Al St. John ( Eng. Al St. John , since 1941 starred in the movie under the pseudonym Al 'Fazy' St. John / Eng. Al 'Fuzzy' St. John ; September 10, 1893 , Santa Ana , California , USA - January 21, 1963 , Lyons, Georgia , USA) is an American silent film comic actor who started at the famous Mac Sennet studio “Keystone” , where he was a partner of Roscoe Arbuckle , Charles Chaplin , Mabel Norman , and later starred in films with Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd . In the twenties, St. John was also a screenwriter and director on a number of films with his participation. During the years of sound cinema, he constantly played characteristic roles in westerns of category “B” . He ended his career as a famous actor in television series. In total (given the short films and television series) starred in 346 films, many of which were lost.
| Al St. John | |
|---|---|
| Al St. John | |
| Birth name | Alfred st. John |
| Date of Birth | September 10, 1893 |
| Place of Birth | Santa Ana , California , USA |
| Date of death | January 21, 1963 (69 years old) |
| Place of death | Lyons , Georgia , USA |
| Citizenship |  USA |
| Profession | actor filmmaker screenwriter |
| Career | 1913-1953 |
| IMDb | |
| alstjohn.tumblr.com | |
Content
Biography
The early years
Like many of his fellow craftsmen (for example, Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton ), St. John began with the theater stage variety shows, where he and his parents did acrobatic numbers on a bicycle.
Silent Movie
In 1912, St. John took advantage of family ties - he was the nephew of the then-beginning movie actor Roscoe Arbuckle (the age difference between his nephew and uncle was only 6 years old) and got a job at the Mac Sennet 's Keystone movie studio. In the same year, St. John made his debut on the screen in a tiny episode in the movie Through Dumb Luck (directed by Dell Henderson).
Since 1913, he regularly appears on the screen as a supporting actor in short comedies with the participation of his uncle Arbuckle and his frequent partner Mabel Norman . Since his uncle was nicknamed 'Fatty', that is, 'Fat Man', these comedies were often called: “Fatti and the Heiress”, “Fatti's Debut”, “The Simple Life of Fatti and Mabel”, “Family Life of Mabel and Fatti” , "Fatti's Faithful Dog", "Fatti's New Role" and others.
In 1914, he took part in nine short films featuring Charlie Chaplin - “An Extraordinarily Difficult Mabel Situation ”, “ Tango Confusion ”, “ Best Tenant ”, “ Caught up in a Cabaret ”, “ Knockout ”, “ Business Day Mabel ”, “ Transition ” , "The New Gatekeeper ", " His Prehistoric Past ." In the same 1914, he played the role of the Kistounovsky policeman in Chaplin's first full-length comedy - “ Tilly 's Interrupted Romance ” (directed by Mac Sennet).
When in 1917, Roscoe Arbuckle left Sennet and founded his production company Comique Film Corporation, he took with him his nephew. Arbuckle invites to his studio the still-unknown Buster Keaton . Together, Trinity Arbuckle, Keaton and St. John appear on the screen in a series of short comedies staged by Arbuckle in 1917-1919: “ Butcher 's Assistant ”, “House of Rude Manners”, “ Oh Doctor! ”,“ Coney Island ”,“ Strange Wild West ”,“ Corridor ”,“ Cook ”,“ Behind the Scenes ”, etc. When Keaton began to dominate this troika, eclipsing not only St. John, but also Arbuckle on the screen Buster left the studio and in 1920 signed a contract with Joseph Schenk for independent productions. Despite this, they parted as friends, and Al St. John continued to act in both Arbuckle's films and Keaton's comedies (the latter in Scarecrow, 1920, The Secret Sign, 1921 , General , 1926, and Love nest on wheels ”, 1937 ).
In 1919, St. John meets on the set with the third of the great comedians of silent films (after Chaplin and Keaton, respectively), Harold Lloyd in the short comedy At the Old Stage Door (directed by Hal Roach).
Since 1919, El St. John has also tried his hand at writing scripts and setting them up independently, directing (sometimes with the help of Benjamin Stoloff or Roscoe Arbuckle) 28 short comedies in which he himself played the main roles: Speed (1919), “She loves me, she does not love me” (1920), “Highly recommended” (1924), etc.
Arbuckle, after the famous scandal of 1921, when he was accused of murder (never proven, the actor was acquitted after three trials), was forced to make films under the pseudonym William Goodrich. In the 1925 short film The Steel Mule, Arbuckle filmed his friends St. John and Buster Keaton. Al St. John will still star in several short films by Arbuckle: Curses ( 1925 ), Marriage Ties ( 1931 ), Wives Play Bridge ( 1932 ), etc.
Sound movie
In sound cinema, El St. John switched to characteristic roles in Western category “B” . Around 1937, he was assigned the nickname 'Fuzzy', and the name was the hero of most of his work in Westerns. Westerners of category "B" in the 1930-1940s. of the last century were short in duration (about an hour each film), so that it was convenient to show them in paired sessions, before the main movie (such sessions in the USA were practiced at that time) and were shot as series , with sequels.
For the first time, 'Fuzzy', as a hero, appeared in a series of Westerns at Spectrum Pictures with the participation of singing actor-cowboy Fred Scott (1937-1938, 7 films, starting with The Roaming Cowboy).
This was followed by three series shot at the PRC studio, the first and most popular of which was the movie series about Billy Kid, where Bob Steele played the main role, and then the more popular actor and swimmer Buster Crabbe became his successor (from 1940 to 1946 it was shot 42 films, 36 of them with the Buster Crabb duo - El St. John: “Baby Billy Wanted,” 1941 ; “Baby Billy's Search”, 1941; “Smoky Pistols of Baby Billy,” 1942; “The Mysterious Horseman,” 1942 and others .).
At the same time, a series of films was released with the hero - The Lone Rider, whom George Houston played in the first tapes of the series, later replaced by Robert Livingston (1941-43, 17 films, starting with “The Lone Rider On ...” / The Lone Rider Rides On).
After Buster Crabbe refused to continue the series about Billy Kid, as a replacement, since 1947 the studio management has decided to shoot a new series of films with the hero 'Cheyenne' Davis performed by Lash Lara , and the unchanging Fazy, as his bosom buddy ( from 1947 to 1952, 20 films were shot, starting with the "Law of Lash").
The hero of St. John by the name of Fazy - a stubborn old cowboy, a sort of village fool, became so popular that his name for marketing purposes since 1941 was inserted in the credits and on movie posters other than El 'Fazy' St. John. Until 1952, St. John reincarnated in Fazy more than 80 times.
Since the early 1950s, when television was firmly rooted in the homes of Americans, the great era of cheap serial films that were screened in twin sessions has passed. Series began to shoot for TV, where he moved after 1952, El St. John.
While awaiting filming on the Wild West show, while in Georgia, St. John suffered a heart attack and died in 1963 in his seventieth year of life.
Personal life
The actor was married twice: with Flo Belle Moore (Flo Belle Moore, from October 5, 1914 to March 19, 1923) and with June Price Pearce (June 30, 1926 to ...?).
Recognition
On February 8, 1960, St. John was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her services in cinema - her number is 6313 [1] .