Mack Swain

{{Short description|American actor (1876–1935)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2014}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Mack Swain

| image = Mack Swain 1920.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Photograph by Albert Witzel, 1920

| birth_name = Moroni Swain

| birth_date = {{birth date|1876|02|16}}

| birth_place = Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1935|08|25|1876|02|16}}

| death_place = Tacoma, Washington, U.S.

| occupation = Actor, vaudevillian

| spouse = {{marriage|Cora Claire King|1899|}}

| yearsactive = 1913-1935

}}

Mack Swain (born Moroni Swain;{{cite book|last1=Hunter|first1=James Michael|title=Mormons and Popular Culture: The Global Influence of an American Phenomenon|date=2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9780313391675|pages=250–251|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5oM1B1VE-yMC&q=%22Moroni+Swain%22&pg=PA250|access-date=15 May 2018|language=en}} February 16, 1876 – August 25, 1935) was a prolific 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 features by Charlie Chaplin and starred in both the world's first feature length comedy and first film to feature a "movie-within-a-movie" premise.

Early years

File:A Movie Star (1916).webm

Swain was born on February 16, 1876, to Robert Henry Swain and Mary Ingeborg Jensen in Salt Lake City, Utah, and was educated in Salt Lake City's public schools. At age 6 he put on his first act called "Mack Swain's Mammoth Minstrels" in the family barn. At age 8 he stole all of his mother's sheets and linens to build his own circus tent. He ran away from home at age 15, joining a minstrel show. His mother took him home after one performance, but he persuaded her to let him continue in entertainment.{{cite news|title=Mack Swain, Colorful Film Comedian and Pioneer, Dies|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13370862/the_salt_lake_tribune/|work=The Salt Lake Tribune|agency=Associated Press|date=August 27, 1935|location=Utah, Salt Lake City|page=18|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = May 14, 2018}} {{Open access}}

Career

In the early 1900s, Swain had his own stock theater company, the Mack Swain Co., which performed in the western{{cite news|title='The Little Minister'|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20084185/mack_swain/|work=Petaluma Daily Morning Courier|agency=Napa Journal|date=February 18, 1907|location=California, Petaluma|page=1|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = May 14, 2018}} {{Open access}} and midwestern United States.{{cite news|title=At the Opera House|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20084523/mack_swain/|work=The Alliance Herald|date=October 14, 1904|location=Nebraska, Alliance|page=4|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = May 14, 2018}} {{Open access}} His most notable residency, was in Santa Cruz, California, where at one point he was bringing in 6,000 patrons a week to see his performances; over two-thirds the population of the city at the time.{{Cite web |date=2023-01-08 |title=The Keystone comics of Santa Cruz {{!}} Ross Eric Gibson, Local History |url=https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2023/01/08/the-keystone-comics-of-santa-cruz-ross-eric-gibson-local-history |access-date=2023-03-03 |website=Santa Cruz Sentinel |language=en-US}} On June 24, 1907, the Mack Swain Co. had its 61st show in 50 days, breaking the record by any theater company ever appearing in Santa Cruz. That same year Swain bought the Alisky Theatre, and changed its name to Swain’s Theatre. By 1913, audience attendance had begun to dry up and with it Swain's theatrical career. Mack was initially hesitant to work in the film industry, viewing it as an "inferior art form to theater," but eventually gave in after many of his fellow actors and peers had done the same.

File:Ambrose's Day Off (1919) - Ad 1.jpg productions]]

His first foray into silent film began at Keystone Studios under Mack Sennett. His first dressing room was shared with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. Shortly after arriving at Keystone, Charlie Chaplin too joined the studio and the two quickly teamed up. Swain would later recall that Sennett initially saw him and Chaplin as a burden, and encouraged the two to work together. These early films, such as Laughing Gas (1914) and Mabel's Married Life (1914), would forge a friendship between the two that would endure until Swain's death. Chaplin would later state that his idea for his infamous character, The Tramp, came from him rummaging through Swain's and Arbuckle's dressing room; the baggy clothes from Arbuckle and the iconic mustache from one of Swain's own fake mustaches. Swain and Chaplin would eventually star in the world's first feature-length comedy, Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914).

Chaplin soon left Keystone, and Swain paired up with Chester Conklin to make a series of comedy films. Swain played "Ambrose" and Conklin the grand mustachioed "Walrus" in several films, including The Battle of Ambrose and Walrus and Love, Speed and Thrills, both made in 1915. Another of Swain's early comedies made a cinematic first; his A Movie Star (1916) was the first film to feature a movie within a movie. Besides these comedies, the two appeared together in a variety of other films, 26 all told, and they also appeared separately and/or together in films starring Mabel Normand, Charles Chaplin, Roscoe Arbuckle and most of the rest of the roster of Keystone players. Swain later took his Ambrose character with him to the L-KO Kompany.

