The Hayseed

The Hayseed is a 1919 short comedy set in a small rural community, where a mailman and a general store manager both have their eyes on the same young woman. While the mailman goes about his rounds and finds time for games with her, the local constable also pursues her and steals a sum of money, a theft the store manager witnesses. The rivalry and the missing cash set the film's comedic complications in motion.

Roscoe Arbuckle directed the film and stars in it, following The Cook and Good Night, Nurse! in his work behind the camera. Buster Keaton appears alongside him as the store manager, with Molly Malone as the rural girl and Jack Coogan Sr. as the constable. Joseph M. Schenck produced the film for the Comique Film Company, and it runs 22 minutes.

The short has a modest reputation among viewers. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6 out of 10 from around 1,100 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 5.7 out of 10 from a much smaller base of 35 votes. It is one of several collaborations between Arbuckle and Keaton from this period.