The Keystone Cops (often spelled "Keystone Kops") are fictional, humorously incompetent policemen featured in silent film

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such as ...

comedies produced by

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

for his Keystone Film Company between 1912 and 1917.

History

Hank Mann Hank Mann (born David William Lieberman; May 28, 1887 – November 25, 1971) was a Russian-born, American comedian and silent screen star who was a member of the Keystone Cops, and appeared as a supporting player in many of Charlie Chaplin's ...

created the Keystone Cops, and they were named for the Keystone studio, the film production company founded in 1912 by Sennett. Their first film was '' Hoffmeyer's Legacy'' (1912), with Mann playing the part of police chief Tehiezel, but their popularity stemmed from the 1913 short '' The Bangville Police'' starring

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

. As early as 1914, Sennett shifted the Keystone Cops from starring roles to background ensemble in support of comedians such as

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

and Fatty Arbuckle. The Keystone Cops served as supporting players for Chaplin,

Marie Dressler Leila Marie Koerber (November 9, 1868 – July 28, 1934), known professionally as Marie Dressler, was a Canadian-born stage- and screen-actress and comedian, popular in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood in early silent film, silent an ...

and

in the first full-length Sennett comedy feature '' Tillie's Punctured Romance'' (1914); '' Mabel's New Hero'' (1913) with Normand and Arbuckle; ''

Making a Living ''Making a Living'' (also known as ''Doing His Best'', ''A Busted Johnny'', ''Troubles'', and ''Take My Picture'') is the first film starring Charlie Chaplin. A one-reel comedy short, it was completed in three days at Keystone Studios in Los ...

'' (1914) with Chaplin in his first pre-

Tramp A tramp is a long-term homeless person who travels from place to place as a vagrant, traditionally walking all year round. Etymology Tramp is derived from a Middle English verb meaning to "walk with heavy footsteps" (''cf.'' modern English '' ...

screen appearance; '' 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. Comic actors

Chester Conklin Chester Cooper Conklin (January 11, 1886 – October 11, 1971) was an early American film comedian who started at Keystone Studios as one of Mack Sennett's Keystone Cops, often paired with Mack Swain. He appeared in a series of films with ...

Jimmy Finlayson James Henderson Finlayson (27 August 1887 – 9 October 1953) was a Scottish actor who worked in both silent and sound comedies. Balding, with a fake moustache, he had many trademark comic mannerisms—including his squinting, outraged doubl ...

, and Ford Sterling were also Keystone Cops, as was director

Del Lord Delmer "Del" Lord (October 7, 1894March 23, 1970) was a Canadians, Canadian film director and actor best known as a director of Three Stooges films. Career Delmer Lord was born in the small town of Grimsby, Ontario, Canada. Interested in the the ...

. The original Keystone Cops were George Jeske,

Bobby Dunn Robert P. Dunn (August 28, 1890 – March 24, 1937) was a comic actor who was one of the original Keystone Cops in '' Hoffmeyer's Legacy''. Early years Dunn was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Richard P. and Melissa Dunn, and attended ...

, Mack Riley, Charles Avery, Slim Summerville,

Edgar Kennedy Edgar Livingston Kennedy (April 26, 1890 – November 9, 1948) was an American comedic character actor who appeared in at least 500 films during the silent and sound eras. Professionally, he was known as "Slow Burn", owing to his ability to por ...

, and

.Lahue, Kalton (1971); ''Mack Sennett's Keystone: The man, the myth and the comedies''; New York: Barnes; ; p. 194 In 2010, the lost short '' A Thief Catcher'' was discovered at an antique sale in Michigan. It was filmed in 1914 and stars Ford Sterling,

Mack Swain Mack Swain (born Moroni Swain; February 16, 1876 – August 25, 1935) was a prolific early United States, American film actor, who appeared in many of Mack Sennett’s comedies at Keystone Studios, including the Keystone Cops series. He also ...

, and Al St. John and includes a previously unknown appearance of

as a Keystone Cop.

Revivals

Mack Sennett continued to use the Keystone Cops intermittently through the 1920s, but their popularity had waned by the time that sound films arrived. In 1935, director Ralph Staub staged a revival of the Sennett gang for his

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

short subject '' Keystone Hotel'', featuring a re-creation of the Kops clutching at their hats, leaping in the air in surprise, running energetically in any direction, and taking extreme pratfalls. The Staub version of the Keystone Cops became a template for later re-creations.

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

's 1939 film '' Hollywood Cavalcade'' had

Buster Keaton Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent films during the 1920s, in which he performed physical comedy and inventive stunts. He frequently ...

in a Keystone chase scene. '' Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops'' (1955) included a lengthy chase scene, showcasing a group of stuntmen dressed as Sennett's squad. (Two original Keystone Cops in this film were Heinie Conklin as an elderly studio guard and

as a prop man. Sennett also starred in a cameo appearance as himself).

Richard Lester Richard Lester Liebman (born January 19, 1932) is an American retired film director, who spent the majority of his professional life in the United Kingdom. He is known for the fast-paced, flamboyant directing he brought to his comedy films, mo ...

