Keystone Cops

The "Keystone Cops" was a series of silent film comedies featuring a totally incompetent group of policemen produced by Mack Sennett for his Keystone Film Company between 1912 and 1917. The idea came from Hank Mann, who also played police chief Tehiezel in the first film before being replaced by Ford Sterling. Their first film was "Hoffmeyer's Legacy" (1912) but their popularity stemmed from the 1913 short "The Bangville Police" starring Mabel Normand.

As early as 1914 Sennett shifted the Cops from starring roles to background ensemble, in support of comedians like Charlie Chaplin and Fatty Arbuckle. The Cops serve as supporting players for Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand, and Chaplin in the first full-length Sennett comedy feature, "Tillie's Punctured Romance" (1914), as well as in "Mabel's New Hero" (1913) with Normand and Arbuckle, "Making a Living" (1914) with Chaplin, "In the Clutches of the Gang" (1914) with Normand, Arbuckle, and Al St. John, and "Wished on Mabel" (1915) with Arbuckle and Normand, among others.

Mack Sennett's Keystone film studio always used the spelling "Cops" whenever publicizing their films,Fact|date=August 2008 never "Kops", as some more recent secondary sources have rendered the name. No contemporary citation of the "Kop" spelling has ever surfaced, whereas film historian Kalton C. Lahue and others have found many documents issued by the Keystone studio Fact|date=August 2008 which retain the spelling "Cop". Universal Pictures changed the spelling to "Kops" in 1955 for the feature "Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops".

Revivals

Mack Sennett continued to use the Cops intermittently through the 1920s. By the time sound movies arrived, the Keystone Cops' popularity had waned. In 1935 director Ralph Staub staged a revival of the Sennett gang for his Warner Brothers short subject "Keystone Hotel", featuring a re-creation of the Cops clutching at their hats, leaping in the air in surprise, running energetically in any direction, and taking extreme pratfalls. This footage is has been used countless times in later productions purporting to use silent-era material.

The Staub version of the Keystone Cops became a template for later re-creations. 20th Century Fox's 1939 feature "Hollywood Cavalcade" had Buster Keaton in a Keystone chase scene-although during his own silent film career the nearest Keaton had appeared in a "Police" comedy was The Goat (1921 film) and Cops (film). "Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops" (1955) included a lengthy chase scene, showcasing a group of stuntmen dressed as Sennett's squad {an original Keystone Cop in this movie was Heinie Conklin}. Mel Brooks directed a Keystone car chase in his comedy film "Silent Movie".

By the 1950s any surviving silent-movie comedian might be pressed into service as a Keystone Cop, regardless of whether he appeared with the troupe authentically. In the "This Is Your Life" TV tribute to Mack Sennett, several Sennett alumni ran on stage -- dressed as Keystone Cops.

The Gilbert and Sullivan operetta "The Pirates of Penzance" features a platoon of incompetent and cowardly policemen engaged by hero Frederic to arrest the pirates. Although the stage show dates from 1879 and the Keystone Cops appeared a quarter-century later, it is now customary for the policemen in the show to be portrayed in the style of the Keystone Cops.Fact|date=August 2008

"Keystone Cops" in popular usage

The term has since come to be used to criticize any group for its mistakes, particularly if the mistakes happened after a great deal of energy and activity, or if there was a lack of coordination among the members of the group. For example, the June 2004 election campaign of the Liberal Party of Canada was compared with "the Keystone Cops running around" by one of its parliamentary members, Carolyn Parrish. In criticizing the Department of Homeland Security's response to Hurricane Katrina, Senator Joseph Lieberman claimed that emergency workers under DHS chief Michael Chertoff "ran around like Keystone Cops, uncertain about what they were supposed to do or uncertain how to do it" [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4717916.stm] Another example is a statement by Peter Beattie, Premier of the Australian state of Queensland, on the counter-terrorism investigation into Gold Coast doctor Mohamed Haneef in July 2007. After the Australian Federal Police committed a series of blunders, the Premier likened their actions to those of the "keystone cops".

Representative John Dingell (D-Michigan), Chairman of the House and Energy Committee likened the government's response to the 2008 salmonella outbreak to an episode of Keystone Cops.

