Charlie Chaplin Filmography
(A Work in Progress)
by Phil Posner
ESSANAY MUTUAL FIRST NATIONAL UNITED ARTISTS
K E
Y S T O N E 1914
Making a Living
One Reel
(N.B.: all subsequent Keystones are one reel unless otherwise noted).
Notable
as Charles Chaplin's first film, Making a Living is a standard
Keystone
farce. Chaplin plays a ne'er-do-well con man sporting a top hat,
frock coat,
monocle and a walrus moustache. He first encounters his rival
Henry Lehrman
(who also directed) on the street, where Chaplin begs a
loan. Chaplin
then encounters a mother and daughter outside their home
and proposes
to the daughter. Lehrman arrives, also enamoured of the
daughter,
exposes Chaplin as a bum, and engages him in a fight which is
stopped
by the ladies' butler.
Lehrman arrives at the newspaper office at which he works.
Passing the
office
building, Chaplin sees a sign advertising "Reporters Wanted".
He
goes in
to apply, but again is exposed as a bum by Lehrman.
While on
his rounds Lehrman witnesses a horrific auto accident and takes
pictures
and interviews the victim before help arrives. Chaplin happens
upon the
accident and steals Lehrman's camera and notebook and runs at top
speed to
file the story. In pursuit, Lehrman gets tangled up with a married
couple,
in whose flat Chaplin tries to hide.
He arrives at the office too
late, as
Chaplin has already filed the story and has even helped to load up
the delivery
truck and newsboys with papers.
Lehrman catches up to Chaplin and a fight ensues which ends with
both
of them
caught up in the cow catcher of an oncoming streetcar.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Swindler
Henry Lehrman - Reporter
Alice Davenport
- Mother
Virginia
Kirtley - Daughter
Production
Team
Henry Lehrman
- Director
E.J. Vallejo - Cinematographer
Mack Sennett-
Producer
Virginia Kirtley
Kid's Auto
Race
(a.k.a. Kid's Auto Races at Venice, Ca.)
Split Reel
An impromptu
film, shot at a soap box derby at
featuring
Charlie Chaplin's beloved Tramp character. Keystone Studios
chief Mack
Sennett often sent film crews to public events to improvise a
film with
the event as a backdrop. The intertitle that introduces the Tramp
character
accurately describes the film's plot: "In picturing this event an
odd character
discovered that motion pictures were being taken and it
became
impossible to keep him away from the camera". In this half-reel,
film-within-a-film,
the Tramp continuously gets in the way of the camera
and the
soap-box cars, and is constantly being shooed, cajoled and shoved
out of
the way by the director, Henry Lehrman. Just as interesting as the
antics
of the Little Tramp, are the fascinated reactions of the kids on the
sidelines.
They were there to watch the race, but unknowingly got a preview
of the
comedy character who was to become known and loved throughout the
world.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Tramp
Henry Lehrman
- Film Director
Frank D. Williams & Hans Koenekamp - Cameramen
Mabel's
Strange Predicament
In this
Keystone hotel farce starring Mabel Normand, Charles Chaplin
first donned
his Tramp costume. It was shot largely before Kid's Auto
Races,
the first released film with the Tramp, but released a week later.
Chaplin
plays not a penniless Tramp, but a drunk and a masher who staggers
around
a hotel lobby trying to ingratiate himself to all the women.
He
flirts
with Mabel, a guest in the hotel who is concealing her dog in her
room, but
she rejects him. Later, while playing with the dog, Mabel
accidentally
gets locked out of her room, wearing only her pajamas. Charlie
stumbles
upstairs and again flirts with her, but she escapes into the room
of a quarrelling
couple (Chester Conklin, Alice Davenport) across the
hall.
She is discovered hiding there by her jealous suitor (Harry McCoy)
and a fight
ensues involving the suitor, the couple and Charlie.
It ends
with Mabel
and her boyfriend kissing and making up, the fighting couple
still locked
in battle and Charlie heading down the hallway presumably to
return
to his bottle and his chair in the lobby.
Cast
Charles Chaplin - Inebriate
Mabel Normand - Mabel
Harry Mc
Coy - Boyfriend
Alice Davenport
- Wife
Al St.
John - Bellboy
Billy Gilbert
- Bellboy
Billy Hauber
- Hotel Guest
Sadie Lampe
- Hotel Guest
NB: The
Billy Gilbert in this and other Keystones is not the more
famous
actor of the same name who appeared in Chaplin's "The Great
Dictator".
Billy Gilbert (from His Musical Career)
A Thief Catcher
Edgar Kennedy, Mack Swain, Chaplin and an unidentified actor
A
recent discovery as a previously unknown appearance, A Thief Catcher is
actually a Ford Sterling film, with Chaplin appearing briefly as a Keystone Kop.
Film historian and preservationist Paul Gierucki found a 16mm print of it by
chance in 2010 at an antiques show in Michigan. After consultations with
other silent film experts, Chaplin was recognized in the film. A Thief Catcher
was released on February 19, 1914, nine days before Between Showers. It
co-stars Mack Swain and Edgar Kennedy as burglars whom Sheriff Sterling is
pursuing. Chaplin appears as one of two cops who rescue Sterling from
captivity by the yeggmen.
Between
Showers
In his
fourth film for Keystone, Charlie Chaplin was assigned for the
last time
to Henry Lehrman, his first director at Keystone.
It was
Chaplin's
first film with the ostensible star of the film, Ford Sterling,
who had
announced that he would be leaving Keystone for a more lucrative
deal well
before Chaplin joined Keystone. Between
Showers is the first
Chaplin film
shot partially at
of his
Tramp character, mostly little bits of "business" that would recur
in later
films.
cop and
his girlfriend. He encounters a pretty
girl, Emma Clifton, on a
street
corner who is impeded from crossing the street by a huge puddle.
Ford gives
his new umbrella to the girl to hold and goes off to find a
piece of
lumber for a makeshift bridge. Charlie, dressed as the Tramp but
without
the cane, saunters on the scene and also offers his help. While
they're gone,
another cop carries the girl over the puddle.
returns and
when he asks for his umbrella back, the girl refuses.
attacks
her and Charlie comes to her rescue,
although she seems capable of
handling
both men. A fight sequence through the park ensues, after which
Charlie restores
the umbrella to Emma. It climaxes when
summoned
by Ford, recognizes the umbrella as his own.
Charlie admits to
taking
it from Ford, but Ford has no alibi and an amused Charlie watches
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - A Masher
Ford
Emma Clifton
- Lady in Distress
Sadie Lampe - His Girlfriend
Production
Team
Henry Lehrman
- Director
Reed Heustis
- Scenario
Mack Sennett/Keystone
Film Company - Producer
N.B.:
David Robinson (from Mitry) credits Sadie Lampe as Conklin's
girlfriend
in Between Showers, Although I can't
confirm this, if this
is correct
then a number of roles can be credited to her, most notably
the Hat
Check Girl in Tango Tangles. Therefore
I am identifying all
appearances
of this actress with that name.