's '' A Hard Day's Night'' (1964) has a scene in which

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

are chased around the streets by police in the manner of the Keystone Cops to the tune of "Can't Buy Me Love". In Sydney, Australia, in the 1960s, Rod Hull,

Desmond Tester Sydney Desmond Tester (17 February 1919 – 31 December 2002) was an English film and television actor, host and executive. He was born in London, England, and started his career as a child actor; among his most notable roles, was that of the il ...

and Penny Spence featured in a local homage series of TV comedy shorts, ''Caper Cops''. "It’s a direct steal of the American ''Keystone Kops'' ic but this is Sydney, Australia, in the late 1960s and who cares..." said creator/star Hull.

Mel Brooks Melvin James Brooks (né Kaminsky; born June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian, filmmaker, and songwriter. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodie ...

directed a car chase scene in the Keystone Cops' style in his comedy film ''

Silent Movie ''Silent Movie'' is a 1976 American satirical silent comedy film co-written, directed by and starring Mel Brooks, released by 20th Century Fox in summer 1976. The ensemble cast includes Dom DeLuise, Marty Feldman, Bernadette Peters, and S ...

'' (1976).

Canceled cartoon shorts

In the late 1960s, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts pitched to create a series of animated cartoon short films based on the Keystone Cops, before being scrapped permanently following the closure of Warner’s original animation studio in 1969.

In popular culture

The name has since been used to criticize any group for its mistakes and lack of coordination, particularly if either trait was exhibited after a great deal of energy and activity. For example, in criticizing the

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...

's response to

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

, Senator

Joseph Lieberman Joseph Isadore Lieberman (; February 24, 1942 – March 27, 2024) was an American politician and lawyer who served as a United States senator from Connecticut from 1989 to 2013. Originally a member of the Democratic Party, he was its nomine ...

claimed that emergency workers under DHS chief

Michael Chertoff Michael Chertoff (born November 28, 1953) is an American attorney who was the second United States Secretary of Homeland Security to serve under President George W. Bush. Chertoff also served for one additional day under President Barack Obama. ...

"ran around like Keystone Kops, uncertain about what they were supposed to do or uncertain how to do it." In sport, the term has come into common usage by television commentators, particularly in the United Kingdom and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The rugby commentator Liam Toland uses the term to describe a team's incompetent performance on the pitch. The phrase "Keystone Cops defending" has become a catchphrase for describing a situation in an English football match where a defensive error or a series of defensive errors leads to a goal. The term was also used in

American Football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

commentary to describe the play of the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

against the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

in the 2012 Butt Fumble game, with sportscaster

Cris Collinsworth Anthony Cris Collinsworth (born January 27, 1959) is an American former professional football player and sports broadcaster who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons (1981–1988) with the Cincinnati Bengal ...

declaring "This is the Keystone Cops", after the Jets gave up 21 points in 51 seconds. According to

Dave Filoni David Filoni (born June 7, 1974) is an American director, producer, and screenwriter currently serving as the chief creative officer of Lucasfilm. He directed multiple episodes of '' Avatar: The Last Airbender'', before being hired by George Lu ...

, supervising director of the animated television series '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars'', the look of the GU-series Guardian police droids is based on the appearance of the Keystone Cops. The 1983 video game '' Keystone Kapers'', released for the

Atari 2600 The Atari 2600 is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS), it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridg ...

, 5200,

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Corpo ...

and

Colecovision ColecoVision is a second-generation home video-game console developed by Coleco and launched in North America in August 1982. It was released a year later in Europe by CBS Electronics as the CBS ColecoVision. The console offered a closer expe ...

, by

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...

, featured Officer Keystone Kelly. The open-source 1987 video game ''

NetHack ''NetHack'' is an open source single-player roguelike video game, first released in 1987 and maintained by the NetHack DevTeam. The game is a fork of the 1984 game ''Hack'', itself inspired by the 1980 game '' Rogue''. The player takes the role ...

'' features Keystone Cops as a type of enemy, appearing whenever a player steals from an in-game shop.

References

External links

; Feature films *
Hoffmeyer's Legacy
' (1912) *
The Bangville Police
' (1913) with

''The Gangsters''
(1913) with

Roscoe Arbuckle Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle (; March 24, 1887 – June 29, 1933) was an American silent film actor, director, and screenwriter. He started at the Selig Polyscope Company and eventually moved to Keystone Studios, where he worked with Mabel ...

, Ford Sterling, and Al St. John *
Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life
' (1913) with

*
Mabel's New Hero
' (1913) with

and

*
Making a Living
' (1914)
Available to watch/download
from the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

) with

Charles Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered ...

*
Tillie's Punctured Romance
' (1914)
Available to watch/download
from the

) with

, and

*
In the Clutches of the Gang
' (1914) with

, and Al St. John *
The Noise of Bombs
' (1914) with

as police chief *
Love, Loot and Crash
' (1915)
Available to watch/download
from the

) with

Charley Chase Charles Joseph Parrott (October 20, 1893 – June 20, 1940), known professionally as Charley Chase, was an American comedian, actor, screenwriter and film director. He worked for many pioneering comedy studios but is chiefly associated with pro ...

*
Wished on Mabel
' (1915) with

and

*
Love, Speed and Thrills
' (1915)
Available to watch/download
from the

) with

, Minta Durfee, and

{{Authority control American film series Fictional police officers in films Police comedies Film characters introduced in 1912 Slapstick comedy Slapstick films Silent comedy films American black-and-white films Films directed by Mack Sennett 1910s police films Mack Sennett

History

Revivals

Canceled cartoon shorts

In popular culture

See also

References

Further reading

External links