The Keystone Cops re-emerge every year in the town of Cedar Springs, Michigan during their Red Flannel Festival, and also in Sitka, Alaska during the annual Alaska Day festival.

The Police Academy movies that began in 1984 are frequently considered a modern day version of the Keystone Cops.

In the first season of The West Wing, in the episode In Excelsis Deo, the White House Chief of Staff's character Leo McGarry refers to Sam Seaborn and Josh Lyman as the Keystone Cops.

In Ian McEwan's "Enduring Love", the actions of the police are described as 'Keystone Kops style'.

In the film Con Air, DEA agent Duncan Malloy, on an angry tirade about the incopetance of the prison guards, accuses Vince Larkin of running a "Keystone Cops" operation.

In an episode ("Syzygy") of the US Television series The X-Files, a Keystone Cops movie is showing on all of the channels on Mulder and Scully's hotel room TV. It is also shown on every TV in the video game which the series inspired, .

In an episode of Batman (TV series) had a brief segment of "Keystone Cops" silent movie. Ironically this episode had two silent movie actors in speaking parts-Neil Hamilton (actor) and Francis X. Bushman.

In sport, the term has come into common usage by television commentators, particularly in Ireland. The rugby commentator Liam Toland uses the term to describe a teams incompetent performance on the pitch. He has been known to use the phrase upto 17 times per game to the annoyance of viewers on Setanta Sports.Fact|date=October 2008 He is currently trying to renegotiate a new contract with Setanta but negotiations have reached a standstill upon his insistence that a complete collection of Keystone Cops episodes on DVD are are provided to him.Fact|date=October 2008 Like the Keystone Cops, Toland was silent when asked about this.

Video games

In 1983, a video game called Keystone Kapers was released for the Atari 2600 and 5200. Playing as Keystone Cop Officer Kelly, your object is to stop would-be robber Hooligan Harry from escaping Southwick's Mall. The game, which became a hit, was produced by Activision. The Keystone Cops also appear in the computer game "NetHack", usually when the player steals from one of the shops. They are more dangerous than their cinematic inspiration, however; they typically surround the player's character so escape is impossible, and then mercilessly beat the player with rubber hoses from all directions, while temporarily blinding the player with cream pie.

External links: Movies featuring the Keystone Cops

* " [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0002251/ Hoffmeyer's Legacy] " (1912)
* " [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0002659/ The Bangville Police] " (1913) with Mabel Normand
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0002894/ "The Gangsters"] (1913) with Roscoe Arbuckle, Ford Sterling, and Al St. John
* " [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0002663/ Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life] " (1913) with Mabel Normand
* " [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0003106/ Mabel's New Hero] " (1913) with Mabel Normand and Roscoe Arbuckle
* " [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0004288/ Making a Living] " (1914) ( [http://www.archive.org/details/CC_1914_02_02_MakingALiving Available to watch/download] from the Internet Archive) with Charles Chaplin
* " [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0004707/ Tillie's Punctured Romance] " (1914) ( [http://www.archive.org/details/CC_1914_11_14_TilliesPuncturedRomance Available to watch/download] from the Internet Archive) with Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand, and Charles Chaplin
* " [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0004146/ In the Clutches of the Gang] " (1914) with Roscoe Arbuckle, Mabel Normand, and Al St. John
* " [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0004408/ The Noise of Bombs] " (1914) with Edgar Kennedy as police chief
* " [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0005660/ Love, Loot and Crash] " (1915) ( [http://www.archive.org/details/love_loot_and_crash Available to watch/download] from the Internet Archive) with Charley Chase
* " [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0006296/ Wished on Mabel] " (1915) with Roscoe Arbuckle and Mabel Normand
* " [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0005654/ Love, Speed and Thrills ] " (1915) ( [http://www.archive.org/details/love_speed_and_thrills Available to watch/download] from the Internet Archive) with Mack Swain, Minta Durfee, and Chester Conklin

Further reading

* Jeanine Basinger (1999), chapter on Keystone Cops (also covers Mabel Normand) in "Silent Stars", (ISBN 0-8195-6451-6).

ee also

* Chester Conklin
* Heinie Conklin
* Jimmy Finlayson