The Hollywood comedy is a Canadian invention.
More than a century ago, Quebec-born Mack Sennett became the first film maker on this continent to specialize in creating full-length comedies. In 1908, “full length” meant one reel, about 10 to 12 minutes; no one believed an audience could tolerate anything longer. The great D.W. Griffith, under whom Sennett was then apprenticing at the famed Biograph studio, was not alone in thinking the lowly genre of comedy could not be endured for more than a “split reel” of about five minutes.
Between 1908 and 1911, the importunate Sennett worked his way up from actor to writer to director to head of Biograph’s comedy unit. Over those three years, he developed the grammar that shaped film comedy forever: a century later, we are still watching his brand of madcap mayhem, broad satire and optical tricks on television, movies and even YouTube.
Film comedy before Sennett consisted mostly of a single gag: a boy...
James Roots, although currently living in Kanata, Ontario, is a born and bred Torontonian. He learned photography from his father, one of Toronto’s most popular wedding and portrait photographers for half a century.
Advertisement
Advertisement