A Film
Johnnie
In Charlie
Chaplin's fifth Keystone comedy we get a look inside the
famous
laugh factory. Charlie is a movie fan and we first see him creating
havoc at
a theatre where he gets too involved with the action on the screen
and the
beautiful actress in the film. Ejected
from the theatre, he
proceeds
to Keystone itself where he mooches money from Roscoe Arbuckle as
he arrives
at work. Charlie sneaks into the studio and disrupts the
filming, much to the chagrin of the director. He mistakes a scene
where the
starlet
is being manhandled for reality and comes to her rescue. Firing a
prop pistol
in all directions, he clears the stages before leaving.
Meanwhile,
a Keystone scout sees a building on fire in a nearby street and
telephones
the studio. In a parody of Mack Sennett's propensity to use
public
events and disasters as backdrops for his films, the cast and crew
rush off
to do some location filming at the fire. Charlie shows up and
again disrupts
the filming, causing the director to take after him
brandishing
a club. The firemen arrive and seeing the struggle between the
director
and his assistants who are trying to restrain him, turn the hoses
on the
fighting men. Charlie again tries his luck with the beautiful
actress
and receives a good shaking in response, followed by a soaking by
the fire
squad. In a classic Chaplin move, he twists his ear as water
squirts
from his mouth. When the beautiful actress laughs at his condition,
a waterlogged
Charlie gives up on his movie fanaticism.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - The Film Johnnie
Edgar Kennedy
- Director
Ford
Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle - Himself
Henry Lehrman
- Himself
Peggy Pearce - Keystone Actress
Minta Durfee - Actress/Woman in Audience
Hank Mann
- Prop Boy
Harry McCoy
- Fireman and Audience Member
Frank Opperman - Audience Member with handlebar mustache
Billy Gilbert
- Usher
Billy Hauber
- Audience Member
Sadie Lampe - Audience Member
Grover Ligon - Audience Member
George
Nichols - Actor in Film
N.B. :
Previous filmographies credit Mack Sennett in the role
of the
director. A closer look reveals that the part is played
by Edgar
Kennedy.
Production
Team
George
Nichols - Director
Craig Hutchinson
- Scenario
Tango Tangles
Tango Tangles
is an impromptu Keystone comedy which exploited the current
"tango
craze". A tango contest and exhibition prompted Mack Sennett) to
send a
crew out to a local dance hall where some of the film was shot.
Charlie
Chaplin appears in a tuxedo, sans the famous Tramp makeup and
costume,
as a drunk who flirts with the hat check girl, Sadie Lampe, and
gets into
fights with Ford Sterling and Roscoe Arbuckle, both musicians
at the
dance hall who are also enamoured with her. Although slight in plot,
the film
is interesting because the three principal Keystone actors appear
without
comic makeup, and because we can observe the mirthful reactions of
the real
dancers in the hall to the comic fight between Chaplin and
noticeable
due to differences in lighting and set.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Tipsy Dancer
Roscoe
"Fatty" Arbuckle - Musician
Ford
Sadie Lampe
- Hat Check Girl
Edgar Kennedy
- Dance Hall Manager
Minta Durfee - Dancer
Billy Hauber
- Flautist
Glen Cavender
- Drummer, Guest in Cone Hat
Alice Davenport
- Guest
Al St.
John - Guest in Convict Costume
Frank Opperman
- Clarinettist, Guest
Billy Gilbert
- Guest in Cowboy Hat
Dave Morris
- Dance Organizer
Hank Mann
- Guest in Overalls
N.B.:
The role of the Hat Check Girl is often credited to Minta Durfee,
but this
is in error (see note on Sadie Lampe above). Durfee appears as
one of
the guests in the dance hall.
His Favorite
Pastime
In Charles
Chaplin's seventh film for the Keystone Company, the Little
Fellow's
favorite pastime is drinking and chasing women. The film opens in
a saloon
where Charlie is partaking of a free lunch and teasing a down-on-
his-luck
Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle who is trying to bum a drink. We see an
early Chaplin
"transposition" gag when Charlie tries to light a sausage,
thinking
it's a cigar. After leaving the bar, Charlie accosts beautiful but
married
Peggy Pierce (with whom Chaplin was involved romantically at the
time) as
she and her maid wait for her husband to return to their taxi.
After being
shooed away by the husband, he returns to the saloon and gets
into fights
with various patrons. In the men's washroom he hands a towel,
with which
he's polished his shoes to a man who has soap in his eyes,
causing
him to blacken his face. Exiting the bar again, he follows the
maid's
taxi home and gets into a melee with the maid, the lady herself and
her irate
husband, who, with the aid of his household servants, ejects
Charlie
from their home.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Tramp
Roscoe
"Fatty" Arbuckle - Drunk
Peggy Pearce
- Beautiful Lady
Edgar Kennedy
- Bullying Patron at Bar
Harry McCoy
- Patron at Bar
Peggy Page- Member of Household
Billy Gilbert
- Shoeshine Boy
Billy Hauber
- Shoeshine Customer
with Peggy Page in "Laughing Gas"
N.B.: The
petite but buxom young actress who debuts in a very minor
role in
this film went on to perform roles in half of Chaplin's Keystones.
Playing key parts such as the pretty patient in "Laughing Gas",
Garlico's
assistant
in "The Property Man", the love interests in "Recreation" and
"His New
Profession", Clarice the secretary in "The New Janitor" and the
landlady in "Those Love Pangs", until now has never been properly credited.
She is often
mistakenly cited as Minta Durfee, Norma Nichols or Rhea Mitchell.
In her last Chaplin/Keystone appearance as one of King Lowbrow's
cave girl
wives in
"His Prehistoric Past", she is assumed by some to be the actress
credited
as Gene Marsh, but I am informed by Bo Berglund that Marsh
actually
plays the first wife with whom Chaplin interacts and that Marsh
went on
to co-star with Harold Lloyd in some of his 1915-1916 comedies.
Until
now I referred to her in this listing as Helen Carruthers
article describes her as a Chaplin co-star at Keystone and tells of a suicide
attempt and recovery.
Cruel,
Cruel Love
In his
eighth film for Keystone Charlie Chaplin, in frock coat and bushy
mustache, is cast in the role of a melodramatic lover who attempts
suicide
over his
lost love. The film is a farce, a parody of the overacted
melodramas
of the day. Mr. Dovey (Chaplin) is first seen in the drawing
room of
his lady, Minta Durfee, on his knees proposing. The couple are
overheard
and mocked by the lady's maid, whose laughter causes Minta to
eject her
from the house. To get back at her boss, she arranges a hoax with
the gardener.
She feigns injury and her cries bring the departing Dovey to
her aid.
When Minta sees her maid flirting with Dovey, she rejects him in a
jealous
rage. Back at home the despondent Dovey drinks what he thinks is
poison;
only his highly amused butler knows it was just water. Waiting for
the poison
to take effect, Dovey has horrifying visions of his eternal
damnation.
