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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Womanica. This month we're talking about comediennees, women throughout history who've made us laugh. They transgressed societal norms through comedy and often spoke out against injustice using their sharp wit.
Today we're talking about a woman who became a leading force during Hollywood's silent film era. She starred in or directed more than a hundred films and collaborated with icons like Charlie Chaplin and Fatty Arbuckle.
She was famous for her magnetic charm and humor and the scandals that surrounded her.
Please welcome Mabel Normand.
Mabel was born in 1892 to a poor working-class family in Staten Island, New York.
At the age of 14, she began working as a model, posing for the famed illustrator Charles Dana Gibson.
He created pen and ink drawings of girls like Mabel for his Gibson Girls series.
They were slender and tall with ample bosoms and hips, with hair piled high atop their heads.
Gibson Girls came to represent the ideal of American femininity at the turn of the 20th century.
Mabel transitioned from the canvas to the silver screen in 1910.
She quickly caught the attention of the prominent director D.W. Griffiths.
Mabel appeared in some of his early silent films, like Her Awakening.
Mabel had no formal training as a performer, but this proved to be an advantage.
Fellow performers with stage acting experience had a tendency to cheat out towards the camera, using exaggerated movements and facial expressions.
Mabel just looked more natural on camera, with looser movements and big, expressive eyes.
Mabel's work caught the attention of film director Mack Sennett.
He wooed her romantically, and the pair moved to California together in 1912, where Mack started Keystone Picture Studios.
Mabel starred in a bevy of films by Keystone, but she wasn't just a performer. She was also a director and a true comedian.
She was one of the first film stars to use the screen as part of her comedy, breaking the fourth wall as if confiding a secret to the audience.
Mabel also pioneered a Hollywood comedy classic, The Pie in the Face. The slapstick trick became a staple for Keystone Productions after Mabel introduced it in 1913.
Mabel became known for her up-to-anything approach to film comedy, earning her the nickname Madcap Mabel.
Fellow film star Mary Pickford once said,
Mabel also liked to flip gender roles on their heads. Yes, she'd play a damsel in distress—in fact, she was the first leading lady to be tied to railroad tracks on screen. But her characters also sometimes rescued leading men from sticky situations.
At the height of her career, a critic described Mabel as
Mabel also collaborated with comedy icons of the era.
When Charlie Chaplin first began his film career, Mabel mentored him. And it was in a film Mabel starred in and directed, Mabel's Strange Predicament, that Chaplin first introduced his now-beloved character, the Tramp.
Mabel later said she helped Chaplin develop the character. But their work together was not always smooth sailing. Chaplin resented taking direction from a younger woman, even though Mabel had more experience in film.
Chaplin eventually jumped ship to a different studio, earning $1,200 a week, while Mabel still only earned $175.
After Chaplin, Mabel starred in films alongside Fatty Arbuckle.
In 1916, Mabel was at the helm of her own production house, the Mabel-Norman Feature Film Company.
She was one of the first women to ever have her name on a production company.
The studio's debut film, a comedy-drama called Mickey, premiered in 1918, with Mabel in another starring role.
The movie was a huge box office hit, but it was also the company's last.
Just as her success and power in Hollywood seemed cemented, scandals in Mabel's personal life threatened everything.
Her longtime collaborator and co-star, Fatty Arbuckle, was accused of murdering an actress, and Mabel struggled to distance herself from the scandal.
Months later, Mabel was linked to a still-unsolved murder of another film director. Then her chauffeur shot a wealthy oil tycoon with her gun.
Mabel struggled with excessive drinking and an addiction to cough syrup. She lost work as scandals and rumors swirled in the press.
Mabel starred in her final film in 1927. Soon after, she moved to a sanitarium to treat her tuberculosis.
Mabel died in 1930 at 37 years old.
Mabel's remembered as a Hollywood legend. Her prolific career as a filmmaker and actress during the silent era was an early blueprint for what women could achieve in Hollywood and in comedy.
All month we're talking about comedienne's. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram at Womanica Podcast.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator. Talk to you on Monday.
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