The Gusher

The two-reel short, "The Gusher", is one of 64 short comedy films Mabel Normand cranked out in 1913. This frantic pace of comic filmmaking, along with the constant injuries before the days of stuntmen, is among the reasons that so many of the early silent comics had substance abuse problems - they were pretty much all dealing with working constantly and while injured. The short itself is a good example of Keystone comedy in the teens - lots of pants-kicking comedy, and of course the Keystone cops show up at the end to make a bad situation worse. The film is about Mabel Normand choosing one beau over another and the rejected beau attempting to cheat the winner out of his money by selling him an alleged "gusher" of an oil well.