Al St. John

Actor · 1893 – 1963 · Santa Ana, California, USA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Al St. John (September 10, 1893 – January 21, 1963) in his persona of Fuzzy Q. Jones basically defined the role and concept of "comical sidekick" to cowboy heroes from 1930 to 1951. St. John also created a character, "Stoney," in the first of a continuing Western film series, The Three Mesquiteers, that was later played (at a low point in his own career) by John Wayne. Born in Santa Ana, California, St. John entered silent films around 1912 and soon rose to co-starring and starring roles in short comic films from a variety of studios. His uncle, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, may have helped him in his early days at Mack Sennett Studios, but talent kept him working. He was slender, sandy-haired, handsome and a remarkable acrobat. St. John frequently appeared as Arbuckle's mischievously villainous rival for the attentions of leading ladies like Mabel Normand, and worked with Arbuckle and Charles Chaplin in The Rounders (1914). The most critically praised film from St. John's period with Arbuckle remains Fatty and Mabel Adrift (1916) with Normand. The name Fuzzy originally belonged to a different actor, John Forrest “Fuzzy“ Knight, who took on the role of cowboy sidekick before St. John. As the studio first intended to hire Knight for the western series but then gave the role to St. John instead, he took on the nickname of his rival for his screen character. In most of his films, screen time was set aside for St. John to do a sort of solo comedy act, emphasizing amazing pratfalls and acrobatics. He might "find" a bicycle on a fairground set, and do an astonishing sequence of acrobatic stunts on the cycle, or he might try to capture a rat, bat, skunk, gopher, or bug with hilarious and chaotic consequences. Another stunt which he used in nearly every Western was virtually his trademark: he would mount his horse in apparently the standard manner, but somehow wind up sitting facing backward, and often would ride off with the hero in this unusual orientation. When Crabbe left PRC (according to interviews, in disgust at their increasingly low budgets), St. John was paired with new star Lash LaRue. Ultimately, St. John made more than 80 Westerns as Fuzzy. His last film was released in 1952. From that time on until his death in 1963 in Lyons, Georgia, he made personal appearances at fairs and rodeos, and travelled with the Tommy Scott Wild West Show. Altogether, Al St. John acted in 346 movies, spanning four decades from 1912 to 1952. Description above from the Wikipedia article Al St. John, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Movies24

Movie7.9
ComedyWar
During America’s Civil War, Union spies steal engineer Johnny Gray's beloved locomotive, 'The General'—with Johnnie's lady love aboard an attached boxcar—and he single-handedly must do all in his power to both get The General back and to rescue Annabelle.
The General
1926 · 1.5K votes
Movie5.8
Comedy
Charlie is a clumsy waiter in a cheap cabaret, suffering the strict orders from his boss. He meets a pretty girl in the park and tries to impress her by pretending to be an ambassador. Unfortunately she has a jealous fiancé.
Caught in a Cabaret
1914 · 62 votes
Movie5.8
Comedy
"Fatty", a poor good hearted farm boy is deeply in love with Winifred, a farmer's daughter. A rich neighbor offers the farmer a large plot of land if Winifred marries his slow witted son Al. "Fatty" has less then one day to save heartbroken Winifred from the rushed ceremony.
Love
1919 · 9 votes
Movie5.4
Comedy
A tramp gets drunk in a hotel lobby and, upstairs, causes some misunderstandings between Mabel, two hotel guests across the hall from her room, and Mabel's visiting sweetheart.
Mabel's Strange Predicament
1914 · 97 votes
Movie6.3
Western
An Arizona frontiersman steals an Indian agent's girlfriend, followed by trouble.
Valley of the Sun
1942 · 6 votes
Movie7.0
TV MovieFamily
In this one-hour special taped between March 9-17, 1981, Lily Tomlin and Dudley Moore join the Muppets in a tribute to film classics. Kermit the Frog hosts the program, which begins with an all-cast rendition of "Hey a Movie!" from The Great Muppet Caper.
The Muppets Go to the Movies
1981 · 12 votes
Movie6.2
Comedy
A womanizing city man meets Tillie in the country. When he sees that her father has a very large bankroll for his workers, he persuades her to elope with him.
Tillie's Punctured Romance
1914 · 85 votes
Movie9.0
Western
Tom Cameron and Fuzzy Q. Jones come to the aid of their old friend Smoky, who is having trouble with power hungry cattle rancher Huxley.
Texas Justice
1942 · 1 votes
Movie
Comedy
The manager of a small town hotel installs a cabaret in an attempt to achieve the standard set by restaurants in the large cities. His effort is ludicrous because of the fact that his talent is all recruited from the help in the hotel. Roscoe, the cook, is forced to appear in a dress suit and when Al St. John appears from the bar there is a lively rivalry between the two for the applause of the crowd. Mabel, the waitress, vies with a professional dancer from the city. Into this setting comes William Jefferson, a polished sharper, who takes the innocent Mabel by storm.
