Mabel Normand - Hollywood Pioneer

Serious film fans know there are levels to slapstick. "The Three Stooges," for instance, are unquestionably funny. Yet their art wasn't indicative of anything in particular. Not so for some early slapstick icons. Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Roscoe Arbuckle, and Ford Sterling could knockabout with the best of them. Looking under the surface, however, one can find social themes and even commentaries in many of their works  This is particularly true in the case of Mabel Normand. Yes, pretty, funny Mabel Normand had a lot to say in those silent films of hers. While Chaplin famously went on to comment on the downtrodden through his work, Mable's messaging was more subtle - but it was there nonetheless.

Mabel's prime career years (1912-1920) coincided with a world in turmoil. Empires were crumbling. Worldviews were changing. Technological advancements were simultaneously making life easier and more dangerous. In short - the established ways of seeing and doing things were fading fast. Intentionally or not, Mabel repeatedly addressed the moment in her work. A lady, after all, was not supposed to be toting a gun. In A Dash Through the Clouds, Mabel not only held but fired a gun...while flying on the wing of a primitive airplane, no less. Women weren't supposed to drive around race tracks at high speeds, but that's what Mabel did in Mabel at the Wheel. 

Sure enough, in film after film, Mabel shattered societal norms. Whether she was playing with a live bear in The Brave Hunter, allowing herself to be dragged through mud for a laugh in A Muddy Romance, or walloping Chaplin in His Trysting Place, Mabel defined herself at least in part by defying the expectations society had placed on women at the time. Just how much of a groundbreaker was Mabel? So much of one that she made more money than the President of the United States and ran her own studio all before women could vote. 

Perhaps one of the most notable things about Mabel, though, was that she was as comfortable with some traditions as she was flying in the face of others. Mabel loved to keep up with the latest fashions, for instance. She also was outspoken in her loyalty to the United States and its military. On top of all that, Mabel was a devout Catholic her entire life. Ultimately, she was a groundbreaking female pioneer who nonetheless felt that some ground didn't need to be broken. Nearly one hundred years after her death, Mabel can be looked back on as someone who marched to the beat of her own figurative drummer. Film, and popular culture as a whole, is all the better for it.