Al St. John

​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Al St. John (September 10, 1893 – January 21, 1963) in his persona of Fuzzy Q. Jones basically defined the role and concept of "comical sidekick" to cowboy heroes from 1930 to 1951. St. John also created a character, "Stoney," in the first of a continuing Western film series, The Three Mesquiteers, that was later played (at a low point in his own career) by John Wayne.

Born in Santa Ana, California, St. John entered silent films around 1912 and soon rose to co-starring and starring roles in short comic films from a variety of studios. His uncle, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, may have helped him in his early days at Mack Sennett Studios, but talent kept him working. He was slender, sandy-haired, handsome and a remarkable acrobat.

St. John frequently appeared as Arbuckle's mischievously villainous rival for the attentions of leading ladies like Mabel Normand, and worked with Arbuckle and Charles Chaplin in The Rounders (1914). The most critically praised film from St. John's period with Arbuckle remains Fatty and Mabel Adrift (1916) with Normand.

The name Fuzzy originally belonged to a different actor, John Forrest “Fuzzy“ Knight, who took on the role of cowboy sidekick before St. John. As the studio first intended to hire Knight for the western series but then gave the role to St. John instead, he took on the nickname of his rival for his screen character.

In most of his films, screen time was set aside for St. John to do a sort of solo comedy act, emphasizing amazing pratfalls and acrobatics. He might "find" a bicycle on a fairground set, and do an astonishing sequence of acrobatic stunts on the cycle, or he might try to capture a rat, bat, skunk, gopher, or bug with hilarious and chaotic consequences. Another stunt which he used in nearly every Western was virtually his trademark: he would mount his horse in apparently the standard manner, but somehow wind up sitting facing backward, and often would ride off with the hero in this unusual orientation.

When Crabbe left PRC (according to interviews, in disgust at their increasingly low budgets), St. John was paired with new star Lash LaRue. Ultimately, St. John made more than 80 Westerns as Fuzzy. His last film was released in 1952. From that time on until his death in 1963 in Lyons, Georgia, he made personal appearances at fairs and rodeos, and travelled with the Tommy Scott Wild West Show. Altogether, Al St. John acted in 346 movies, spanning four decades from 1912 to 1952.

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The General

8.0

The Scarecrow

7.4

The High Sign

7.1

Mabel's Strange Predicament

5.3

The Cook

6.3

Tillie's Punctured Romance

6.1

Mabel's Married Life

5.8

The Rounders

6.1

The Butcher Boy

6.1

The Rough House

5.6

Coney Island

5.9

His Wedding Night

5.5

Tango Tangles

5.0

Caught in a Cabaret

5.6

The New Janitor

6.1

Out West

6.0

His Prehistoric Past

5.6

The Bell Boy

6.5

Oh, Doctor!

5.6

The Knockout

5.7

Back Stage

6.3

Good Night, Nurse!

5.6

The Star Boarder

5.1

Mabel's Busy Day

5.6

Moonshine

5.7

Dead Men Walk

4.6

Riders of Destiny

5.2

The Ex-Mrs. Bradford

6.2

Mabel's Blunder

5.4

His Private Secretary

4.9

The Painted Desert

5.1

The Iron Mule

5.8

Fatty and Mabel’s Simple Life

5.5

A Reckless Romeo

5.4

Li'l Abner

5.9

The Golden Age of Comedy

6.9

Hell Harbor

6.0

Law of the Lash

5.6

Fatty and Mabel Adrift

6.1

That Little Band Of Gold

5.1

Fatty's Magic Pants

5.4

Midnight Phantom

4.8

Fatty’s Plucky Pup

5.6

Mabel and Fatty’s Married Life

4.9

He Did and He Didn’t

6.1

Mabel, Fatty and the Law

4.3

Those Country Kids

4.5

Love

5.6

The Dance of Life

5.9

My Dog Shep

6.0

Devil Riders

4.3

Fatty’s Faithful Fido

5.7

Wild Horse Phantom

5.0

She Goes to War

6.0

Fatty's New Role

5.2

The Waiters' Ball

6.1

Start Cheering

7.0

From Headquarters

5.8

Love Nest on Wheels

6.2

His Wife's Mistakes

5.2

I'm from Arkansas

5.4

The Mysterious Rider

5.0

Billy the Kid in Texas

5.8

Trigger Pals

5.0

Shadows of Death

5.6

Gangster's Den

5.0

Marked Men

5.8

Cattle Stampede

5.2

Sheriff of Sage Valley

5.6

Fugitive of the Plains

4.8

Western Cyclone

4.8

Billy the Kid Trapped

5.0

Fuzzy Settles Down

5.5

The Kid Rides Again

5.5

Won in a Closet

5.0

His Brother's Ghost

5.2

The Law of 45's

5.0

Billy the Kid Wanted

5.7

Billy the Kid's Gun Justice

4.0

Ghost Town Renegades

4.0

Blazing Frontier

5.0

Valley of the Sun

5.8

The Oklahoma Cyclone

4.2

Buzzin' Around

6.0

Trigger Tom

5.0

Curses

6.3

A Face in the Fog

5.3

Frontier Outlaws

6.7

Lover's Luck

4.5

Knight of the Plains

4.7

Crossed Love and Swords

4.8

Call of The Yukon

4.7

The Frontier Phantom

4.0

Leading Lizzie Astray

4.2

Wolves of the Range

5.3

Police Court

5.0

Bombs!

