Wished on Mabel

This Keystone-style farce unfolds on a sunny park bench where an older, well-dressed woman sits with her daughter, Mabel, Mabel Normand. With a magazine in hand, Mama reads aloud to the bored girl, who brightens when her boyfriend arrives. Fatty, Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle, slips over for a quick kiss and then to steal away with his partner, leaving Mama to her pages and her quiet amusement.

Nearby, a strolling Keystone Cop, Edgar Kennedy, shuffles along as he chases a man from a bench with his nightstick. The thief—the seasoned Joe Bordeaux—uses a small pair of scissors to slip a watch from Mama’s neck, a ribbon fluttering as the timepiece disappears. Mama cries out, waking the dozing officer, who ambles back to the bench but quickly settles into a new nap, feigning concern while the commotion passes by.

Meanwhile, Fatty and Mabel play along the park’s lakeside, sharing lighthearted moments and battling a bee that lands on Mabel’s nose, all under a sky full of easygoing humor. The thief pockets the watch, but its luck falters when the pocket has a hole and the watch slips out, clattering to the ground. Fatty spots the find, returns with it, and pins the timepiece to Mabel’s dress—tethered with a strip of Mama’s ribbon still looped through its bow.

The thief, realizing the watch rests with Mabel, circles back, and a tense exchange erupts as the two men pass the watch back and forth, each one denying involvement. Mama reclaims the prize and points out the culprit, drawing the attention of a gruff crowd. The snoozing officer is prodded into action by the irate police chief, Billy Gilbert, who orders the pursuit. Cornered between two large rocks, the thief is felled by a sharp blow from a nightstick and hauled away to jail.

In the end, Fatty wraps an arm around Mama and Mabel, and the trio strolls off together, their afternoon of mischief turned into a lighthearted, triumphant escape from the park’s small fiasco.

Last Updated: November 29, 2025 at 00:47