Apparently it's all the rage today, so
The New Yorker offers
a cinematic and cultural history of the confectionery missile, as does
Slate.
In 1939
Hollywood Cavalcade told a highly Hollywoodized story of silent-era cinema and the transition to sound. Mack Sennett was credited as supervisor and Mal St. Clair from the Chaplin stable directed the silent sequences. Chester Conklin, Hank Mann, Ben Turpin, Snub Pollard, and Jimmy Finlayson all make cameo appearances. Nostalgia trumps historical accuracy throughout, but there's nothing new there.
Buster Keaton, who never staged a pie fight in his own films, was trotted out to show Alice Faye how to receive and throw a pie. This is also uncharacteristic as house rules at Hal Roach studios decreed that everybody took pies except the pretty girl.
These outtakes come with no audio, alas, although check out Buster's smile at :39...
YouTubed by
panskeptic
Naturally, the Three Stooges flung the filling a time or three...
Meanwhile, in
Blazing Saddles...
Then there's Jack Lemmon (in two roles), Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Keenan Wynn, and Peter Falk in
The Great Race...
And finally, of course, there's...
Related post:
For your consideration — bakers edition
