Mabel Normand Feature Found!

It's been rumored for awhile (according to Marilyn Slater, several years)...but indeed another Mabel Normand feature appears to have been found (thanks to Peter Kalm for the tip)! Only 10 out of her 22 features still exist, or about 45%. This number has greatly increased in the last 10 years, with now 4 of those films being rediscovered.

The film in question is 1919's "When Doctors Disagree" (read more about it here). Shockingly its been sitting around unpreserved and un-cared about for years. Reportedly someone is trying to change this.

Any found Mabel film is a joy, but sadly this looks like one of her 'off' moments. Mabel had been ill since about 1915 when her engagement to Mack Sennett ended with a conk on the head by the slutty Mae Busch. Not only would her head injuries make her 'not quite the same' but its likely Mabel got addicted to morphine and/or cocaine around this time (likely to dull the pain from her head injury; morphine was routinely described in the pre Wally Reid era). She had likely contracted TB soon before or soon after (depending who you ask). All these factors combined mostly erased the adorable Mabel we knew from Keystone, leaving a sad talented ghost in her place. Mabel could look anywhere from 'slightly off' to down right horrifying depending on whether she was on a binder or her TB was flaring up. And it would...productions notes from her Goldwyn years show just how frequently she was in and out of hospitals for TB...and it was a lot. She'd work herself ill, take a rest and be okay, then repeat.

I'm betting "When Doctors Disagree" (judging by the stills and the year) will be very similar to "What Happened to Rosa?" (released on Unknown Video) from 1920. According to modern fans I might just be the only person in the world who enjoyed this film. More than a film its very similar to a long sitcom, as is reportedly her other features from that time. Hidden identities, intrigue, and slapstick make for something right out of I Love Lucy or Three's Company.

But despite how cute the film is, and how Mabel's talent shines through in ways that make you literally laugh out loud...its very depressing. She looks emaciated...just bones poking her skin. During the swimming scenes (in which she naturally emerges half bare) she looks so shockingly thin and ill you just want to hold her and make it all right. In other scenes her face doesn't look well, in what my opinion has to be signs of putting up with TB and a production schedule. She was darling, but Rosa is a sad opus to the fact she never could quite find momentum in features...not for lack of talent or even know how of the type...but because she was just so ill.

It's really hard for people to judge Mabel's features, let alone her feature years. Of those 10, 6 have made DVD (mostly through Unknown Video): Tillie's Punctured Romance, Mickey, What Happened to Rosa, Molly O, Suzanna (which only partially exists), and The Extra Girl. Minus Tillie's I don't think any have been fully restored.

The remaining 4 will probably never see the love and care they deserve. The Female Chaplin is as ignored as Gloria Swanson these days. Both women deserve WAY better (and mind you a Mabel film was just selected for preservation by the National Film Registry). It seems no one can get excited over women these days...the only woman who gets any respect is Mary Pickford, and that seems more out of obligation than general praise (and indeed she deserves sincere praise!)

"The Floor Below" and "Head Over Heels" exist in the Nederlands Film Archives. "When Doctors Disagree" is in the Belgium Film Archives. "Oh Mabel Behave" (which is said to be a god awful rip off job to emulate Tillie's and barely features Mabel at all) is in the notoriously hard to crack French Archives.

I think with all these films a boxset is long overdue. Sadly we'll probably never get it.