5.0

The Voice of Hollywood

3.0

Sing Cowboy Sing

4.0

Bridge Wives

6.0

Frontier Scout

4.5

Crazy Days

5.8

Billy the Kid's Range War

6.5

The Outcasts of Poker Flat

6.0

Overland Riders

3.5

The Stunt Man

7.8

King of the Bullwhip

6.0

Oath of Vengeance

5.0

A Scrap of Paper

5.0

The Lone Rider and the Bandit

4.0

A Lawman Is Born

4.0

Fatty's Jonah Day

4.5

Exposed

5.0

Droppington's Family Tree

5.0

Cheyenne Takes Over

5.0

A Noise from the Deep

5.5

Raiders of Red Gap

6.0

Billy the Kid in Santa Fe

4.0

Shot in the Excitement

5.0

When Love Took Wings

4.8

Outlaws of the Plains

5.0

Prairie Badmen

4.5

Murder on the Yukon

3.5

Frontier Revenge

5.0

Days of Thrills and Laughter

5.5

Rustlers' Hideout

6.0

Stagecoach Express

6.0

Outlaw Country

3.5

The Thundering Trail

4.0

Texas Terrors

5.0

Billy the Kid's Smoking Guns

4.5

The Lone Rider Ambushed

3.5

Valley Of Vengeance

5.0

Public Stenographer

4.5

Riders of the Desert

4.5

Our Dare-Devil Chief

5.5

The Plumber

0.0

Stagecoach Outlaws

5.0

A Country Hero

5.0

The Land of Missing Men

4.0

Two Fresh Eggs

5.0

The Grab Bag Bride

6.0

His First Car

5.0

Fighting Bill Carson

4.0

Honeymoon Trio

4.0

Trouble

3.0

Listen Lena

6.0

Hot or Cold

5.0

West of Nevada

5.0

The Millionaire Kid

5.0

Western Knights

5.0

Border Feud

4.0

Stage to Mesa City

0.0

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

9.0

Out of Place

6.0

The Fighting Deputy

3.0

Fire Away

5.0

Border Badmen

4.0

Unreal News Reel No. 2

6.0

Her Birthday Present

5.0

The Lone Rider in Frontier Fury

5.0

A Bird's a Bird

5.0

The Rangers' Round-Up

6.0

Gunsmoke Trail

5.0

Songs and Bullets

6.0

Lovemania

5.5

Trail Dust

4.0

Oklahoma Terror

6.0

Bar 20 Rides Again

6.0

The Daltons' Women

2.0

Overland Stagecoach

6.0

Jesse James, Jr.

2.0

Death Rides the Plains

6.0

Outlaws of Boulder Pass

4.0

Dead Man's Gold

4.0

Wild Horse Rustlers

6.0

The Lone Rider Crosses the Rio

5.0

Mark of the Lash

5.0

Prairie Rustlers

6.0

The Lone Rider in Ghost Town

5.0

The Renegade

5.0

Billy The Kid's Fighting Pals

6.0

Billy The Kid's Round-Up

5.0

The Fighting Vigilantes

5.0

Ghost Of Hidden Valley

0.0

Gentlemen With Guns

6.0

Pioneer Justice

5.0

Return of the Lash

3.0

American Beauty

1.0

Buster Keaton The Shorts Collection 1917-1923

7.0

Ship Ahoy

5.0

Hello Cheyenne!

10.0

Camping Out

5.0

Hogan's Romance Upset

5.0

Arizona Terrors

0.0

A Punch in the Nose

0.0

The Garden of Weeds

0.0

Soldiers of Misfortune

0.0

The Anglers

0.0

The Love Thief

0.0

Stout Hearts But Weak Knees

0.0

Along the Sundown Trail

0.0

Lightning Raiders

0.0

Fatty's Finish

0.0

Fatty's Debut

0.0

A Village Scandal

0.0

Harem Scarem

0.0

The Other Man

0.0

A Creampuff Romance

0.0

Special Delivery

0.0

Marriage Rows

0.0

Mlle. Irene The Great

0.0

That's My Meat

0.0

The Door Knocker

0.0

Law and Order

6.0

Dynamite Doggie

0.0

Billy the Kid Outlawed

0.0

The Riot

0.0

Mother's Boy

0.0

His Sister's Kids

0.0

In the Clutches of the Gang

0.0

His Taking Ways

0.0

Jungle Heat

0.0

Thundering Gun Slingers

0.0

The Drifter

0.0

Painted Post

0.0

All Wet

0.0

A Studio Rube

0.0

Buster Keaton: From Silents to Shorts

0.0

A Missouri Outlaw

0.0

The Apache Kid

0.0

High Sea Blues

0.0

Speed

0.0

Terrors on Horseback

0.0

Son of a Badman

0.0

Son of Billy the Kid

0.0

The Roaming Cowboy

0.0

Aloha

0.0

Friendly Neighbors

0.0

Melody of the Plains

0.0

Fair Warning

0.0

Red Pepper

0.0

The Vanishing Outpost

0.0

The Black Lash

0.0

Border Roundup

0.0

Texas Justice

0.0

Law of the Saddle

0.0

The Lone Rider Fights Back

0.0

The Lone Rider Rides On

0.0

The Lone Rider in Cheyenne

0.0

Prairie Pals

0.0

Stupid, but Brave

0.0

Skybound

0.0

Spring Fever

0.0

Moonlight on the Range

0.0

Fickle Fatty's Fall

0.0

Fatty and the Broadway Stars

0.0

Pinto Rustlers

0.0

A Desert Hero

0.0

The Pullman Porter

0.0

An Incompetent Hero

0.0

Bright Lights

0.0

The Alarm

0.0

Life in Hollywood No. 2

0.0

Law of the North

0.0

Who Hit Me?

0.0