Meanwhile, Minta has learned of her maid's deception and has
sent the
gardener to Dovey with a letter of apology. "It's too late. I've
been poisoned,"
says Dovey and the gardener goes back to retrieve Minta to
be at her
dying man's side. Dovey now summons
doctors to save him,
drinking
all the milk he can with evident distaste. When the physicians
arrive
the butler lets them in on the joke and they play along too,
jokingly
examining him. Minta, having raced to her man's home, learns of
the hoax
and tells Dovey he's going to live. First relieved, then enraged,
he attacks
all the pranksters and finally embraces his lady, removing from
his fingers
a ball of hair he had pulled from his head and blowing it away.
Cast
Charles Chaplin - Lord Helpus/Mr. Dovey
Minta Durfee - The
Lady
Edgar Kennedy
- Lord Helpus'
Billy Hauber
- Gardener
Glen Cavender
- Doctor
Billy Gilbert
- Ambulance Attendant
Eva Nelson - Maid
NB: Previous
Chaplin filmographies list Chester Conklin and Alice Davenport
in the
roles of Chaplin's butler and Durfee's maid respectively, but
viewing
the film clearly reveals this to be in error. The actress playing
the maid
has been identified by Bo Berglund as Eva Nelson, who also played
Conklin's
girl in "Twenty Minutes of Love" and
Mack Swain's wife in
"Mabel's Married Life".
Production
Team
Mack Sennett
- Director
Craig Hutchinson
- Screenplay
Mack Sennett/Keystone
Film Company - Producer
The Star
Boarder
In Charlie
Chaplin's ninth Keystone comedy Charlie is the star boarder in
Minta Durfee's rooming house. We first see his Tramp's shoes as
he lies
in bed,
a shot probably inserted to draw applause, a sign that the
character
was gaining popularity. He gets preferential treatment at the
dinner
table, much to the chagrin of the landlady's husband. After lunch
Minta and Charlie go out to play tennis. Charlie, taking a left
handed
baseball
swing, sends the ball into the bushes.
They go together to look
for the
ball and begin to flirt. Minta's son
mischievously takes their
picture
with a box camera as Minta straightens Charlie's tie. Edgar has
followed
them and found the ball. His arrival breaks up the flirtation in a
flurry
of ball-searching. Edgar then goes off and encounters one of the
female
boarders Alice Davenport, who accidentally hits her head and
collapses
into Edgar's arms. This too is photographed by the boy.
Later
the boy
sets up his slide projector and gets a boarder to hang a sheet for
a screen.
With everyone in attendance the slide show proceeds until the
photo of
Alice and Edgar brings scowls from Minta and laughter from
Charlie.
However the next slides of Charlie and Minta infuriate Edgar who
attacks
Charlie, and a general melee ensues during which the boy gets a
spanking
from his mother while Charlie finally bests Edgar.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - The Star Boarder
Minta Durfee - Landlady
Edgar Kennedy
- Landlady's Husband
Gordon
Griffith - Their Son
Alice Davenport
- Landlady's Friend
Phyllis
Allen - Boarder
Billy Gilbert
- Boarder
Harry McCoy
- Piano Playing Boarder
Al St.
John - Boarder
Production
Team
George
Nichols or Mack Sennett - Director
Craig Hutchinson
- Scenario
Mabel At
The Wheel
Two reels
Mabel Normand
wrote, directed and starred in Charlie Chaplin's tenth
film for
Keystone. After disagreements with the directors of his previous
films,
Sennett assigned him to Normand, but Chaplin was chomping at the bit
to direct his own films and, for this film at least, the Chaplin/Normand
relationship
was not any better. It is another Keystone that takes
advantage
of a public event, an auto race, for background. Chaplin plays
the motorcycle
riding villain of the film, dressed in frock coat and top
hat (similar
to his costume in his first film, Making a Living).
Mabel's
boyfriend,
Harry McCoy, is a race car driver who comes to Mabel's house
to take
her to the racetrack, but they argue because Harry won't let Mabel
drive.
Charlie comes along on his bike and offers Mabel a ride, which she
accepts
to make Harry jealous. When the cycle hits a bump, Mabel is thrown
off and
lands in a puddle, unnoticed by Charlie who goes on talking. Harry
comes to
her aid, they reconcile and he lets her drive the race car.
Charlie,
having noticed Mabel's absence, finds them together and tries to
win her
back, but is rejected. He decides to ruin Harry's chances of
winning
the race, beginning with puncturing one of the tires on his car.
Later Charlie
and his henchmen kidnap Harry and tie him up in a shed,
forcing
Mabel to drive in the race. Determined to stop Mabel from winning,
Charlie
and his men soak the track with water and throw bombs at the car,
but Mabel's
driving skills prevail and she wins the race, much to the
chagrin
of Charlie who, in a fit of rage, blows himself and his henchmen up
with their last remaining bomb.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - The Villain
Mabel Normand
- Mabel
Mack Sennett
- Rube/Newsman
Harry McCoy
- Mabel's Boyfriend
Edgar Kennedy
- Man in Grandstand
Mack Swain
- Man at Races
Billy Hauber
- Mabel's co-driver
Alice Davenport
- Woman in Grandstand
Production
Team
Mabel Normand/Mack
Sennett - Director, Scenario
Twenty
Minutes of Love
Charlie
Chaplin once said, "All I need to make a comedy is a park, a
policeman
and a pretty girl". In this, his eleventh
film for Keystone and
arguably
his first original screenplay, his milieu is just that - Echo
Park, where
most of the Keystone park films were shot. The Tramp makes fun of a
romantic
couple (Minta Durfee, Edgar Kennedy) kissing on a bench.
He hugs
and kisses a tree in mock romantic ardor, then goes over to pester
them and
insinuate himself with the girl. Meanwhile another couple on
another
park bench (Chester Conklin, Eva Nelson) argue because he
has no
ring to give her nor the funds to buy one. He goes off and steals a
pocket
watch from a sleeping man. His girlfriend has meanwhile wandered off
and encountered
Charlie, with whom she flirts. The Little Fellow pursues
her but
encounters Conklin who is looking for his girl. Charlie steals the
watch.
