The Butcher Boy 1917

The Butcher Boy

1917 · United States · Directed by Roscoe Arbuckle · 22 min

FunnyStrange Great first watch · Easy Comedy

A grocery clerk’s flour-covered rivalry expands into a boarding-school rescue involving disguises, thrown food, and collapsing order.

What to expect

Arbuckle and Keaton treat workplace routine as material waiting to be overturned. The short is historically notable for Keaton’s screen debut and for the elastic partnership already visible between their bodies and props.

How to ease in

Do not expect continuity to behave politely. Follow the escalation from shop counter to school and let each object announce the next physical joke.

Heads-up

A quick, non-exhaustive note Includes food waste, slapstick violence, cross-dressing used as disguise, firearms, and dated comic stereotypes.
Momo's Note May contain spoilers Who is Momo? →

A grocery clerk’s flour-covered rivalry expands into a boarding-school rescue involving disguises, thrown food, and collapsing order.

The flour is supposed to measure and package things, then it covers everyone until rank disappears. I enjoy how quickly a tidy counter becomes a weather system.

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The flour is supposed to measure and package things, then it covers everyone until rank disappears. I enjoy how quickly a tidy counter becomes a weather system.

— Momo

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Credits & versions

Version map

AFI 22-minute release record22 min22 minutes is attached only to the named AFI 22-minute release record. No unsupported cut, score, territory, frame rate, source element, or restoration detail is inferred.Runtime reference · Checked 2026-08-22

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