Back Stage

In Back Stage, stage hands Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton have to put on the show when the actors strike! But the striking star’s a jealous man …

Back Stage (1919) starring Fatty Arbuckle, Buster Keaton, Al St. John

Back Stage is a very funny Fatty Arbuckle & Buster Keaton silent comedy short film. It deals with them working as stagehands in a backwoods theater. A traveling company comes to play there, led by a very bullying, temperamental strongman. And after some shenanigans, the actors go on strike! What can they do? The strongman’s lovely and kind assistant suggests that they put on the show! After all, they know all the lines …

Act I of the play

And they do so — and it’s hilarious! In the first act, it’s King Fatty I and his “lovely” wife (Buster in drag), performing acrobatic “dancing”. The striking actors are there to mock and belittle – and Buster gives them the same back! Buster’s always a great combination of athleticism and comedy – never better than here.

Act II

In Act II of the play, anything that can go wrong does – hilariously! Fatty, with Buster as his chauffeur, arrive at a stage building. There’s a funny bit where Buster drives the car offstage, accidentally showing that it’s just a cardboard cutout. As the “snow” falls (thrown by someone in the rafters who eventually gets impatient and dumps the entire bag on Fatty), Fatty tries to serenade his lady love. But Buster accidentally knocks over the front of the house, having it fall on Fatty! Getting increasingly upset, especially when Fatty kisses his assistant, he pulls out a gun — and fires!

The ending is both comedic and serious. Eventually, Buster has the clever idea of using a rope to swing into the audience, and pull the strongman to the stage. But, the strongman is difficult to subdue, tossing the stagehands around like rag dolls. Eventually, Fatty comes up with the idea of loading a trunk with the strongman’s weights, and dropping it on him! Afterward, a lovestruck Fatty visits the recuperating assistant in the hospital. But he eats the apple that he brought for her, ending the short.

Comedy highlights

• Fatty pasting a new billboard for the new show on the outside of the building.
  • And pasting a young boy to the wall when he’ in the way!
  • And when he eventually removes the boy, his pants remain on the wall
  • Leaving the sliding door half-open after, the sign (wrongly) reads: Miss Skinny will undress here at 2 p.m.
• The recurring joke of the Star dressing room, where the star is movable by pulleys, so they can shift it to suit the various actors with inflated egos..
• Buster doing the “walk down the stairs” bit – until Fatty moves the board.
• The “eccentric dancer” routine, which both Fatty & Buster try to imitate – and fail.
• Fatty and Buster electrify the strongman’s barbells, to teach the abusive strong man a lesson.
  • Buster stuck under the barbells!
  • Which the demure Strongman’s assistant easily picks up & walks away with it.

Cast of characters

• Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle (The Knockout) … Stagehand
• Buster Keaton (Seven Chances) … Stagehand
• Al St. John (His Prehistoric Past) … Stagehand
• Charles A. Post … The Strongman
• Molly Malone (Straight Shooting) … Strongman’s Assistant
• Jack Coogan Sr. … Eccentric Dancer (as John Coogan)

Trivia

• Included in “Buster Keaton: The Shorts Collection” blu-ray set, released by Kino.
• The falling house bit is expanded by Buster in Steamboat Bill Jr.