He next meets a cop who gives him a scare by asking to see the
watch,
but only wants to know the time. Charlie
gasps for breath, pats his
heart and
wipes his brow after the cop departs.
girlfriend
back on the same bench, but when he looks for the watch he finds
that it's
gone. He goes off again to look for
it. Charlie finally catches
up with
kisses, then
declares his love for her.
romancing
his girl and accuses him of stealing the watch which Charlie
again steals
and flees. As he turns a corner he sees the cop, raises his
right leg
and skids to a stop (the first time this famous gag was seen in a
Chaplin
film). The couple get the cop to join
in the chase, which ends
with everyone
being thrown into the lake with the exception of Charlie, his
new girlfriend
and the watch.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Tramp
Eva Nelson
-
Eva Nelson in "Twenty Minutes of Love"
Minta Durfee - Edgar's Girl
Edgar Kennedy
- Lover
Josef Swickard - Sleeping Victim
Production
Team
Charles
Chaplin - Writer/Director
Mack Sennett
- Producer
Caught
in a Cabaret
Charlie
Chaplin's twelfth film for the Keystone company was also his
directorial
debut, getting a co-directing credit with co-star, Mabel
Normand. Chaplin plays a waiter in a seedy cabaret who is always
in
trouble
with his boss, Edgar Kennedy, and at odds with another waiter,
break,
he rescues rich girl Mabel from the clutches of a thief who has
chased
away her boyfriend, Harry McCoy.. Charlie introduces himself as
O.T. Axle,
Ambassador from
roles)
and is brought home to meet her parents and receive their thanks,
much to
the chagrin of Mabel's boyfriend. He receives an invitation to
return
later for a garden party. The suspicious boyfriend follows Charlie
back to
work and discovers the truth. Back
at work Charlie deals with a
bullying
customer, Mack Swain, by serving him a drink and knocking him
out with
a large mallet when Swain tilts his head back to drink. Later, at
the garden
party, Charlie misbehaves, getting drunk, flirting with Mabel
and singing
loudly along with the band. The boyfriend,
watching from a
distance
is now determined to expose him. When
Charlie takes his leave to
return
to work, Harry suggests that the party go slumming to the very
cabaret
at which Charlie works. When the upper class guests arrive they are
treated
like royalty by the workers and other patrons. When Charlie
discovers
them at his table he hides the apron he's wearing and sits down
next to
Mabel, pretending that he's another guest. When the boss scolds him
for sitting
down on the job, Charlie is exposed as a lowly waiter, much to
the shock
of Mabel and her father. A melee then ensues between Charlie and
his pistol
wielding Boss, who Charlie knocks out while Mabel hides under a
table.
Charlie protests his love for Mabel but she responds with a final
knockout
blow.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Waiter
Mabel Normand
- Mabel
Alice Davenport
- Mother
Josef Swickard - Father
Harry Mc
Coy - Lover
Edgar Kennedy
- Cafe Proprietor
Mack Swain
- Tough at Bar and Party Guest
Phyllis
Allen - Dancer
Minta Durfee - Dancer
Hank Mann
- Customer
Billy Gilbert
- Customer
Billy Hauber
- Thief in Park
Grover
Ligon - Bartender
Glen Cavender
- Piano Player
Gordon
Griffith - Boy
Alice Howell
- Guest at Party
Wallace
MacDonald - Guest at Party
Production
Team
Charles
Chaplin, Mabel
Normand
- Writer/Director
Mack Sennett
- Producer
Caught
in the Rain
Charlie
Chaplin's thirteenth film for Keystone marked his first solo effort
as writer
and director. It follows the well trodden path of the classic
Keystone
park/hotel farces with a few twists added in. The film opens in
Hubby gets up to buy refreshments at a nearby stand.
We first
see Charlie by a drinking fountain as he flirts with
and chases
Charlie off, fighting with
couple
return to their hotel, while The Tramp goes off to a saloon.
He
later arrives
at the hotel where, it turns out, they are all guests.
Charlie
wreaks a bit of havoc in the lobby, flirting with the ladies and
upsetting
the desk clerk. His acrobatic efforts to mount the stairs in his
inebriated
condition anticipates his classic short
finally
makes it upstairs but enters the wrong room, interrupting the now
reconciled
Mack and Alice. Mack, jealous again, ejects Charlie from the
room. Charlie
goes to his own room across the hall where he comically
prepares
for bed. Meanwhile Mack has gone out for a drink, and his
sleepwalking
wife now enters Charlie's room, sits on his bed waking him up,
and begins
searching his pants for money. Charlie wakes her up, and is
about to
escort her back to her room, when Mack returns. When Mack goes
downstairs
to find his missing wife, Charlie takes her back to her room.
Just as
Charlie is about to leave, Mack appears in the hall. Panicked,
balcony,
in the middle of a drenching deluge.
Meanwhile a suspicious Mack
has again
taken up the fight with his wife. A Keystone Kop on the sidewalk
below assumes
Charlie's a burglar and begins firing his pistol, which
causes
Charlie to burst back into the room. A melee ensues in which the
cops are
scared away, Mack collapses in Charlie's room, and Charlie and
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Tipsy Hotel Guest
Alice Davenport
- Wife
Mack Swain
- Husband
Alice Howell
- Hotel Guest
Peggy Page - Chambermaid
Grover
Ligon - Cop
Slim Summerville - Cop
Production Team
Charles
Chaplin - Writer/Director
Mack Sennett
- Producer
A Busy
Day
Split Reel
a.k.a. Lady Charlie
Notable
as Charlie Chaplin's first female impersonation film, the half-
reel A
Busy Day is another of the Keystone shorts in which a film crew
was dispatched
to improvise a comedy at the site of a public event, in this
case a
parade celebrating the opening of a new harbor in San Pedro,
philandering
husband, Mack Swain. Mack takes up with a young woman at the
parade
and his wife follows him around trying to catch them in the act.
In
the process,
"she" gets involved with a film crew trying to record the
event,
getting in the way of the camera as Chaplin's Tramp had done in the
earlier
Kid Auto Races. In this case the director who manhandles the
obstreperous
wife is Keystone boss, Mack Sennett.
The jealous wife also
engages
in some humorous dancing as she listens to the band play, and
tussles
with a cop who earlier had tried to get her away from the movie
camera.
Eventually she catches up to Mack and his paramour and when she
confronts
and attacks them, she is thrown off a pier into the ocean
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Wife
Mack Swain
- Husband
? - The
Other Woman
Billy Gilbert
- Cop, Bystander
Mack Sennett
- Newsreel Film Director
Production
Team
Charles
Chaplin - Director
Mack Sennett
- Producer
The Fatal
Mallet
Charlie
Chaplin's fifteenth comedy for Keystone is another violent park
farce.
It is the only teaming of this quartet of Keystone stars. Chaplin,
Mack Sennett
and Mack Swain are all suitors for the attentions of
Mabel Normand.
Charlie comes upon Sennett (playing his "dumb rube"
character)
and Normand flirting by a tree. Charlie
attempts to dispatch
Sennett with a thrown brick, but grazes Mabel, incurring her wrath.
Swain,
the rival
who seems to have Mabel's favor, shows up and takes Mabel off.
