Elgin Lessley was an American hand-crank cameraman of the silent film era—a period of filmmaking when virtually all special effects work had to be produced inside the camera during filming. Though Les
Lessley in 1915
Lessley filming Roscoe Arbuckle and Mabel Normand on the set of He Did and He Didn't (1915)
Keaton as nine members of a minstrel show in the opening of The Playhouse (1921)
The Boat is a 1921 American two-reel silent comedy film written and directed by, and starring Buster Keaton. Contemporary reviews consider it one of his best shorts, along with One Week, The Playhouse