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 a ...

comedies produced by Mack Sennett for his Keystone Film Company between 1912 and 1917.

History

The idea for the Keystone Cops came from

Hank Mann Hank Mann (born David William Lieberman, May 28, 1887 – November 25, 1971) was a Russian Empire-born and American comedian and silent screen star who was a member of the Keystone Cops. According to fellow actor and original member of th ...

, and they were named for the Keystone studio, the film production company founded in 1912 by Sennett. Their first film was ''

Hoffmeyer's Legacy ''Hoffmeyer's Legacy'' is a 1912 comedy short directed by Mack Sennett and notable for being the first Keystone Cops comedy. However, many consider the first real Keystone Cop comedy to be ''The Bangville Police (1913).'' Cast * Ford Sterling ... ...

'' (1912), with Mann playing the part of police chief Tehiezel, but their popularity stemmed from the 1913 short ''

The Bangville Police ''The Bangville Police'' (also known as ''Bangville Police'') is a 1913 comedy short starring Fred Mace, Mabel Normand and the Keystone Cops (Mace, Raymond Hatton, Edgar Kennedy, Ford Sterling, and Al St. John). The one-reel film, generally re ...

'' 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 K ...

, which had Ford Sterling in the role of chief. 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 Jr. (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 consider ...

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

Marie Dressler Marie Dressler (born Leila Marie Koerber, November 9, 1868 – July 28, 1934) was a Canadian stage and screen actress, comedian, and early silent film and Depression-era film star. In 1914, she was in the first full-length film comedy. She ...

, Mabel Normand, and Chaplin 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'' (1914) with Chaplin in his first pre- Tramp 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, Jimmy Finlayson, and Ford Sterling were also Keystone Cops, as was director Del Lord. The original Keystone Cops were George Jeske, Bobby Dunn, Mack Riley, Charles Avery,

Slim Summerville Slim Summerville (born George Joseph Somerville; July 10, 1892 – January 5, 1946), was an American film actor and director best known for his work in comedies. Early life Summerville was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where his mother d ...

, Edgar Kennedy, 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 ''A Thief Catcher'' is a one-reel 1914 American comedy film, produced by Mack Sennett for his Keystone film company, directed by Ford Sterling, and starring Sterling, Mack Swain, Edgar Kennedy, and Charles Chaplin as a policeman. Cast * Ford St ...

'' 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 an early American film actor, who appeared in many of Mack Sennett’s comedies at Keystone Studios, including the Keystone Cops series. He also appeared in major fea ...

, Edgar Kennedy, 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. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

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. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

'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 film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...

in a Keystone chase scene. ''

Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops ''Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops'' is a 1955 comedy film directed by Charles Lamont and starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. After the film was completed, Universal-International wanted to rename it ''Abbott and Costello ...

'' (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's '' A Hard Day's Night'' (1964) has a scene where the reminiscent Keystone cops chase

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

around the streets. In Sydney, Australia, in the 1960s, Rod Hull,

Desmond Tester Sydney Desmond Tester (17 February 1919 – 31 December 2002) was an England, English film and television actor, Television presenter, host and executive. He was born in London, England, and started his career as child actor, among his most nota ...

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

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

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

'' (1976).

Canceled cartoon shorts

In the late 1960s,

Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, Inc. was a short-lived American entertainment company active from 1967 until 1969. History Seven Arts Productions acquired Jack L. Warner's controlling interest in Warner Bros. Pictures for $32 million in November 19 ...

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 or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

's response to

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

, Senator

Joseph Lieberman Joseph Isadore Lieberman (; born February 24, 1942) is an American politician, lobbyist, and attorney who served as a United States senator from Connecticut from 1989 to 2013. A former member of the Democratic Party, he was its nominee for Vi ...

claimed that emergency workers under DHS chief Michael Chertoff "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 ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. 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 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 club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

against the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

in the 2012

Butt Fumble The Butt Fumble was a notorious American football play from a National Football League (NFL) game played on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 2012, between the New York Jets and New England Patriots. In front of the home crowd of over 79,000 fans ...

game, with sportscaster Cris Collinsworth declaring "This is the Keystone Cops", after the Jets gave up 21 points in 51 seconds. According to Dave Filoni, supervising director of the animated television series '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars'', the look of the police droid is based on the appearance of the Keystone Kops. The 1983 video game ''

Keystone Kapers ''Keystone Kapers'' is a video game developed by Activision and published for the Atari 2600 in April 1983, and later ported to the Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit family, ColecoVision, and in 1984, MSX. Inspired by Mack Sennett's slapstick ''Keystone Co ...

'', released for the Atari 2600, 5200,

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by Microsoft and 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, then vice-p ...

and Colecovision, by Activision, featured Keystone Kop Officer 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 1982 game ''Hack'', itself inspired by the 1980 game '' Rogue''. The player takes the role a ...

'' features Keystone Kops as a type of enemy, appearing whenever a player steals from an in-game shop. In 2022 Tom Cooper, an Austrian military analyst and book writer, repeatedly used 'Keystone Cops in Moscow' as an alias for the Russian Ministry of Defense.

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, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He started at the Selig Polyscope Company and eventually moved to Keystone Studios, where he worked ...

, 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 digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

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

) with

, and Charles Chaplin *
In the Clutches of the Gang
' (1914) with

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

police chief The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

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

) with Charley Chase *
Wished on Mabel
' (1915) with

and

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