Charlie
and Sennett sneak up on Swain, seated on a swing with Mabel, and
knock him
out with more bricks. A series of
confrontations between the
three suitors
ensue, won mainly by Chaplin. He ends
up temporarily
imprisoning
his rivals in a nearby shed, through his deft use of a large
mallet
(although not fatal) which he wields with customary grace. Due to
his bullying
of a young boy who he discovers sitting with Mabel, Charlie
doesn't
win her favor. When the recovered Swain confronts him, Swain winds
up in the
lake. Sennett, watching from nearby, returns and similarly
dispatches
Charlie, and then strolls away with Mabel on his arm.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Suitor
Mabel Normand
- Mabel
Mack Sennett
- Rival Suitor
Mack Swain
- Another Rival
Gordon
Griffith - Boy
Her Friend
the Bandit
Chaplin's
sixteenth film for Keystone is the only Chaplin film known to be
lost.
What we know of its plot comes from the movie magazines of the day.
Apparently
Charlie is the bandit who accosts a Count on his way to a
society
party and assumes his clothes, invitation and identity. He
encounters
rich girl Mabel Normand there and eventually the Keystone Kops
show up
to arrest Charlie. The plot seems to anticipate Chaplin's later
Mutual
film, The Count.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Bandit
Mabel Normand
- Mrs. De Rocks
Charlie
Murray - Count De Beans
The Knockout
Although
better known as Charlie Chaplin's seventeenth appearance in a
Keystone
comedy, The Knockout is really a Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle film.
The big
event in Fatty's town is a prize fight in which champ Cyclone Flynn
will meet
all comers. Fatty is tricked into accepting the fight by two
hobos who
are making book on the fight. Through a note ostensibly from
Flynn,
they offer Fatty a split if he throws the fight, but Fatty, thinking
one of
the hobos is Flynn, refuses. The real Flynn arrives and dispatches
the impostors.
The match proceeds with heavy betting going on and Fatty's
girlfriend
dressed as a boy in order to gain entrance to the arena. Charlie
is the
referee who is constantly being knocked down by the fighters because
he keeps
getting in between them. Angered by losing after a short count,
Fatty grabs
two six-guns from a gambler at ringside and begins firing in
all directions.
Cyclone takes to his heels and a classic rooftop Keystone
chase ensues,
with the Keystone Kops in pursuit of Fatty, in pursuit of
Cyclone.
When the Kops lasso Fatty, he drags six of them along the ground
by the
rope until he leaps off a pier taking them all with him. With
everyone
treading water, the Kops surround Fatty as the film ends.
Cast
Roscoe
"Fatty" Arbuckle - Fatty
Minta Durfee - Fatty's Girlfriend
Edgar Kennedy
- Cyclone Flynn
Charles
Chaplin - Referee
Frank Opperman
- Fight Promoter
Joe Bordeaux
- Policeman
Charley
Chase - Policeman, Spectator
Edward
F. Cline - Policeman
Hank Mann
- Tough
Grover
Ligon - Tough
Al St.
John - Boxer - Fatty's Rival
Mack Sennett
- Spectator
Mack Swain
- Spectator
Slim Summerville
- Spectator
Alice Howell
- Party Guest
Billy Gilbert
- Singer
Production
Team
Charles
Avery - Director
Charles
Chaplin - Director (fight scene)
Mack Sennett
- Producer
Mabel's
Busy Day
Charlie
Chaplin's eighteenth film for Keystone was likely co-written and
co-directed by co-star Mabel Normand. It was shot entirely on location
at
Mabel plays
a hot dog vendor who sneaks in to the track by bribing the cop who guards the
gate with one of her hot dogs. As soon as she sets up shop she's accosted by various
male customers who give her a hard time by refusing to pay, or
Chaplin isn't dressed in his usual Tramp outfit, but as a race track tout in a frock coat with a flower in his lapel. He is clearly broke - he sneaks into the stadium by beating up a cop and crashing past a ticket taker and, finding one of Mabel's hot dogs on the ground, first tries to light it from the stub of his cigar, and then eats it hungrily. Charlie rescues Mabel from a particularly aggressive customer, but then steals her tray and tries to sell the hot dogs himself. The other race track fans give him a hard time as well, jostling him about and knocking off his hat. Meanwhile, Mabel has fetched a cop who the agile Chaplin bests in a fight. Defeated, Mabel bursts into tears and Charlie, touched by her emotions, decides he feels sorry for her and walks off with her arm in arm, presumably to protect her from further harassment.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Tipsy Nuisance
Mabel Normand
- Mabel
Mack Sennett
- Customer
Glen Cavender
- Customer
Billie
Bennett - Woman
Edgar Kennedy
- Spectator
Harry Mc
Coy - Spectator
Charley
Chase - Spectator
Peggy Page - Spectator
Slim Summerville
- Policeman
Wallace
MacDonald - Spectator
Frank Opperman
- Spectator
Charles
Bennett - Spectator
Mabel's
Married Life
In his
nineteenth film for Keystone Charlie Chaplin plays a somewhat more
sympathetic
role as the husband of comedienne Mabel Normand. As so many
of his
Keystone comedies do, it begins in a park where Mack Swain,
dressed
in a sporty outfit and carrying a tennis racquet, leaves his wife
seated
on a bench and goes off to a neighbouring saloon. Charlie and Mabel
are seated
on a nearby bench arguing about the state of Charlie's worn out
shoes.
Charlie goes off for a drink in the saloon, passing Mack on the way
in, who
returns to the park and begins to flirt with Mabel. She is first
bemused
by his attentions but then is outraged when Charlie returns and is
unable
to rescue her. In fact he isn't even able to get Mack's attention
despite
increasingly hard kicks to Mack's posterior, anticipating Charlie's
confrontation
with the bully in Easy Street. Mack
eventually flings
Charlie's
top hat off in the direction of the bench where Mack's wife is
seated.
While Charlie retrieves the hat Mack take Mabel over to the lake
shore where
despite her protestations and calls for Charlie to help her, he
persists
in mashing her. Mack's wife hears the commotion and, with Charlie,
she confronts
Mack and Mabel, accusing Mabel of flirting with Mack.
Charlie,
angry with Mabel, sends her home. Mabel, angry with Charlie for
his weakness
in not defending her, buys a prizefighter's dummy, which is
dressed
just like Mack, from a sporting goods store. Meanwhile, Charlie has
returned
to the saloon where he is harassed by the other patrons including
Mack.
Finally, Charlie is drunk enough to defend himself which he does by
felling
all four patrons with one well placed kick.
The dummy is delivered
to Charlie
and Mabel's apartment and when Charlie comes home, he drunkenly
believes
the dummy to be Mack. He is intimidated by the dummy and tries to
pacify
it, offering it a drink. Whenever he pushes it, it rebounds and
knocks
him to the floor. Finally, Mabel enters
from the bedroom and shows
her soused
husband that he's been afraid of a dummy.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Husband
Mabel Normand
- Wife
Mack Swain
-
Eva Nelson
-
Alice Davenport - Neighbor
Hank Mann
- Tough in Bar
Harry Mc
Coy - Man in Bar
Charles
Murray - Man in Bar
Grover
Ligon - Bartender
Frank Opperman
- Sporting Goods Salesman
Wallace
MacDonald - Delivery Boy
Laughing Gas
his career. From this point on, with one exception, he was to write and
direct all his future films.
