Mabel Normand! Hal Roach and Mack Sennett! Laurel and Hardy and The Three Stooges! Daffy and Donald! Slip-and-fall and the ol' pie-in-the-face! The Cook (1918), The General (1927), The Gold Rush (1925), Safety Last (1923)...Possibly no other genre gives us more reasons to bust a gut or split our sides with laughter than slipping, tripping, and gripping slapstick. Recent discussions convinced me that there's a huge pile of slap-films that I need to see. Then I thought, why keep 'em all to myself? So, I'm inviting the entire blogosphere to join together September 7-10 and let the world know why slapstick is so flippin' funny!

Here's how it works:

1) Leave a comment below or e-mail me if you'd like to join the blog-a-thon. (Not sure what a blog-a-thon is? Click here and all will be clear.)

2) On September 7-10 post something slapstick related on your blog. Then leave a comment here or e-mail me that you've posted and I'll link to all of the posts from The Slapstick Blog-a-Thon post.

3) Read each other's posts, share comments, and have fun!

Bloggers Planning to Get Slappy
Squish at Filmsquish.com
Mike at Goatdogblog
Jacqueline at Another Old Movie Blog
Lucas at 100 Films
Bob at Eternal Sunshine of the Logical Mind
StinkyLulu at StinkyLulu
Sal and company at SilentComedians.com
Michael at The Evening Class
Ray (aka Flickhead) at Flickhead
J.D. at Radiator Heaven
Luke at The Bioscope
Lloyd at Mar de Cortes Baja
Joe at The Pneumatic Rolling-Sphere Carrier Delusion
Piper at Lazy Eye Theatre
Edward at Edward Copeland on Film
Beckles at Scones with Jam and Ramblings...
Nathaniel R at Film Experience
AR at My Life in Movies
Ed at Shoot the Projectionist
Emma at All About My Movies
Pierre at Frankensteinia
Anna at Verging Writer
James at Rants of a Diva
Me too, right here at Film of the Year

Note: Slapstick can be very creative so don't be afraid to get creative too, especially with your choice of topic(s)—pick an obsucre slapstick performer, talk about your favorite slappy film, detail a slapstick stunt, dig into the history of the genre, review the funniest slapstick film ever, do a frame analysis, why it is funny/why it is not funny, maybe you (somehow) hate slapstick, tell us why, does slapstick have a future on the screen? Who's doing slapstick today? Or grab a camera and make your own slapstick short, etc. If you're having trouble coming up with something to write look over the list below; it might spur an idea.

Slapstick Blog-a-Thon List o' Topics (Suggestions only. Post about anything having to do with slapstick)

Charlie Chaplin
Buster Keaton
Charley Chase
Dangerous Stunts
Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
Mabel Normand
Harold Lloyd
How/Why does it make us laugh?
Max Davidson
Marie Dressler
The Three Stooges
slapstick awards?
Joe E. Brown
Fay Tincher
W.C. Fields
History and slapstick
Mildred Davis
Leo McCarey
The art of pie throwing
Jerry Lewis
Gale Henry
John Bunny
Our Gang
Louise Fazenda
Origin of the word
Monty Banks
Seltzer bottles
Mel Brooks
Alice Howell
Max Linder
Jacques Tati
Slapstick and violence
Snub Pollard
Slapstick style
Harry Langdon
Ben Turpin
Avant-garde slapstick?
André Deed
Cantinflas
Things fall apart
Hal Roach
Mack Sennett
The Keystone Company
Make your own slapstick short
The Keystone Kops
Slapstick Animation
Stan Laurel
Slapstick and dance
Oliver Hardy
Abbott and Costello
The Marx Brothers
and the list goes on . . .

Comments

[Thom]

I'll probably write about the Stooges or, failing that, something on Max Linder.

[Squish]

I'm in - might explore the women in slapstick angle?

[mike]

Ugh. I'd love to take part, and I'll try to do something, but late August/early September is really busy for me.

[Thom]

I hope you can make it, Mike. It won't be the same without ya!

[Jacqueline T Lynch]

I'll be there. Just looking for my selzer bottle, cream pies, a large mallet, and a suitable frock to wear.

[Thom]

Great news, Jacqueline. Hope I remember to duck when I see you coming. :D

[Bob Turnbull]

I'd like to participate as well. I love Keaton, but not sure I could possibly do him justice. Looney Tunes maybe? SpongeBob?

My wife and son love slapstick. Anything where someone falls down and they're both on the floor. Maybe I'll focus on their favourites...

[Thom]

Great idea, Bob. How about getting the whole family involved? Maybe a family interview session capturing what makes everybody laugh? Just an idea. Glad to have you aboard.

[Thom]

Looking for slapstick films? Try:

Slapstick at GreenCine

Slapstick at Netflix

Some slapstick collections on DVD:
Slapstick Encyclopedia
Slapstick Masters
Slapstick Symposium
The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection
American Slapstick
Arbuckle & Keaton: The Original Comique Paramount Shorts
The Best Arbuckle Keaton Collection
The Forgotten Films of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
Chaplin Mutuals
Chaplin's Essanay Comedies
The Essential Charlie Chaplin
The Best of Abbott and Costello
Laurel and Hardy: Way Out West / Block-Heads

[StinkyLulu]

I'll try to join up, doing something about Slapstick & Supporting Actresses/Actressing at the Edges.

[Thom]

I look forward to that one. Glad to have you in the scene, Lulu.

[SilentComedians.com]

I just wanted to let you know I've posted on the forums section of my site:

SilentComedians.com

that if any of my members want to participate in this Slapstick Blog-a-Thon they should let it be known, and I will enable my blogging capabilities to be linked back to you.

I am very happy to help you with this great idea, and I hope it brings an awareness to this art form that we value so much.

Sal
Site Admin

[Thom]

Sal - thank you for spreading the word on the active and informative SilentComedians forums. I hope some of the knowledgable members there can contribute to the blog-a-thon.

[SilentComedians.com]

No problem at all.

We're of the same mind, and that is to make sure these great clowns of the past are NOT forgotten.

One of my members posted the link and when I read what you're trying to do, I just thought that's something we can rally around.

I think the silent comedy community will also, because if there's one thing we like better than silent comedy, it is spreading the word to newbies and giving them the opportunity to learn and experience exactly what happens when you see a silent comedy, especially with an audience, which is "pure laughter".

As we get closer to the date, email me just as a reminder and I'll put the info on the front page.

This can be an annual event.

How about the first week after Slapsticon?

[Maya]

I'm certainly with you in spirit, Thom, though not sure what I can contribute before heading out to Toronto. Let me work on it in advance.

[Thom]

Michael, good to have you with us my friend. Embrace any sort of post that slapstick films inspire you to do—we'll eat it up.

[J.D.]

Count me in. I would love to contribute an article.

[Thom]

Welcome, J.D. I look forward to reading your slapstick piece (btw, I like the informative, well-written article on the various attempts at filming Dune over at your site—nice job).

[J.D.]

Thanks for the kind words, Thom! Yeah, I love Lynch's films, even a flawed effort like Dune which has some incredible visuals. Altho, I would have loved to have seen Jodorowsky's version!

[Thom]

I'm a die-hard Lynch fan too. J.D. It's fun to imagine what kind of experimental slapstick film he'd direct :)