The unforgotten… Mickey (1918), BFI with John Sweeney

Mabel Normand was hugely influential and massively successful and she was undoubtedly one of the pre-eminent creators in the formative years of silent film and comedy. Without her constant emotional momentum and physicality Stan Laurel may never have developed that look of quiet desperation and Charlie would have taken longer to develop his understanding of cinematic direction and comedy action. A mentor to Chaplin, his director and equal as well as a collaborator with Mack Sennett, Roscoe Arbuckle and many more, she blew the box office in 1918 with Mickey, the first and last film from her own production company and the biggest Hollywood hit of the year.

There had been some debate on the ICO panel preceding this screening about whether the “Big Four” silent comedy greats was merely a creation of male cineastes after the fact – men being so fond of lists and rankings – but whilst Mabel was a ground-breaker and undeniably great, it’s hard to make a case for her superiority over Chaplin – the most famous man in the world then and not far off it now – or Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd whose success in the twenties eclipsed everyone. Harry Langdon certainly has not the cache now, despite his success then, he’s been less durable perhaps because of the lack of a unique proposition? Still, even Max Linder, Chaplin’s “Master” is broadly forgotten and he was undoubtedly as “great” as almost anyone.

Mabel, as with Max, tragically never got the chance to develop her film making and this, along with many lost films, helps explain why, debates about primus inter pares apart, she is less well known. She should be revered though along with others.

A clip was shown of Marie Dressler in Tillie’s Punctured Romance which remains one of my favourite silent comedies featuring Mabel as well as Charlie at his nasty, snarling best; the two riffing off each other as Dressler owns the central drama. She’s certainly one of the very best comedic actors and she enjoyed a long career: nothing less than extremely good in everything she did. Worthy of memory without a doubt.

Without question, female silent comics have been less well remembered but, aside from that, the women stars that do persist in memory are great versatile players like Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish and Gloria Swanson… whilst even Norma Talmadge, who had her own studio and many big hits, and sister Constance (herself no mean comic) are less fashionable along with Viola Dana and a ton of others. Tastes change, films get lost and history is not always fair.

Sometimes silent film fandom is like a celluloid Fahrenheit 451; we preserve in our minds those whose artistic impact has been burned from public memory either at a much lower temperature in a nitrate fire or just through revisionism and blind fashion. There’s a responsibility to highlight what you learn and to rekindle the lost work and we are lucky that there are so many enthusiasts archiving, programming and writing.

I loved discovering Mabel a few years back and watching Mickey and Tillie’s PR enjoyed her every bit as much as Chaplin or the kind of Pickford film the former most represents. Mabs is that bit harder than Mary and that Lubitsch scene in Rosita where the Canadian eats the grapes was lifted from this film when Mable stuffs her face with the cherries on a cake, milking the scene for all its worth denying all knowledge as she tries and fails to munch away the evidence and wipe the juice from around her mouth.

Minnie Devereaux and Mabel

Mabel was intensely relatable, and so knowing in the way she emotes, sharing the joke with an audience quickly attuned to watching only her. Charlie took that but no one’s ever going to accuse Normand of being soppy, she’s a working-class girl who’ll work it out for herself and come to the rescue of her man if he’s backed a losing horse.

Directed by F. Richard Jones, Mickey is ostensibly a straight-ahead comedy about a hillbilly orphan made good but there’s plenty of subversive invention from Normand who creates a feel-good cohesion that must have been worth its weight in gold at the time: Mickey’s a girl who defies convention and makes good against all odds. It’s 1918 and, frankly, women are on the march.

She is first seen extending an arm to surreptitiously steal her adopted father’s hat – a carefully drawn-out reveal for a major star.  The hat falls near the mine shaft and, amidst some confusion, kicks off a rescue attempt at their mine as she is believed to have fallen down but she emerges from a hole carrying their over-inquisitive cat. Fearing a beating from her step-dad, Joe Meadows (George Nichols), she tries to hide his belt and makes their donkey eat it, much to her “mother’s” delight – Joe’s housekeeper Minnie as played by the stern-looking Minnie Devereaux (who has a belting smile to go with her bruiser arms).