Charlie encounters Mack Swain who is standing in front of the pharmacy, blocking
the
entrance. Charlie gains entrance by performing some of his famous hat tricks,
which
non plus Swain. Exiting the pharmacy Charlie gets into a fight with Swain which
evolves
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Dentist's Assistant
Alice Howell
- Dentist's Wife (Mrs. Pain)
Josef Swickard - Patient
Fritz Schade
- Dentist (Dr. Pain)
Mack Swain
- Patient
Peggy Page - Pretty Patient
Slim Summerville
- Patient
Joseph
Sutherland - Short Assistant
The Property
Man
In Charlie
Chaplin's 21st Keystone film, Charlie is the prop man and
general
factotum at a vaudeville house. The artists arrive backstage as
Charlie
swigs beer from a pitcher, refusing to share with his elderly,
hunchbacked
assistant, whom he mistreats throughout. The headliners are the
Goo-Goo Sisters, with whom Charlie flirts outrageously, while hiding
his
beer in
his roomy pants, only to be undone when he bends to pick up one of
the ladies' purses.
Garlico the Strong Man and his assistant arrive, and Charlie must struggle
to load
in his heavy props trunk and the trunks of
his burden to his assistant, making him carry the heavy trunk on his back,
while Charlie carries a hat box. After an argument over dressing rooms, the
show begins before a rowdy audience which includes Keystone boss
Mack Sennett in his "Rube" character.
Charlie
messes up the acts, going onstage, dropping scenery backdrops at
the wrong
time and fighting with his assistant all the while. When the
strong
man's assistant is accidentally knocked out during the fighting,
Charlie
takes her place, disrupting Garlico's act by ripping a piece of
cloth behind
his back as he lifts each weight, making him think that it's
his costume
that has ripped. When the infuriated Garlico attacks Charlie, a
melee breaks
out which ends with Charlie grabbing a fire hose and soaking
actors,
scenery and audience alike, anticipating similar gags in the
subsequent
films, A Night in the Show and A King in New York.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - The Property Man
Josef Swickard - Assistant Prop Man
Jess Dandy - Garlico, the Strongman
Peggy Page - Garlico's assistant
Phyllis
Allen - Lena Fat
Charles
Bennett - Geo. Ham - Lena's husband
Cecile
Arnold, Vivian Edwards - Goo-Goo Sisters
Fritz Schade
- Singer
Harry Mc
Coy - Audience Member
Mack Sennett
- Audience Member
Slim Summerville
- Audience Member
Frank Opperman
- Audience Member
Ted Edwards
- Audience Member
Jess Dandy in "His New Profession
NB: Jess
Dandy, the actor who plays Garlico, is often mistaken for Fritz
Schade, who is also in this film as a singer. He plays many roles
in
Chaplin's
Keystones, notably the Lover in "Face on the Barroom Floor" and
the Bank
President in The New Janitor, roles generally credited to Schade.
Production
Team
Charles
Chaplin - Director, scenario
Mack Sennett
- Producer
The Face
on the Bar Room Floor
The Face
on the Bar-Room Floor, Charlie Chaplin's twenty second
Keystone comedy was based on a well known poem by Hugh Antoine
D'Arcy,
"The Face
Upon the Floor". The film begins in a saloon where Charlie, a
destitute
Tramp is bumming drinks. He offers to tell the story of his
downfall
to the other patrons, and the story goes into a long flashback
sequence.
The Tramp was once a successful artist. We see him dressed in a
tuxedo,
at work in his studio, painting a portrait of his wife, played by
Cecile
Arnold. His next client is a portly man, who is obviously well to
do. When
the wife comes into the studio, she and the client fall instantly in
love. Later
they run off together, leaving a note pinned to the nose of the
portrait.
Charlie returns to the studio and upon finding the note, flies into
a rage,
destroying the portrait.
Time passes.
Charlie is now a Tramp in a park. His former wife and her lover
come into
view with four children in tow and another in a baby carriage. She
is berating
her new man and doesn't notice Charlie, but her husband looks at
him enviously.
Charlie wipes his brow, looking relieved and strolls off.
Back in
the bar room, the flashback finished, Charlie is handed a piece of
chalk.
Now quite drunk, he attempts to draw his ex-wife's picture on the
floor.
He is ordered out of the bar by the other patrons and a fight breaks
out, ending
with Charlie collapsing, unconscious on the face upon the
floor.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Artist
Cecile
Arnold - Madeleine
Jess Dandy
- Lover who Stole her
Vivian
Edwards - Model
Chester
Conklin - Drinker
Josef Swickard - Drinker
Fritz Schade
- Drinker
Charles
Bennett - Sailor
Frank Opperman
- Drinker
Harry McCoy
- Drinker
NB: The
role of Madeleine's lover has been erroneously credited to
Fritz Schade,
but is actually played by Jess Dandy.
Schade is in the bar
scenes
wearing a checkered cloth cap.
Recreation
For this
half reel quickie, Charlie Chaplin's 23rd Keystone comedy,
Chaplin took
cast and crew back to
Keystones,
and shot it in a day. While a sleeping sailor and his bored girl
friend
occupy a park bench, the little Tramp is contemplating suicide on a
nearby
bridge. Leaving her boring beau she passes Charlie and inspires in
him a new
will to live. He follows her to another bench and, shyly at
first,
begins a flirtation. The sailor wakes and finding them together,
chases
Charlie away with a hard slap. Charlie, from behind a tree begins a
brick throwing
match in which inevitably, two Kops become involved. One
comes up
behind Charlie as he's about to throw another brick and Charlie
(in a bit
of business which anticipates a bit he gave to Jackie Coogan in
his 1921
classic, The Kid) dusts off the brick, tosses it idly, and
throws
it over his shoulder. Eventually the
Kops catch up with the sailor
and he
successfully fights them off, getting them embroiled with each
other.
Meanwhile the Girl has escaped to the lake side and is joined by
Charlie.
When the sailor and Kops arrive, all five end up treading water in
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Tramp
Charles
Bennett - Seaman on Park Bench
Peggy Page - Girl
N.B.: All
Chaplin filmographies identify Charlie Murray in the
role of
the sailor. A close examination of the film reveals this
to be in
error. Murray, at over 6' tall, towered over Chaplin. The
sailor
is roughly the same height and size as Chaplin. He is the
same actor
who plays the sailor in "Face on the Barroom Floor"
(in the
same costume) and Douglas Banks in "Tillie's Punctured Romance",
Charles
Bennett.
