July 8th,
1918 – The day Good Night, Nurse! was
released. As far as Arbuckle-Keaton
shorts go, I’d put it in the middle of the pack. I generally prefer the shorts where Buster
serves as Fatty’s right-hand man/little buddy, but he’s still fun here in more
of an antagonist role. These are my
favorite gags from the short (spoilers.)
The National Anthem
Sneaky
Fatty. He’s standing in the pouring
rain, having unsuccessfully tried numerous times to light his cigarette. When a pair of Romani comes along, Fatty pays
them to play the National Anthem. As
soon as they start to play, a nearby policeman takes off his hat in reverence,
at which point Fatty ducks down to light his cigarette in the tiny bit of
shelter offered by the policeman’s hat.
Sending the Drunk Home
When
Fatty encounters a drunk gentleman on the street, he knows he needs to be a
Good Samaritan and see the man home all right.
Of course, this being Fatty… He asks the gentleman for his address then
promptly scrawls it across the man’s shirt, sticks a few stamps on his
forehead, and hauls him up onto a public mailbox.
Buster the Butcher
A quick
sight gag, obvious but fun. Having just
arrived at the sanitarium, Fatty is treated to the sight of his doctor, Buster,
bursting out of the operating theater covered in blood and enthusiastically
sharpening a long butcher knife. Hee!
Fatty and Buster Make Eyes at Each Other
It’s a
Fatty Arbuckle short, so you know there’s a better than even chance of someone
winding up in drag. In this case, it’s
Fatty donning a nurse’s uniform in an attempt to slip through the sanitarium
unnoticed. When Buster sees Nurse Fatty,
naturally, he’s smitten. The way they both
shyly rock along the wall while batting their eyes is great fun, and the bit
also features them playfully hitting each other, which of course culminates in
Fatty knocking Buster flat on his backside after a patented Buster Keaton neck roll.
The 200-Pound Race
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