Having already worked with Charles Chaplin at Keystone, Swain began working with Chaplin again at First National in 1921, appearing in The Idle Class, Pay Day, and The Pilgrim. He is also remembered for his large supporting role as Big Jim McKay in the 1925 film The Gold Rush, for United Artists, written by and starring Chaplin.

Personal life

Swain was married to actress Cora King.{{cite news|title=Death Calls Mack Swain|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20085404/mack_swain/|work=The Los Angeles Times|agency=Associated Press|date=August 27, 1935|location=California, Los Angeles|page=3|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = May 14, 2018}} {{Open access}}

Death

Swain died on a train bound from Chicago to Hollywood in August 25, 1935, following an illness that lasted only a few hours. He was buried in Tacoma, Washington.{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=Mack Swain Dead. Pioneer Film Actor. Appeared With Charlie Chaplin in Keystone Comedies Before Days of 'Stars' |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F0DE5DF163EE53ABC4F51DFBE66838E629EDE |quote=Mack Swain, stage and screen actor, died here late last night after a few hours' illness. He had suffered an internal hemorrhage in the afternoon. ...|newspaper=New York Times |access-date=2015-03-09 }}

It is rumored that an accident sustained in an early Keystone Cops skit involving Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle kicking him in the stomach eventually led to his death.{{Citation needed |date=October 2023}}

Legacy

File:Lost- A Cook with Mack Swain ad in Motion Picture News (Jul-Aug 1917) (IA motionpicturenew161unse) (page 1250 crop).jpg, 1917]]

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Swain received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1500 Vine Street.{{cite web|title=Mack Swain|url=http://www.walkoffame.com/mack-swain|website=Hollywood Walk of Fame|access-date=15 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180515011350/http://www.walkoffame.com/mack-swain|archive-date=15 May 2018}}

Partial filmography

File:Finnegan's Ball lobby card.jpg for Finnegan's Ball (1927)]]

class="wikitable"
Year

! Title

! Role

! Notes

1914A False BeautyThe Policeman
1914Caught in the RainHusbandShort
1914His Musical CareerMike aka Ambrose - Tom's PartnerShort
1914Tillie's Punctured RomanceJohn Banks
1914Getting Acquaintedrowspan="2"|AmbroseShort
1915Love, Speed and ThrillsShort
1916

|A Movie Star

|Handsome Jack

|Short

1917

|Lost- A Cook

|Cook

|

1921The Idle ClassEdna's FatherShort, Uncredited
1922Pay DayForemanShort
1923The PilgrimDeacon Jones
1925The Gold RushBig Jim McKay
1925The EagleInnkeeperUncredited
1926Hands Up!Silas Woodstock
1926TorrentDon Matías
1926Sea HorsesBimbo-Bomba
1926The Cohens and KellysMinor RoleUncredited
1926KikiPastryman
1926Footloose WidowsLudwig, Marian's husband-in-retrospect
1926Honesty – The Best PolicyBendy Joe
1926The Nervous WreckJerome Underwood
1926Her Big NightMyers
1926Whispering WiresMcCarthy
1927The Beloved RogueNicholas
1927See You in JailSlossom
1927The Shamrock and the RoseMr. Kelly
1927The Tired Business ManMike Murphy
1927MockeryVladimir Gaidaroff
1927Finnegan's BallPatrick Flannigan
1927My Best GirlThe Judge
1927BeckyIrving Spiegelberg
1927A Texas SteerBragg
1927The Girl from EverywhereWilfred Ashcraft - Director
1928Gentlemen Prefer BlondesSir Francis Beekman
1928Tillie's Punctured RomanceTillie's Father
1928Caught in the FogDetective Ryan
1928The Last WarningRobert Bunce
1929The Cohens and the Kellys in Atlantic CityMr. Tom Kelly
1929The Locked DoorHotel Proprietor
1929MarianneGeneral
1930RedemptionMagistrate
1930The Sea BatDutchy
1930Soup to NutsFirst Fat DinerUncredited
1931Finn and HattieLe Bottin
1932The Midnight Patrol
1935Bad BoyMan on Rowing MachineUncredited (final film role)

Images

File:Getting acquainted.jpg|Clockwise from top: Phyllis Allen, Mack Swain, Charles Chaplin and Mabel Normand in Getting Acquainted (1914)

File:Gentlemen of nerve.jpg|With Charles Chaplin and Mabel Normand in Gentlemen of Nerve (1914)

References

{{reflist}}