Cross-eyed Ben Turpin was arguably the very first comic movie star, beginning his screen career in 1907. He originally worked as janitor, stuntman and shipping clerk at Essanay studios in Chicago, Illinois before getting his break in front of the camera. He would continue making comedy shorts into the sound era and up to his death in 1940 at the age of 70. He was born in 1869 just 4 years after the American Civil War ended. He wasn’t cross-eyed at birth but apparently became that way permanently while playing the cross-eyed character Happy Hooligan in Vaudeville. With his large fake mustache and stooped-over, quick-step manner of walking he was clearly an influence on Groucho Marx.
Mr. Flip is a 4 minute short from 1909. It was directed by Broncho Billy Anderson the very first western star in the movies. It consists of Turpin flirting outrageously with a string of different women while they attempt to do their jobs. He goes through a sales girl, a manicurist, a telephone operator, a lady barber, a female bartender and a waitress; getting quickly rejected by each one.
If you’ve ever wondered how old certain gags are this movie proves that several have been around for more than a century. One of the manicurists sticks a pair of scissors under a chair that Turpin sits on, springing up in pain while grabbing his behind. At the bar he gets spritzed by a couple of seltzer bottles and the movie ends when the waitress (you guessed it) hits him in the face with a pie. Legend has it that this is the very first movie to feature this iconic and ubiquitous bit of slapstick, hence the 4 stars I am giving it.
From an historical context this movie shows that many jobs were open to women 11 years before they could even vote. It also shows that men have been aggressively flirting with them ever since they entered the work force. Finally it proves that Ben Turpin had a natural comic flair even though he is all but forgotten today.