Mabel and George Nichols

Mickey’s too much for the old man and he wonders if he should send her to her aunt in New York to learn some manners “around female company”. Mickey’s father died and left her in the hands of his business partner in the hope that one day their Tomboy Mine (see what they did there?) would make good… many years on it still hasn’t and he’s at his wit’s end.

We are shown a glimpse of Mickey’s fancy relations: money-grabbing Aunt, Mrs Drake (Laura La Varnie)  aiming to marry off her shrill daughter Elsie (Minta Durfee) as profitably and as quickly as possible and her lush of a brother (Lew Cody – such a good player and a future Mr Normand!) who spends more on horses than his family.

Auntie Evil’s main hope is, co-incidentally, a mine-owner as well, only a rich one; the answer to all the family’s prayers as they struggle in their upper middle-class poverty trap. But, before he can pledge his troth, the moneyed miner, Herbert Thornhill (Wheeler Oakman), has to go and sort out some border disputes on his mine and as luck would have it, he discovers Mickey hiding under the bed in his hotel room. She is on the run with her pooch who has just mauled the local store-keeper’s legs and leaves an immediate impression on the city guy.

Laura La Varnie and Minta Durfee

She rides off to save her dog from the baying mob but Herbert follows, intrigued by her strange exuberance… Rebuffed by her step-dad’s caution, Herbert never-the-less pursues his interest in Mickey especially after he spies her skinny dipping within sight of his theodolite… (a throwback to her days as a Sennett bathing beauty: The Diving Girl returns!).

Before things can really develop, Joe sends her off to her aunt who is not so welcoming once she discovers that Mickey’s mine is worthless and sets her to work as a maid and general dogsbody. Normand makes merry with this city Cinderella situation: she has the same energies as Pickford and an open honest charm that makes her an automatic ally for the watching audience. Herbert, thinking that he’s lost her for good, agrees to marry cousin Elsie but he is reunited with Mickey as she gate-crashes the engagement party. He’s made a mistake and turns to his close friend and attorney, Tom Rawlings (Tom Kennedy), for help… he wants the one he can’t have and not the one he’s contractually obliged too.

Two reversals of fortune spice things up as Herbert’s ownership of his mine comes under threat, leaving him potentially penniless and imprisoned whilst Mickey’s mine finally strikes gold. The girl is unaware though as she has already been jettisoned by her Aunt just moments before she sneakily reads the telegraph intended for her niece… A desperate chase ensues in which the family tries to over-take her train and secure the return of their new meal ticket. It’s breath-taking stuff and the film is a real crowd pleaser throughout as rotten Reggie’s rigged race runs its course and his rude advances place Mickey in mortal danger…

Lew Cody as Reggie the Rotter

Sadly for Mabel her career was not sustained and she was impacted by both the Arbuckle and Desmond scandals and tragically by the onset of tuberculosis which gradually led to her becoming addicted to her medication as well as having an increasingly direct effect on her health. We should remember her for the sheer joy and exuberance she bought: a talent that enabled Mickey to become the blockbuster it was even if its star was less than convinced of its quality. Now, that’s a true professional at work: no second best.

John Sweeney’s accompaniment was a delight perhaps relaxed in the presence of such a sure-footed performer as Mabel, from the chase scenes to the dance and the dramatic conclusion his duet with the actress was pitch perfect.

The BFI’s print was warm and atmospherically care-worn and the whir of projector added to the delight. There’s a number of Mabel films on the superb Kino Lorber Pioneers: FirstWomen Filmmakers… which is part of the joyous process of re-establishing the gender balance of film history. Personally I’d rather watch a Lois Webber film than a DW Griffith or Mabel rather than Ford Sterling: these films are there on merit.

Meanwhile don’t forget that the BFI’s The Marvelous Mabel Normand: Leading Lady of Film Comedy pack of four shorts - with ace Meg Morley score - is showing across the country. Details here on their website.

Mabel Normand is one of my Big Six silent comics and mighty Mickey is one of her best.