Bright Lights
1916
Movie6.5
Nominally about attempts to steal a gold mine, the movie starts out with the air of a realistic comedy, then immediately descends into a series of perfectly timed gags which made me goggle at their improbability -- not the sort of thing you normally think of in a slapstick comedy. Very quickly the unerring ability of ropes to loop themselves around tree roots, stopping Al from plummeting to his death or an explosion to drop him on a bull came to make me goggle again.
Fire Away
1925 · 2 votes
Movie6.5
Western
As a 32nd cousin of the recently deceased Silas Stockton, Fuzzy heads for the reading of the will. The bad guys are after the Stockton estate and plan to kidnap Helen Stockton, the primary heir, and replace her with a stooge. When the henchmen catch her she is with Billy and Fuzzy so they kidnap them also. But the three escape and Billy then heads out to find the culprits.
Border Badmen
1945 · 2 votes
Movie
Comedy
A Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle & Mabel Normand comedy short. The film is considered lost.
The Alarm
1914
Movie8.0
Western
In this " Lone Rider" B-Western series entry, Tom Cameron and his pal Fuzzy Jones are deputy sheriffs helping their friend Sheriff Smoky Moore rid the territory of a nasty claim jumper, Blackie.
Border Roundup
1942 · 1 votes
Movie8.0
Comedy
Life is just one thing after another for AI, the hard-working clerk in the grocery store. He waits on customers, settles disputes and "pinch-hits" as barber in the store's shop. He is busy waiting on customers when an inebriated gentleman comes in and demands attention. He asks whether Al has any dry herring, and when Al admits having some, he tells Al to give them a drink. Then he walks out, leaving Al amazed. In a few minutes the same customer enters again and wants to see some canned peaches. Al hands him a can but he insists upon seeing the can that forms the keystone of a big and wonderful looking pile of cans. Al takes this can out of the pile which falls in a wreck on the floor-and the customer then decides that it is the wrong brand. The village smart aleck enters and tries to mooch a few cookies out of a barrel. But Al has had experience with grocery store loungers before and fixes up a mousetrap which discourages the cookie-mooching habit.
High Spots
1927 · 1 votes
Movie6.4
ComedyAction
In an attempt at greater efficiency, the chef and waiter of a fancy oceanside restaurant wreak havoc in the establishment. Adding to the complications is the arrival of a robber.
The Cook
1918 · 90 votes
Movie5.3
ActionWestern
James Kincaid controls the local water supply and plans to do away with the other ranchers. Government agent Sandy Saunders arrives undercover to investigate Kincaid's land swindle scheme, and win the heart of one of his victims, Fay Denton.
Riders of Destiny
1933 · 32 votes
Movie7.3
Comedy
This is an unusual farce comedy combining all the fast action, speed and thrills of the slapstick with the surprises of the farce. Main actor and director Al St. John was the nephew of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and considered as a wonderful pantomimist and an acrobat. The film was actually directed anonymously by his uncle. Being part of a series called "Tuxedo Comedies", Lovemania was set up by producers like Jack White and Joseph Schenck so that Arbuckle could work behind the scenes, since he couldn't appear on screen due to his 1921 scandal.
Lovemania
1924 · 2 votes
Movie8.5
WesternComedy
A Western-genre narrative, loosely woven from old clips from B-Western features.
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
1976 · 2 votes
Movie5.7
Comedy
Mabel tries to sell hot dogs at a car race, but isn't doing a very good job at it. She sets down the box of hot dogs and leaves them for a moment. Charlie finds them and gives them away to the hungry spectators at the track as Mabel frantically tries to find her lost box of hot dogs. Mabel finds out that Charlie has stolen them and sends the police after him. Chaos ensues.
Mabel's Busy Day
1914 · 45 votes
Movie8.0
Western
Cartwright's racket is to sell a ranch and then have Mason and his men drive the ranchers away so he can resell it. If they want their money back he gives it to them and then has them killed. Jack arrives and learns that Mason and his men are the culprits but that they have a boss. He suspects Cartwright and sets trap to expose him.
Oklahoma Terror
1939 · 2 votes
Movie10.0
Comedy
Marriage Rows is a 1931 Comedy short.
Marriage Rows
1931 · 1 votes
Movie5.9
Comedy
Mabel goes home after being humiliated by a masher whom her husband won't fight. The husband goes off to a bar and gets drunk.
Mabel's Married Life
1914 · 76 votes
Movie6.8
Western
Billy Carson, looking for rustlers, kills Bradley in a gun fight. Arrested, the judge finds him innocent but jails him anyway. When the rustling resumes he is released and posing as a Mexican cattle buyer he hopes to trap the culprits.
Frontier Outlaws
1944 · 4 votes
Movie6.7
Comedy
A pseudonymous Roscoe Arbuckle directs this comedy short about a man who goes insane because of his wife's bridge addiction.
Bridge Wives
1932 · 3 votes