''Mr. Flip'' is a 1909 American silent

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

made by

Essanay Studios Essanay Studios, officially the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company, was an early American motion picture studio. The studio was founded in 1907 in Chicago by George Kirke Spoor and Gilbert M. Anderson, originally as the Peerless Film Manufactu ...

, directed by

Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson Gilbert M. "Broncho Billy" Anderson (born Maxwell Henry Aronson; March 21, 1880 – January 20, 1971) was an American actor, writer, film director, and film producer, who was the first star of the Western (genre), Western film genre. He was a ...

and starring

Ben Turpin Bernard "Ben" Turpin (September 19, 1869 – July 1, 1940) was an American comedian and actor, best remembered for his work in silent films. His trademarks were his Esotropia, cross-eyed appearance and adeptness at vigorous physical comedy ...

. The film is about a man going to various locations in town where he flirts with the women, and they in turn get comedic revenge on him, causing him to leave their establishment, and leave them alone. This film is believed to have included the first cinematic instance of a comedian being hit in the face with a pie, later known as the

Pie in the Face Pieing or a pie attack is the act of throwing a pie at a person. In pieing, the goal is usually to humiliate the victim while avoiding actual injury. For this reason the pie is traditionally of the cream variety without a top crust, and is rarely ...

, when Ben Turpin was struck. However, the pie Turpin was hit with was hand-held, not thrown.

Plot

The film begins with Mr. Flip, played by Ben Turpin, in a general store, in which he flirts with the woman behind the counter, for which he is carried out of the building on a

hand truck A hand truck, also known as a hand trolley, dolly, stack truck, trundler, box cart, sack barrow, cart, sack truck, two wheeler, or bag barrow, is an L-shaped box-moving cart, handcart with handles at one end, wheels at the base, with a small ledg ...

. He travels to a

manicurist A nail technician or nail stylist is a person whose occupation is to style and shape a person's nails. This is achieved using a combination of decorating nails with coloured varnish, transfers, gems or glitter. Basic treatments include manicure ...

where he eventually gets the pointed end of a pair of scissors, sticking up out of his chair, when he sits down. He then meets a telephone operator at her desk, he calls her on a nearby phone, and she gets revenge by shocking him with electricity, through the phone, by turning her manual generator. Next at a barber shop two women workers, get even with him by pasting his face with shaving cream and tossing him out of the building. At a bar he flirts with the bar attendants, until he gets sprayed with seltzer, by them and another patron. As the film's climax he enters a bakery and gets a pie in the face by the assistant.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mister Flip 1909 films 1909 short films 1909 comedy films Silent American comedy short films American black-and-white films Essanay Studios films Films directed by Broncho Billy Anderson 1900s American films 1900s English-language films English-language comedy short films

Plot

See also

References

External links