Fatty's Faithful Fido
	20 March 1915 Keystone Film Company/Mutual Film silent short 1-reel

Director: Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle  Producer: Mack Sennett

AVAILABLE ON DVD (click image for Amazon)

Fatty (Arbuckle) and his dog (presumably called 'Fido' in the film, though in reality was called 'Luke') are on the sidewalk outside a Chinese laundry each taking turns to drink water from a running hosepipe.  A sign in the window behind them advertises a grand ball for later that evening at the athletic club.  Fatty goes inside the laundry shop to see his sweetheart (real-life wife Minta Durfee), but she rejects his kiss. Next door to the laundry is a gymnasium, where Fatty's rival (Al St. John) wanders over from to get between Fatty and his girl, to whom he is a suitor.  Fatty does a double-take out of the sheer audacity shown by the other gentleman and eventually removes his jacket, and then the man - with one hand, throwing him back into the gym with a bunch of other guys (one of which is a young Charley Chase).  The girls in the laundry room all surround the hero Fatty, who then walks next door to find three guys having difficulty with a large weight.  Fatty picks it up with one hand, showing his strength and their pathetic weakness. Outside the laundry shop, the suitor/rival takes exception to his girl talking with another man and a pushing-shoving match ensues.  Fatty joins in and the two men exchange blows.  The guys from the gym, led by Charley Chase, step outside to see the fight.  Charley goes to break it up but is accidentally whacked in the face by a sack of laundry, with him ending up in a water troth.  Bricks are hurled between Fatty and his rival, culminating in Fatty being knocked down and out.

Finally the dog comes to Fatty's rescue and chases after the brick-throwing jealous rival.  First, down an alley and then up onto the roof of a building via a ladder.  The dog is relentless, snapping at the rival's coat, ripping it to shreds before it is distracted by a cat and runs away.  Later, the dance is in full swing, with Fatty and his girl dancing to the sound of a piano player, until Fatty becomes exhausted and retires into the gymnasium next door.  He stumbles and falls back on a life-size dummy punch-bag and hits it in retaliation, but the bag bounces back and hits another fellow, who in turn hits the bag into Fatty.  Dazed, Fatty gets entangled with his rival once again before ejecting him (with a little bit of assistance from Charley Chase). Fatty and the rival call a truce and shake hands, but when Fatty turns his back, the rival chalks a mark on his suit and calls over an attendant and instructs him to choke the man in the dance wearing the marked cross on his back (Fatty), but little realising the chalk mark has ended up on his own back, thus making himself the target.  In the mean time, Fatty's girl wipes the mark off from his back.  The attendant hires two goons to go in and rough-up the man wearing the marked jacket, and they do as instructed - getting Fatty's rival.  A fight breaks out when the mistake is realised. The rival and Fatty resume their fight from earlier, this time hurling weighted gym balls at each other until finally both men - and the dog fall through the floor and down into the laundry below.

Favourite bit When Fatty is hit by a flying brick, he is standing through the gap of a barrow, which he then falls through backwards and onto a bunch of laundry sacks on the ground.  You can see it is well choreographed, but it's a wonderful stunt all the same!

Facts •The dog's real name was Duke. •There are nine intertitle cards in the film.  They are shown below. Did you notice? •The film opens with Fatty and his dog outside a Chinese laundry. •The name of the dancers are 'The Swift Footers'. •When Minta Durfee is first seen inside the laundry shop, she is facing the camera and acting in a very unconvincing way. •The dog climbs up a steep ladder to the roof as it gives chase to the villain, but watch as it puts its front paws onto the roof - it doesn't quite make it and falls backwards down to the ground.  Although the impact of the dog hitting the ground is not actually seen, it is clear this was an accident and was left in the film.  It is quite a shocking thing to see. •There are 17 rungs on the ladder that the villain and dog climb. •There just happens to be a ladder on the roof of the building which stretches over to the roof of the building opposite.  What a strange co-incidence that is! •The sign in the Chinese laundry says "No Tickee, No Washee". •Fatty's rival chalks a cross on Fatty's back and then instructs the attendant to attack the man with this mark.  He then demonstrates the mark by chalking a replica of the cross on the wall.  In doing so, he leans his own back up against the mark he had just chalked onto the wall, thus having it rub off on his own jacket.  That is how he himself became the target.  (Call me slow, but it took for me to watch the film for a second time before I understood this!!) •At 11:43, the rival (Al St. John) performs quite an amazing standing drop-kick on Fatty Arbuckle.  That is agility! •Just before the two men fall through the floor at the end of the film, you can see a patch on the ground which looks as though it was deliberately rigged to accomodate the break in the ground.

	Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle Fatty
	Minta Durfee Gymnasium man/ Fatty's sweetheart
	Al St. John Fatty's rival
	Charley Chase Gymnasium man/ Man at the dance
	Frank Hayes One Lung, the Chinese laundry man
	Charles Lakin Coat check attendant
	Grover Ligon Thug
	Dan Albert Gymnasium man
	Edward F. Cline Gymnasium man
	Ted Edwards Gymnasium man
	Billie Walsh Gymnasium man
	Joe Bordeaux Man at the dance
	Dixie Chene Social club girl
	Venice Hayes Social club girl
	Harry McCoy Pianist

INTERTITLES (click image to enlarge)

Acknowledgements: http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/F/FattysFaithfulFido1915.html (Silent Era) Smile When The Raindrops Fall by Brian Anthony & Andy Edmonds (book) This page was last updated on: 23 September 2024