Top Five Gags: The Paleface

*Spoilers.*

January 15^th, 1922—the day The Paleface was released. The ignorant/racist elements of this short shouldn’t be dismissed, and as such, a number of gags that would otherwise be funny fall short. Maybe that’s why a lot of my favorites here are such short sequences—less time for them to veer further into offensive territory.

 

Butterfly Chasing

Buster wanders onto tribal land in pursuit of a butterfly. The main joke here is that he’s so intent on his chase that he fails to clock the entire tribe suspiciously following him, but there are some good bits of business sprinkled throughout. I especially love a moment when, frustrated at the butterfly eluding his net, he tries to punch it.

 

Hiding

After he’s (of course) gotten on the tribe’s bad side, Buster tries to escape them in multiple ways, including disguises and good old-fashioned hoofing it. But there’s a great moment where, at the edge of a cliff with nowhere to run, he ludicrously thinks he can hide by holding a blanket up in front of himself—in the wide open frontier. Needless to say, one of his pursuers sees through that “clever ruse” in about two seconds.

 

Fireproof Suit

The tribe has captured Buster and intends to burn him at the stake (which, from what I can tell, is something Native American tribes never practiced.) However, during his brief getaway from them, Buster was hiding out in a cabin and happened upon a roll of asbestos. He made himself a set of fireproof asbestos slippers, pants, and a jacket that he now wears under his regular clothes, and so, while the flames get him plenty hot under the collar, they don’t actually burn him. Unfortunately, this fun, clever move is marred by the immediate reaction, whereby the tribe thinks Buster is a god and falls at his feet to worship him. Boo!

 

Captive

After being accepted by the tribe, Buster helps them face off against the oil tycoons trying to steal their land. In the resulting fight, Buster is held at gunpoint by one of the tycoons, who forces Buster to swap clothes with him in the hopes that the pursuing tribe will confuse him for Buster and let him go. What makes this scene is the moment where Buster uproots a ridiculously-skimpy sapling and sticks it back in the ground between them for “modesty” as they change clothes. An absurd, delightfully-Buster bit of comedy there.

 

Getting the Girl

Once all the action is over and the tribal land has been saved, it’s of course time for Buster to get the girl (unfortunately played by a white performer in redface, like all or most of the indigenous characters in the short.) They fall into a dramatic embrace and he dips her as they kiss. A “two years later” intertitle pops up, but rather than, say, the sight of Buster emerging from a tepee with a gaggle of young children, they’re still kissing in the exact same pose. They surface for air, take a breath, and kiss again as we fade to black. Cute!

The Paleface (1922)

Given the subject matter of this short and the fact that it was the 1920s, it can be a little uncomfortable at times, which knocks off some points in my overall regard for it.  That said, it has some great humor, the narrative is put together well, and while it’s insensitive, it’s not nearly as racist as it might have been (yes, that last point is pretty faint praise, but it’s true.)

The members of a Native American tribe, having been cheated by some greedy white businessmen, are being forced off their land.  Three guesses as to who comes along when the chief orders his people to kill the next white guy to show up?  Yep, Buster the daydreamy lepidopterist wanders in and finds himself receiving a chilly welcome.  Ultimately, though, once the initial chasing and attempted executions blow over, Buster joins the tribe and helps them in their mission to retain their land, declaring that “us Indians must stick together.”

We’ll start with the race stuff – I’ve mentioned it before, but it bears repeating.  The short has definite race problems.  While I understand that, as the star, of course Buster is going to be important, his involvement with the tribe feels White Savior-ish.  There’s also the fact that most (all?) of the Native Americans are played by white actors in redface, including perennial costars Big Joe Roberts as the chief and Virginia Fox as the girl (who’s barely even there – Snow White and the Seven Dwarves lays better groundwork for Prince Charming, and he’s in, like, two scenes.)  This would’ve been standard industry procedure at the time – as such, it’s uncomfortable, and it definitely bugs me, but it’s very much a product of the era.  As far as the depictions of the Native Americans themselves go, for me, the only really serious infraction is when Buster cheats death through some quick thinking and they think he’s a god.  Very not cool.

Other than that, it’s mildly insensitive throughout, but I don’t think it’s overtly racist.  After their early antagonism with one another, Buster and the Native Americans are clearly the “good guys” against the evil white land developers, and I enjoy the way Buster plays around with mixing the cultures.  Once he joins the tribe, I like the feather in his porkpie hat and what appear to be slap shoe moccasins.  Buster “conducting” a war dance is really funny, as is his pulling one tribe member aside to practice his footwork.  And as for Buster evading/outwitting the Native Americans when they’re chasing him in the early scenes, this is exactly the sort of stuff Buster pulls all the time.  He makes white cops, rivals, and thugs look foolish by besting them with silly tactics, so why not do the same with Native Americans?  Not to mention, mistaking him for a god aside, they’re fairly on the ball.  There are a couple of fun scenes where Buster thinks he’s gotten the upper hand, only to realize they’re totally onto him.

So what about the rest of the short?  Some great moments and very funny stuff.  The asbestos suit is a stroke of genius, I love the final gag, and there’s some impression action, including an epic tumble and an actual 85-foot freefall.  The little comic touches are really effective; I love the whole tribe lifting the chief onto his horse, Buster’s puzzled “is it raining?” gesture when an arrow appears as his feet (ha!), and Buster trying to punch a butterfly will always be hilarious.

Warnings

Slapstick violence and some racial/cultural insensitivity.