Mack Sennett

Mack Sennett was a Canadian-born American film producer, director and actor who became one of the principal architects of early screen comedy. In 1912 he founded Keystone Studios, where rapid physical action, chases and visual gags became a defining style of silent slapstick.

Keystone helped launch or develop the careers of performers including Charlie Chaplin, Mabel Normand and Roscoe Arbuckle, and popularised the Keystone Cops. Sennett later produced independently and remained an important influence on American comedy even after his studio system declined.

John Jakes’ American Dreams brings Mack Sennett into Fritzi Crown’s move from the stage to the rapidly developing motion-picture industry. Sennett is one of the real Hollywood pioneers through whom the novel shows the improvised, commercial and comic world of early film as Fritzi tries to build a screen career in California.