Slapstick Summer Series: Semi-Meta | A Fall from Five Floors (1906)

As one might expect, the pioneers of motion pictures (being photographers themselves) often used the photographing process itself as a plot device within their films. With the evolution of prank-based comedies towards slaptick, a natural transition existed for these meta-ish films to introduce situations whereby the intended targets of still-shots instead remain in motion, resulting in chaos for the cameraman [anyone with kids can easily relate to this dilemma].

Melies was not the first to explore this subject [see Guy's At the Photographer's and two films by Porter: Photographing a Country Couple and The Old Maid Having Her Picture Taken], but his Une chute de cinq étages is surely the most elaborate and entertaining of the bunch. "Toro! Toro!" anyone?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0224323/

Slapstick Summer Series: Multilevel Comedy | The Irresistible Piano (1907)

Alice Guy continues her exploration and expansion of the slapstick genre by moving from horizontal space (as utilized in the "chase" films) to vertical space. In Le piano irrésistible, music seeps through walls and ceilings to charm all those within hearing range. On a related note, Guy also worked with up-and-comer Louis Feuillade to provide multi-floored comedy involving the world's worst cleaning man.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0764858/

Slapstick Summer Series: Ladies, Please! | Those Awful Hats (1909)

Although rudimentary and often too-easily dismissed, Those Awful Hats is a must-see for all fans of early cinema and film history. Reasons being (in no particular order):

1. We're treated to a live-action PSA of the famous theater slides which asked women to remove their giant hats so as to not obstruct the view of those behind. (And you thought cell phones were annoying) 
2. It's not just one of the oldest surviving films directed by D.W. Griffith, it's also one of his rare comedies.
3. That energetic man with the checkered jacket, top hat, and cane? Yeah, that's Mack Sennett. Three years later he would found a little something known as Keystone Studios.

Besides, that giant hat-grabber is EPIC!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0001062/

Slapstick Summer Series: The 1st Pie Face | Mr. Flip (1909)

Mr. Flip, played by cross-eyed comedian, Ben Turpin, is quite the ladies' man...and by "ladies' man", I mean borderline sexual harasser who constantly receives his just desserts [sp]. Speaking of which, this film (directed by Gilbert M. "Broncho Billy" Anderson) includes the earliest known use of the pie-in-the-face bit in a movie.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0236517/

Slapstick Summer Series: Vaudevillians | Robetta and Doretto, No. 2 (1895)

Short recording of 1890s vaudeville slapstick act, "Robetta and Doretto", performing one of their routines (Chinese Laundry Scene). It's funny that even in these plot-less few seconds we glimpse elements familiar from the earliest slapstick movies.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0229300/