Larry's troubles begin when he tries to be a clerk in a country store and help an heiress who is being sought by a clever villain..


The first time you witness Larry Semon’s The Counter Jumper, you half-expect the celluloid itself to sweat. Shot under the San Fernando sun in 1922, this one-reel marvel crackles like bacon on a tin roof, its images flickering between vaudeville anarchy and mercantile ballet. Semon—clown, writer, director, and human ...

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Comparing the cinematic DNA and archive impact of two defining moments in cult history.

Larry Semon

Larry Semon
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" The first time you witness Larry Semon’s The Counter Jumper, you half-expect the celluloid itself to sweat. Shot under the San Fernando sun in 1922, this one-reel marvel crackles like bacon on a tin roof, its images flickering between vaudeville anarchy and mercantile ballet. Semon—clown, writer, director, and human cyclone—turns a sleepy general store into a kinetic cartoon long before cartoons learned to talk. The film survives only in patchwork prints, yet even scratched emulsion can’t dull..."

Larry Semon
Larry Semon
United States


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