The first in a two-part series.
Watching Charlie Chaplin‘s work for Keystone Studios is a bit like watching the earliest Mickey Mouse cartoons, and it may take a bit of adjustment for modern viewers. Like Walt Disney’s rodent, Chaplin’s Tramp persona was slowly polished into a screen character that audiences loved and rooted for. Populist tastes had much to do with this, but, in the process of refining the character for the masses, some of the Tramps’ rough edges were burned away. Revisiting the earliest incarnations of either character leads to a disconcerting discovery: the earliest versions were roughly etched and somewhat underdeveloped, but less predictable; they possessed not altogether sympathetic personality traits that contemporary audiences may find uncomfortable, especially when compared to their later refinements.
Earlier this year, Flicker Alley released the restored Keystone Chaplin shorts. That restoration was long overdue. For years, public domain labels had churned out DVD prints that were so execrable as to be virtually unwatchable.
In 1914, his first year at Keystone, the Tramp is in his infancy, and his later self is only occasionally glimpsed. Making A Living (1914) is notable mainly as Chaplin’s screen debut. The Tramp is not yet born; rather, Chaplin appears as a swindling, Don Juan-like English dandy who foreshadows few characteristics of the famous persona. This mess of a film was directed by the Austrian native Henry “Suicide” Lehrman (so nicknamed by stuntmen because Lehrman, unconcerned about the danger of stunts, was risky to work for). Lehrman later dated actress Virginia Rappe. At the time of her death in the infamous Fatty Arbuckle scandal, Lehrman testified against Arbuckle at the trial and capitalized on the publicity. In the Chaplin at Keystone collection Lehrman appears as a reporter in Making a Living and as a film director in Chaplin’s second released film Kid Auto Races at Venice, Cal. (which he also directed).
Kid Auto Races at Venice, Cal. is the film in which audiences first saw Chaplin as the Tramp. This vast improvement over Chaplin’s debut was entirely improvised, shot in less than an hour. The Tramp shows up at an auto race and, spying a film crew, becomes obsessed with being the center of the camera’s attention. The race crowd is at first curious and then entertained by the Continue reading CHAPLIN AT KEYSTONE, PART ONE
It was not until the last few years of their career that Stan and Ollie got to know each other on a cruise to England. Both lamented that they had not done it earlier, but they both knew the value of their partnership. Upon Ollie’s death, Stan suffered a nervous breakdown and vowed to retire from film. Despite many offers of work, Stan kept to that promise until his death eight years later.