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The Butcher Boy (1917 film)
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
|name = The Butcher Boy
|image = Butcher boy 1917 1.jpg
|caption = Poster
|director = Roscoe Arbuckle
|producer = Joseph M. Schenck
|writer = Roscoe Arbuckle
Joseph Anthony Roach
|starring = Roscoe Arbuckle
Buster Keaton
Al St. John
Josephine Stevens
Arthur Earle
Joe Bordeaux
Luke the Dog
Charles Dudley
Alice Lake
Agnes Neilson
|cinematography = Frank D. Williams
|editing = Herbert Warren
|studio = Famous Players-Lasky Corporation
|distributor = Paramount Pictures
|released =
|runtime = 30 minutes
|country = United States
|language = Silent (English intertitles)
|budget =
}}
'The Butcher Boy' is a 1917 American two-reel silent comedy film written by, directed by, and starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and featuring Al St. John, Buster Keaton and Alice Lake. This was the first in Arbuckle's series of films with the Comique Film Corporation, and Keaton's film debut.
Plot
Fatty, a butcher boy in a country store, is in love with Almondine (Alice Lake), the daughter of the store's general manager Mr. Grouch. Fatty's attempts to get close to her are sidetracked when the store's clerk Alum (Al St. John), a rival for Alice's affections, starts a fight with the rotund butcher. Their confrontation in the store soon involves a customer (Buster Keaton) as well as Grouch. The resulting mayhem includes small bags of flour being hurled and "exploding", pies being tossed, and brooms being wildly swung amid the thick clouds of flour lingering in the air.
Determined to marry Almondine, Fatty disguises himself as a female cousin and follows her to an all-girls boarding school. Unfortunately, Alum has the same idea and masquerades, too, as a female student. After another fight breaks out between Fatty and Alum, Fatty is taken by the school's principal Miss Teachem to a separate room to be punished. Meanwhile, Alum and his accomplices (Keaton and Joe Bordeaux) attempt to kidnap Almondine. Luckily, Fatty's dog Luke distracts the gang while Fatty and Almondine escape. Once outside, the couple see a sign on a tree identifying a nearby parsonage, so they run off arm-in-arm to get married there.
Note that the subtitles in a later release of 'The Butcher Boy' cite new names for the characters: Alum is "Slim Snavely" and Almondine is "Amanda".[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0AD8___Aq4 "The Butcher Boy (1917) - 1st Buster Keaton Movie Appearance - Fatty Arbuckle"], posted by Change Before Going Productions, available for viewing by the general public on the video-sharing service YouTube, a subsidiary of Alphabet, Inc., Mountain View, California. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
Cast
* Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle as Fatty / Saccharine (credited as 'Fatty' Arbuckle)
* Buster Keaton as Buster
* Al St. John as Alum
* Alice Lake as Almondine
* Arthur Earle as The Store Manager
* Joe Bordeaux as Accomplice (credited as Joe Bordeau)
* Luke as The Dog
* Charles Dudley (uncredited)
* Josephine Stevens (uncredited)
* Agnes Neilson as Miss Teachem (uncredited)
Critical response
A review of 'The Butcher Boy' was published in the April 20, 1917, issue of 'Variety', a trade magazine for the entertainment industry:
See also
* List of American films of 1917
* Fatty Arbuckle filmography
* Buster Keaton filmography
References
Footnotes
Further reading
*"The Butcher Boy" (film review) in 'Variety Weekly'. April 20, 1917.*Corliss, Richard. (2001) [https://web.archive.org/web/20010516133236/http://www.time.com/time/sampler/article/0,8599,109415,00.html That Old Feeling: Fatty and Buster] at 'Time' online.
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