Back Stage (1919)

Keaton as the Queen of Babylon Roscoe Arbuckle and Buster Keaton are stagehands at a country variety theatre. When the visiting acting troupe goes on strike, the boys have to perform. Keaton takes a female role in a tableau about a Babylonian King and Queen.


The Swastika on a jar The set furnishing portrayed a basic idea of a Babylonian interior; at the front are a couple of earthenware jars; the one on the right has a swastika on it. This was an ancient middle-eastern symbol (still freely used by religious people in South Asia), and it was only when Hitler adopted it in the 1930's that it became a symbol of hatred in the West.

Note that the title is in two words.

HF November 2002


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