L'Omnibus des toqués ou Blancs et Noirs is a 1901 French film by Georges Méliès produced by Star Films. It is a science fiction-comedy running approximately one minute depicting clowns being taken to an asylum on a coach pulled by a mechanical horse that looks like a skeleton. After being back-kicked by the mechanical horse, the clowns escape and burn the coach, then give a brief performance in which slapping each other turns them black. This looks like blackface, but may be just intended as an inversion of the white clown make up. The clowns are absorbed into one, giving him a fat stomach, but he explodes. In the English-speaking world, names of well known asylums were included in alternate titles, including Off to Bedlam in Britain and Off to Bloomingdale Asylum in the United States.

Off to Bloomingdale Asylum (1901)
Directed by Georges Méliès
Genres - Comedy, Fantasy, Silent Film |
Sub-Genres - Silent Film |
Release Date - Jun 29, 1901 |
Run Time - 1 min. |
Description by Wikipedia
Movie Info
Themes
Tags
Clown
Alternate Titles
L'omnibus des toqués blancs et noirs
FR
Off to Bedlam
, GB
Off to Bloomingdale Asylum
US
The Darktown Comedians' Trip to Paris
US
Беглецы из Шарантона
RU