The Hayseed Trivia Quiz

Answer: He oils the horse's joints with an oil can.

The inter-title tells us "Buster has a stable job with the general-store-post-office-and-community-center." The job being in the stable, or of the stable, naturally. Buster pulls up outside Grimes General Store, featuring a sign, "Don't go to the city to be cheated -- Buy here."

In "The Bell Boy" it's Al St. John who oils the horse. Buster helps the horse to pull the wagon in "Cops" (1922). Buster falls off other conveyances in other movies, but not off the buggy in this one.

Answer: Luke the Dog

For some unexplained reason, Buster is standing on the horse's hips when Fatty emerges from the store. Buster tumbles over backward, landing on Fatty and triggering a mail fight. The boss comes out and breaks up the fight, and Fatty goes on his way. Luke runs after him, and Fatty reaches back to haul him into the buggy.

Luke belonged to Roscoe's wife, Minta Dufree. She'd been given the dog by director Wilfred Lucas in 1914 as a bonus for performing a particularly grueling stunt in a film for Mack Sennett at Keystone Studios. She named the dog after Lucas.

Answer: He tears the envelope into pieces and stuffs the pieces through the slot.

The mail was made to sail through the slots the same way Al St. John was made to catch a knife in his teeth in "The Rough House" (1917) -- by using a thread to yank the item out, then running the film backward. Of course, ripping the envelope to bits didn't require any special effects at all.

Answer: An empty whiskey bottle

Fatty sniffs at the bottle, but alas, it is dry. And it is expected to remain so, with Prohibition bearing down on the country. Fatty buries the bottle reverently, setting up a headstone and footstone and adorning the grave with the flowers.

Answer: Hide and seek

Fatty hides with Luke in the haystack, where they fall asleep. It's while Molly is looking for Fatty that the constable shows up, putting poor Fatty out of her mind entirely. Fatty and Luke sleep cozily, though, until the farmer starts pitching hay from the haystack, and pokes poor Fatty right in the rump.

Molly was in other Comique films. She played the garage owner's daughter in "The Garage" (1920), and the strongman's assistant in "Back Stage" (1919).

Answer: A letter insured for $300

Fatty shows the letter to his boss before canceling the stamp. He then returns to the store to answer the phone and take an order for cheese.

The constable is played by Jack Coogan Sr. (credited sometimes as John Coogan), father of Jackie Coogan (child star and later famous as Uncle Fester in TV's "The Addams Family). Coogan was originally an "eccentric dancer", a skill he shows off modestly at a later point in this film, and more impressively in "Back Stage" (1919).

Answer: Buster

The constable steams the letter open, removes the $300, and seals the letter shut again. As he sneaks out, Buster stops him and challenges him. The constable first tries to bribe Buster, but Buster refuses the bribe and gets a beating for his trouble. With a final threat to ensure Buster's silence, the constable is on his way.

Answer: A pickle

Fatty jams Fanny's finger into the cheese to make a hole, then pokes a pickle into the hole and writes instructions, "Slip the ring past the third wart on the enclosed pickle to get correct size." While he's at it, Fatty orders a suit -- which strangely enough, will fit him when it arrives, despite Buster's unorthodox methods for measuring his friend.

Answer: He makes a rabbit appear and disappear.

The magic performance turns to a comedy performance when Buster's assistant turns away and reveals the rabbit hidden behind his back.

Keaton, having travelled the vaudeville circuit with his family, learned quite a few magic tricks. He even learned some tricks from family friend Harry Houdini.

The dance hall scene also features an amazing bit of footwork by Buster, who uses his enormous slap shoe to flip his porkpie hat off the floor and onto his head.

Answer: Because he has such bad breath

Fatty had been uneasy about singing because his voice was weak. Buster had encouraged him to strengthen his voice by eating a large plate of onions. But when Fatty is accused of the robbery, everybody one by one turns away -- even Luke -- until Buster speaks up, and Fatty's name is cleared. Fatty and Fanny retire to the kitchen, where she eats some onions in self-defense.

The accusation scene plays like a sad foreshadowing of the 1921 scandal in which Roscoe Arbuckle was falsely accused of raping and killing Virginia Rappe. The blacklisted Arbuckle lost his fans, his career, and many colleagues and friends. In this scene, just as in the Rappe scandal, it is Buster Keaton who stands by him.

Interestingly enough, the choice of singing in the talent show scene was a natural one for Arbuckle, who had been first and foremost a singer on stage, before turning to film comedy.