What Movie/Short/TV program Originated the "Hall of Doors" chase scene?

Cafe Society
#1

I’m pretty sure you guys know what I mean, even if you don’t know you have yet. I am willing to bet you have seen this scene (or a copy cat scene more than likely) at least once. But allow me to make sure you understand what I am getting at.

Ok, Chaser is chasing Chasee ussually there is more than one person in one of the parties. The chase goes around a location, and ends in front of a hall of doors, about 4-8 on a side. These doors open and close at different times, and different arrangements of the people in chase come out. The doors start opening and closing in straight lines directly across from each other, then diagonal door sets open, and the crowd crosses paths many times. This continues for some time, and the party gets jumbled, not only in direction, but usually in who is chasing whom, etc.
With all of that now out of the way, what was the first Movie/Short/ or TV program to do this? I have some Ideas, but I do not wish to bias my fellow dopers.

#2

Nothing concrete to back it up but I’d bet on Mack Sennett. I’m sure the gag originated at Keystone studios. He said to Charlie Caplin

#3

This instantly makes me think of Looney Toons. Let’s say A is chasing B.
B goes into room 1, then A comes in. Moments later, B comes out of 1, and into 2, then A goes into 2. A comes out of 2, confused, just as B comes out of 3. We are left to wonder how B apparently teleported from 1 to 3 in a matter of seconds.

A variation is when a small animal, like a cat, jumps into the top drawer of a filing cabinet or bureau, then jumps out of the bottom drawer.

Anyway, my WAG is Looney Toons, but I sort of doubt it’s right.

#4

Oh, and you might want to get this moved into Cafe Society.

#5

I seem to remember such a scene in the Abbott and Costello haunted house comedy Hold That Ghost (1941), when gangsters are chasing everybody around.

#6

Oh come on…everyone knows that that is a Scooby-Doo classic. :smiley:
Brought to you by nocturnal_tick, watcher of a week long Scooby marathon.

#7

Also done on South Park, Family Guy, and probably Benny Hill.

#8

I believe that gag dates much earlier. For example, in Georges Feydeau’s 1907 farce, A Flea in Her Ear, slamming doors and missed connections are a fixture of the plot. I don’t think he invented the gag, either. Modern examples would be the 1968 movie version of A Flea in Her Ear or a more recent movie, 1992’s Noises Off.

#9

It was the freebie Scooby Doo DVD in ‘pop tarts’ (volume one with Johny Bravo) that caused me to ask. Shaggy, Bravo and the Masked Villian are in chase, and durring it, Scooby Velma Daphne Fred (Im not that wild about Scooby, any more in the gang?.. Oh yeah we have to throw in Rowan Atkinson there for good measure) Join in, in smaller numbers (Scooby and Daphne for one pass) but dissapear after the hall of doors scene resolves. or doesnt resolve.

The episode however does play on the other Doo stereotypes… Bravo speaking
“You mean to tell me, all of you guys understand what he [Scooby] is saying?”

Scooby Gang in Chorus: “Yeah, of course, dont you?”

I was personaly thinking it was Chaplin or Lloyd or the like. I mean, it just seems too classic to be that new. I would bet it was around before Lucy, let alone before Bugs Bunny and Scooby Doo.

#10

Most folks haven’t seen the rare outake of the australopithecine hall of doors scene from Dawn of Man segment in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

I assumed you didn’t meany Lucielle Ball.

I’m sure there are prior examples of chases and slamming doors but I’m sure the classic format originated at Keystone studios. Mack practically invented slapstick comedy so I’m still betting on him.

#11

Since this is about films and television, I’ll move this thread to the Cafe Society forum.

bibliophage
moderator GQ

#12

No cite yet but I’ll bet it was something ‘borrowed’ from Vaudeville.

I’ll try and keep looking for info. Sadly. written descriptions of acts are hard to come by.

#13

It is about TV and Movies, but at the same time, it is a GENERAL QUESTION

#14

About TV and Movies, which means CAFE SOCIETY.

I’m guessing Vaudeville as well. If not there, it could have come out of Mack Sennett. This is an old bit.