Production
Team
Charles
Chaplin - Director
Mack Sennett
- Producer
The Masquerader
Vivian Edwards, Chaplin and Cecile Arnold
Charlie
Chaplin's twenty fourth short for the Keystone company is a film
about making
films at Keystone. It is unusual in that we see Chaplin the
actor,
Charlie the Tramp, and Chaplin's second female impersonation in a
film. The
film opens outside the Keystone Studio where Chaplin, in street
clothes,
is talking to Mabel Normand and a reporter, who is writing on a
pad. Charlie
Murray emerges and grabs Chaplin by the ear and drags him
inside
- it's time for work. Murray leaves
Chaplin at the dressing room
where Fatty
Arbuckle is also preparing for work. Chaplin begins by
brushing
off his Tramp pants. Seated at a dressing table across from
Arbuckle
he hears Fatty open a beer bottle and tries to sneak a swig, but
Fatty substitutes
his hair tonic instead. Meanwhile, on the stage, Murray
is rehearsing
a melodramatic scene with two actors.
Chaplin is now in
costume
as the Tramp. On the set, Charlie misses his entrance because he is
flirting
with two lovely actresses, and messes up the scene. He is replaced
by fellow
actor Chester Conklin, but interferes with
and is
chased out of the studios. The next day a "Beautiful Stranger"
appears
- it's Charlie in drag and his female impersonation is perfect. He
immediately
attracts the attentions of every male in the company,
especially
director Murray's.
and hires
her to act in films. He gives her the men's dressing room, amid
the objections
of all the actors. While
lets us
in on the gag by winking at the camera, and later takes a very
unladylike
drag on
and resumes
his Tramp outfit. When the director
comes looking for his new
actress,
he finds Charlie and discovers his deception. He chases Charlie
through
the various film sets until Charlie jumps into what he thinks is a
prop well.
It turns out to be a real one and the film closes as
the actors
mock Charlie as he struggles, sinking, at the bottom of the
well.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Film Actor/Beautiful Stranger
Charles
Murray - Film Director
Roscoe
"Fatty" Arbuckle - Film Actor
Mabel Normand
- Actress
Cecile
Arnold - Actress
Vivian
Edwards - Actress
Charley
Chase - Actor
Peggy Page - Actress
Minta Durfee - Leading Lady
Harry Mc
Coy - Actor
Jess Dandy
- Actor/Villain
Glen Cavender
- Other Director
Frank Opperman
- Actor
Billy Gilbert - Cameraman
His New
Profession
Charlie
Chaplin's 25th Keystone comedy is a park farce on the same order
as many
of his earlier shorts. It opens with a famous shot of Charlie
sitting
on a park bench, reading Police Gazette, the National Enquirer of
its time.
A couple nearby are unhappy; the boy, Charles Parrot (later
known as
Charley Chase), has to take care of his gouty, wheelchair bound
uncle,
preventing him from going off with his girlfriend. He gets an
idea -
find someone to push uncle around for the day. He finds Charlie,
of course,
but not before his girlfriend encounters the Tramp. She
accidentally
drops her purse in front of him and he retrieves it and tries
to flirt.
When Charlie agrees to push Uncle around, the Nephew finds his
girlfriend
and they go off for a stroll. Wheeling Uncle past a saloon,
Charlie
asks for an advance for a drink but the Uncle refuses.
Charlie
pushes
Uncle to a nearby pier where another invalid in a wheelchair with a
tin cup
and a "Help A Cripple" sign has fallen asleep. Charlie deftly puts
the sign
and cup on Uncle, who is also dozing. The first contribution is
enough
to send Charlie off to the saloon for a drink. Meanwhile the couple
arrive
at the pier and find the sleeping Uncle in this embarrassing
position.
Gene laughingly teases her beau as they again escape. Another
charitable
soul comes by and drops a coin in the cup which awakens the
cripple
who takes back his sign and cup and strikes Uncle on his gouty foot
with his
cane. Charlie arrives quite tipsy
and wheels Uncle further along
the pier,
amusing him with his Police Gazette. The couple has meanwhile had
a fight
and the girl arrives on the pier and sits down next to Charlie.
He
begins
flirting again and when Uncle tries to interfere Charlie pushes him
right to
the end of the pier. Nephew arrives
and is enraged to see Charlie
and Gene
together. A scrap begins also involving a couple of Kops, one of
whom shoos
the boyfriend away before being pushed off the pier. The other
Kop pinches
Uncle as a troublemaker, leaving Charlie and Gene to walk off
together.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Charlie
Charley
Chase - Nephew
Peggy Page - Nephew's girlfriend
Jess Dandy
- Uncle
Cecile
Arnold - Girl with eggs
Roscoe
"Fatty" Arbuckle - Bartender
Billy Hauber
- Policeman
Glen Cavender
- Man at Bar/Cripple
Charlie
Murray - Man at Bar
Vivian
Edwards - Nurse
Production
Team
Charles
Chaplin - Director, Scenario
Mack Sennett
- Producer
The Rounders
In his
twenty-sixth Keystone comedy Charlie Chaplin pairs off with fellow
Keystone
star Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. Charlie and Fatty are both drunks
and are
both married to domineering wives. Charlie, dressed in top hat and
evening
clothes, arrives at his hotel drunk and is confronted by wife
Phyllis
Allen who berates and manhandles him.
Fatty arrives a few
moments
later and, in an adjacent room, meets a similar fate with his wife,
Minta Durfee, his real life spouse. The noise of their fight makes
Phyllis
send Charlie over to see what's going on.
Minta begins to attack
Charlie
and Phyllis intervenes on his behalf.
With the ladies locked in
battle,
the men, realizing that they are lodge brothers, steal money from
their wives'
purses and escape to a nearby cafe. At the cafe they cause a
commotion,
both eventually bunking down to sleep on the cafe floor. By now
the wives
have discovered that they've been robbed and have banded together
to look
for Charlie and Fatty. They arrive at the cafe but the boys escape
and stagger
to a park. Just before the wives and the outraged cafe patrons
can catch
them, they take a rowboat from a couple at the park and row out
to the
middle of the lake, where they lay down to sleep. Unfortunately, the
boat has
a leak and both men go down with the ship.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Mr. Full, a Reveller
Phyllis
Allen - Mrs. Full
Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle - Mr. Fuller, His Neighbor
Minta Durfee - Mrs. Fuller
Al St.
John - Bellhop/Waiter
Jess Dandy
- Diner
Charley
Chase - Diner
Wallace
MacDonald - Diner
Peggy Page - Diner
Billy Gilbert
- Black Doorman
Eddie Cline
- Hotel Guest
Cecile
Arnold - Hotel Guest
The New
Janitor
In Charlie
Chaplin's twenty-seventh comedy for Keystone, and arguably his
best, he
plays not a homeless Tramp, but an inept janitor in a bank. The
film is
a forerunner of his later Essanay film The Bank.
It is the first
Chaplin
film in which is seen a glimmer of the pathos mixed with comedy
that would
become his Tramp's defining characteristic.
Charlie is first
seen in
the lobby of the building with his broom and dustpan being shut out
of an elevator
ride by a nasty elevator operator. He makes the long climb
upstairs
and begins his duties cleaning the offices, but bungles most of
the jobs.
Dusting in the President's office he is clearly smitten by the lovely
stenographer.
She is in love with the Manager, which is seen
as she
caresses his hat hanging outside his office.
