The Keystone Cops are fictional, humorously incompetent policemen featured in silent film slapstick comedies produced by Mack Sennett for his Keystone Film Company between 1912 and 1917.
The Keystone Cops in The Stolen Purse (1913). Pictured (left to right): Robert Z. Leonard, Mack Sennett, Bill Haber, Henry Lehrman, ⸻ McAlley, Chester Franklin, Ford Sterling, Fred Mace, and Arthur Tavares.
The Keystone Cops in a typical pose from In the Clutches of the Gang (1914). The chief (using the telephone) is Ford Sterling. The policeman directly behind Sterling (extreme background, left) is Edgar Kennedy. The young cop to Kennedy's left is a then-unknown William Frawley. The hefty policeman at extreme right is Fatty Arbuckle. The young constable with bulging eyes (fourth from right) is Arbuckle's nephew Al St. John. The casting of the Keystone police force changed from one film to the next; many of the members were
The Thief Catcher (1914) with Charlie Chaplin (left) as a Keystone Cop
Heinie Conklin
Mack Sennett was a Canadian-American producer, director, actor, and studio head who was known as the "King of Comedy" during his career.
The Moving Picture World, 1916
The Mack Sennett Keystone Studios in 1915
Sennett Bathing Beauties
Movie theatre audience members Roscoe Arbuckle and Sennett square off while watching Mabel Normand onscreen in Mabel's Dramatic Career (1913).
