28 Facts About Mack Sennett

Keystone possessed the first fully enclosed film stage, and Sennett became famous as the originator of slapstick routines such as pie-throwing and car-chases, as seen in the Keystone Cops films.

Mack Sennett produced short features that displayed his Bathing Beauties, many of whom went on to develop successful acting careers.

Mack Sennett's parents married in 1879 in Tingwick, Quebec and moved the same year to Richmond, Quebec where Sinnott was hired as a laborer.

Mack Sennett's parents had all their children and raised their family in Richmond, then a small Eastern Townships village.

At that time, Mack Sennett's grandparents were living in Danville, Quebec.

Mack Sennett moved to Connecticut when he was 17 years old.

Mack Sennett lived for a while in Northampton, Massachusetts, where, according to his autobiography, he first got the idea to become an opera singer after seeing a vaudeville show.

In New York City, he took on the stage name Mack Sennett and became an actor, singer, dancer, clown, set designer, and director for the Biograph Company.

Chaplin, Langdon and Lloyd were all on the lot at one point or another, but developed their styles only in spite of Mack Sennett, and grew to their artistic peaks only away from his influence.

Mack Sennett developed the Kid Comedies, a forerunner of the Our Gang films, and in a short time, his name became synonymous with screen comedy which were called "flickers" at the time.

Also beginning in 1915, Mack Sennett assembled a bevy of women known as the Mack Sennett Bathing Beauties to appear in provocative bathing costumes in comedy short subjects, in promotional material, and in promotional events such as Venice Beach beauty contests.

Mack Sennett's bosses retained the Keystone trademark and produced a cheap series of comedy shorts that were "Keystones" in name only: they were unsuccessful, and Mack Sennett had no connection with them.

Mack Sennett went on to produce more ambitious comedy short films and a few feature-length films.

Mack Sennett produced several features with his brightest stars such as Ben Turpin and Mabel Normand.

Hal Roach signed with MGM, but Mack Sennett remained with Pathe Exchange even during hard times, which were brought on by the competition.

Mack Sennett made a reasonably smooth transition to sound films, releasing them through Earle Hammons's Educational Pictures.

Mack Sennett was the first to get a talkie short subject on the market in 1928.

Mack Sennett won an Academy Award in the novelty division for his film Wrestling Swordfish, in 1932.

Mack Sennett often clung to outmoded techniques, making his early-1930s films seem dated and quaint.

However, Mack Sennett enjoyed great success with short comedies starring Bing Crosby, which were more than likely instrumental in Mack Sennett's product being picked up by a major studio, Paramount Pictures.

Two other Mack Sennett shorts were made with Fields scripts: The Singing Boxer with Donald Novis and Too Many Highballs with Lloyd Hamilton.

Actually, Mack Sennett was not involved in the making of this film.

Mack Sennett went into semiretirement at the age of 55, having produced more than 1,000 silent films and several dozen talkies during a 25-year career.

Rumors abounded that Mack Sennett would be returning to film production, but apart from Mack Sennett reissuing a couple of his Bing Crosby two-reelers to theaters, nothing happened.

Mack Sennett was profiled in the television series This Is Your Life in 1954, and made a cameo appearance in Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops.

Mack Sennett died on November 5,1960, in Woodland Hills, California, aged 80.

Mack Sennett was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Mack Sennett was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2014.