It was quite exquisitely silly – people stood behind a barn-door and hit each man who entered on the head with a chunk of wood. It was like a game of nine-pins in which the nine-pins themselves took part. Mabel Normand was the heroine. In the intervals of hitting each other to the cold, cold ground, the male characters rushed forth and with frantic gestures each in turn wooed the haughty Mabel, though Charlie, I regret to say, let himself go so far as actually to strike the lady, and that with his boot, in a suitable portion of her anatomy. It was a quite playful tap, however. The long, flowered voile dress she wore had an antique charm.

Iris Barry, Let’s Go to the Pictures (Chatto & Windus, 1926)