''Mabel's Blunder'' (1914) is a silent

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by, written by, and starring

Mabel Normand Amabel Ethelreid Normand (November 9, 1893 – February 23, 1930), better known as Mabel Normand, was an American silent film actress, screenwriter, director, and producer. She was a popular star and collaborator of Mack Sennett in their ...

, the most successful of the early

silent screen Silent Screen (1967–1993) was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. Background Silent Screen was trained by J. Bowes Bond for owners Sonny and Leah Ray Werbin who raced under the '' nom de course'', Elberon Farm. Racing career S ...

comediennes.

Plot

''Mabel's Blunder'' tells the tale of a young woman who is secretly engaged to the boss's son. The young man's sister comes to visit at their office, and a jealous Mabel, not knowing who the visiting woman is, dresses up as a (male) chauffeur to spy on them.

Production background

Produced at

Mack Sennett Mack Sennett (born Michael Sinnott; January 17, 1880 – November 5, 1960) was a Canadian-American film actor, director, and producer, and studio head, known as the 'King of Comedy'. Born in Danville, Quebec, in 1880, he started in films in the ...

Keystone Studios Keystone Studios was an early film studio founded in Edendale, California (which is now a part of Echo Park) on July 4, 1912 as the Keystone Pictures Studio by Mack Sennett with backing from actor-writer Adam Kessel (1866–1946) and Charl ...

, known at the time as "The Fun Factory", ''Mabel's Blunder'' showcases Normand's spontaneous and intuitive playfulness and her ability to be both romantically appealing and boisterously funny.

National Film Registry

This film, with its unusual gender-bending aspect, was added to the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

in December 2009 for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant.

References

External links

*''Mabel’s Blunder'' essa

by Brent E. Walker on the

website * *
Madcap Mabel: Mabel Normand websiteMabel Normand Lives Here website
� *''Mabel’s Blunder'' essay by Daniel Eagan In America's Film Legacy, 2009-2010: A Viewer's Guide To The 50 Landmark Movies Added To The National Film Registry In 2009-10, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2011, Pages 14–1

1914 films 1914 short films Keystone Studios films Films directed by Mabel Normand American silent short films 1914 comedy films American black-and-white films Cross-dressing in American films United States National Film Registry films Silent American comedy films American comedy short films 1910s English-language films 1910s American films {{1910s-short-comedy-film-stub

Plot

Production background

National Film Registry

See also

References

External links