Topic: A Clever Dummy (1917) - Ben Turpin

[metaldams]

      In my non Abbott and Costello weeks, I’m trying to fill most of them with comedians we haven’t discussed yet sprinkled in with some non reviewed classics from comedians we have discussed.  Well this week we’re in the former category because it’s time to shine the spotlight on Mr. Ben Turpin.  First thing, as I’m sure most of you know, he’s famous for his crossed eyes, which really aren’t that exploited in A CLEVER DUMMY.  He’s gotta be one of the earliest regular film comedians, certainly of the American variety (I plan on getting to Max Linder soon, on that note).  Also said he took the first on screen pie in the face ever, but with so much of early silent cinema being lost, I’m skeptical whenever I’m told of any “first.”  He made his film debut in 1907 and the first ten years were spent at Essanay Studios - yes, that Essanay, the Chaplin studio.  In fact, Turpin appears in the first two Essanay Chaplin shorts and I think the two make one heck of a team.  Chaplin leaves Essanay and shortly after, Essanay leaves the world so Mr. Turpin heads off to the green pastures of Mack Sennett for most of the rest of the silent era.  A CLEVER DUMMY is one of Turpin’s earlier Sennett efforts.

      Ben Turpin was one of the most famous and recognizable comedians of his day but seems to be poo-poohed or ignored by the intelligentsia these days.  Oh well, their loss.  I admit Turpin is not as easy to wax poetic about as say, Langdon or Chaplin, but his films are a lot of fun and at the end of the day, I watch these things to be entertained when I’m not partaking in the drudgery of working for a paycheck, so Ben’s OK by me.

      The simple pleasure of A CLEVER DUMMY is watching Ben act like what the title character implies.  A mechanical dummy to perform in Vaudeville was made in janitor Ben’s image and Ben replaces himself for the dummy so he can be near the girl he’s infatuated with.  We get to watch Ben do all these stop and start robotic like movements in a hysterical manner that is really a sight to behold.  That to me is the whole point of this short and also a stand out of the Turpin films I’ve seen because I’ve never seen him do this kind of thing anywhere else (which isn’t to say he hasn’t, I just haven’t seen it).  It’s really funny watching him do the demonstration for the people the dummy idea is being sold to.  Lots of twists, turns and stops that take a lot of balance and dexterity and no folks, you’re not seeing things.  Ben Turpin is indeed raising his middle finger multiple times.

      We get the act of “dummy” Ben being placed in the female’s dressing room as she dresses and he gets a wonderful act as the dummy with Chester Conklin.  Love the quasi wrestling match Turpin and Conklin partake in.  Turpin even manages to get in a side headlock and still maintain the illusion of being a dummy while doing it. 

      Being a Sennett short, we get the obligatory chase at the end.  Abbreviated by Sennett standards, we still get the sight of cars crashing through brick buildings.  An entertaining short for sure.

If any of you folks can find a version on YouTube with a soundtrack, please post it here.  Everything I looked for seems to have no score.  The best presentation is buying the 50 film Mack Sennett Collection Vol. 1 Blu Ray set.  I swear I finally caved in and bought a blu ray player because that set was never released on DVD.  Anyway, obviously a superior presentation to YouTube and you get a lot of Sennett films.

[Umbrella Sam]

I have the Ben Turpin biography that came out several years ago and decided to check to see if there was any information on this film. It turns out this was actually not originally supposed to be a two-reeler; Sennett apparently responded so well to the one reel version that he had a second reel added.

Besides that, there’s not a lot for me to add. I pretty much agree regarding Turpin; he was not a personality comedian in the same way as Keaton or Langdon or Chase; he kind of fell in that Keystone pool of comedians that kind of just did the same style of knockabout comedy without much emphasis on character developments. But that’s not necessarily always a bad thing. Turpin could still do funny things, and this is a good example. Him acting like a robot is an interesting idea and he does pull it off with the stilted movements and him and Conklin do get some fun moments together. As funny as this is, though, it doesn’t feel distinctly Turpin, because that’s just not how Turpin was. When Langdon does those slow reactions, it’s a part of his personality; you can describe that as purely Langdon. Turpin acting like a mechanical man is just that: Turpin acting like a mechanical man. It’s not something that he is commonly associated with and I think it’s that lack of distinction that turns people away from him. But still, there was a reason this guy became famous; when he can get a good situation, he knows how to take advantage of it, and he does that here in spite of the incredibly weak plot. It’s fun enough; nothing spectacular, but it got some laughs out of me and Turpin pretty much carries one gag throughout the film without it really getting repetitive.

[HomokHarcos]

Ben Turpin is an actor I've known about primarily because of his cross eyes. I've heard that he got his eyes insured to stay that way, but that sounds like too much of a fable to be true. His look is very distinctive, bringing laughs pretty easily.

The main joke of this film is around the dummy/dummy wordplay. There is a Ben Turpin dummy, and Ben Turpin is a dummy. There is a switch and funny things happen. Seeing Turpin act like a dummy was funny, and he probably did better than the dummy would have on that vaudeville stage! The film is funny, but as usual Sennett's films are good for laughs, but great in characterization. But is that always a problem? Sometimes you want to watch cheap laughs. That set probably has much better video quality, for watching it free on YouTube I can't really complain.

Maybe sometime in the future, I'll be checking out more of Ben Turpin's work. I didn't know he got started that early in film comedy.

[Paul Pain]

Not a bad short overall.  It's a shame the quality of the print is so poor.  Given that the bird has meant that since ancient Rome and given the frontal nudity that was allowed in pre-censor Hollywood, I'm not really surprised to see them pull this off.  But, it was hilariously unexpected.

Ben Turpin is Ben Turpin.  He's at his best in these slightly-dimwitted situations, and this one is no exception.  All the other praises and criticisms of this shorts have been covered by those who posted before me.