In that office the
Manager
receives a note from his bookie who threatens to expose him if he
does not
pay his gambling debts. He decides to rob the safe in the
President's
office. Meanwhile, Charlie accidentally
dumps a bucket of
water out
the office window which soaks the President. Enraged, the
President
rushes upstairs and fires Charlie, who begs for his job. (During
a rehearsal
of this scene, according to Chaplin's autobiography,
pathetic
she burst into tears.) Unable to change
the Presidents mind,
Charlie
heads downstairs to the storage room and prepares to leave. When
the President
and the stenographer leave, the Manager sneaks into the
President's
office and opens the safe. He's caught by the steno who has
returned
unexpectedly and he attacks her, threatening her with a gun. Just
before
she faints, she presses a call button which rings in the janitor's
storage
room. Charlie, after a moment of indecision, makes his way upstairs
and seeing
the situation, knocks the gun from the Manager's hand. Bending
over to
pick it up with his back turned, he holds the Manager at bay by
aiming
the gun between his legs. He steps
over his arms and goes to the
window,
firing some shots which quickly brings a cop to the office. The
President
arrives and when it is assumed that Charlie is the hold up man,
he is apprehended
by the cop. The stenographer awakens and identifies
Charlie
as the real hero, who receives a reward and a handshake for his
efforts.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Janitor
John T.
(Jack) Dillon - Villainous Manager
Peggy Page - Secretary
Al St.
John - Elevator Boy
Jess Dandy
- Bank President
Glen Cavender
- Luke Connor
N.B.: John
T. Dillon, who plays the bank manager, is not to be confused with John
Francis
Dillon, who worked at Keystone in 1917.
John T. knew Sennett from his
Biograph days and co-starred with him in Sennett's 1911 directorial
debut,
"Comrades".
Those Love
Pangs
Charlie
Chaplin's 28th Keystone comedy pits him against Chester Conklin
as rival
for the attentions of their landlady, and for
Cecile
Arnold. After the mid day meal each of the rivals tries to chat up the
landlady,
only to be prevented by the other.
They decide
to go out together to prevent a fight, but split up as Charlie
stops in
front of a bar while
distracted,
however, by a passing beauty who gives him the eye. He follows
her a bit
but is put off by the lady's large boyfriend. Going on to the
park, Charlie
has a confrontation with the large boyfriend and observes
begs for
affection and even gives
amazement
and envy. Charlie eventually dispatches both boyfriends and
follows
the girls to a movie theatre where, sitting between them, he charms
the pair
of beauties making some rather amusing gestures with his feet. The
boyfriends
show up and replace the girls in their seats while Charlie
dozes.
A fight ensues in which Charlie is thrown through the movie screen.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Masher
Peggy Page - Landlady
Cecile
Arnold - Blond Girl
Vivian
Edwards - Brunette Girl
Harry Mc
Coy - Policeman
Fritz Schade
- Movie Patron
Fred Fishback
- Vivian's Boyfriend
Slim Summerville
- Movie Patron
Grover
Ligon - Movie Patron
Billy Gilbert
- Movie Patron
Billy Hauber
- Movie Patron
Production
Team
Charles
Chaplin - Director, Scenario
Mack Sennett-
Producer
Dough and
Dynamite
Charlie
Chaplin's 29th comedy for Keystone was one of his most popular,
grossing
$130,000 in its initial year of release. It was shot before, but
released
after Those Love Pangs, and was originally conceived as an early
sequence
of the latter, showing Charlie and Chester Conklin at work in a
combination
cafe/bakery. The sequence was so good Mack Sennett suggested
that Chaplin
expand it. Waiter Charlie has his mind on a waitress as he
clears
one patron's plate onto the food of another. He mans the bakery
counter
and is taken with a female customer, especially her hip movements
which he
imitates. He gets into fights with fellow waiter
disrupts
work in the bakery below. The bakers strike for higher wages and
Charlie and
inept.
The striking bakers plot revenge as one of them buys a loaf of bread
and inserts
a stick of dynamite into it. They send a little girl to return
it as undercooked,
and the owner's wife brings it downstairs to have it
baked further.
She observes Charlie's method of bagel making - whipping a
roll of
dough around his wrist forming a ring and rolling it off over his
hand. Meanwhile
the owner, Fritz Schade, has been noticing that the
waitresses
have dough on their derrieres, indicating they've been
socializing
with Charlie in the bakery. When his
wife returns from
downstairs,
the owner likewise sees dough on her behind, put there by
Charlie,
and he flies into a rage. He goes down to the bakery and berates
Charlie,
slaps him around and chases him upstairs to the restaurant and
down again.
In self defense Charlie flings dough and flour bags at Fritz
and
debris
and burying Charlie under a huge lump of dough from which he
emerges, eyes first, as the film ends.
Cast
Charles Chaplin
-
Fritz Schade
- Monsieur La Vie, bakery owner
Norma Nichols
- Owner's Wife
Vivian
Edwards - Customer
Cecile
Arnold - Waitress
Jess Dandy
- Female Cook
Charles
Bennett - Angry Customer
Charley
Chase - Customer
Glen Cavender
- Head Baker
Slim Summerville
- Striking Baker
Phyllis
Allen - Customer
Wallace
MacDonald - Customer
N.B. Some
character names in this and other films below were supplied
by Doug
Sulpy from the original 1914 Keystone copyright filings in the
Library
of Congress.
Production
Team
Charles
Chaplin - Director, Scenario
Mack Sennett
- Producer, Scenario
Gentlemen
of Nerve
Charlie
Chaplin's 30th Keystone comedy is again set at the auto races, as
were his
earlier films, Kid's Auto Race, Mabel at the Wheel and
Mabel's Busy Day. However this time, as Chaplin scholar Harry Geduld
suggests,
it was likely shot at the Keystone studios with shots of the race
intercut. Charlie tries to sneak in by walking backwards through
the gate
but is
turned back. He has a contretemps with Ambrose (Mack Swain), also
trying
to sneak in. The two resolve their
differences for the moment and
try to
sneak in through a gap in the fence. Swain gets stuck and Charlie
tries to
help him through the gap with pushes, kicks and by trying to wedge
him in with
a baseball bat. Mabel and boyfriend
with
comes to
her rescue. He shoves
both as
troublemakers, to the delight of Charlie and Mabel. Mabel rewards
Charlie
by letting him kiss her hand and playfully tweaks his nose as the
new couple
enjoy the rest of the race.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Mr. Wow-Wow
Mabel Normand
- Mabel
Mack Swain
- Ambrose
Phyllis
Allen - Flirty woman
Charley
Chase - Spectator at entrance
Cecile
Arnold - Spectator
Peggy Page - Spectator with checkered coat
Harry McCoy
- Spectator
Glen Cavender
- Spectator at entrance, Cop
Tammany
Young - Spectator at entrance
Slim Summerville
- Spectator
Vivian
Edwards - Spectator
Billy Gilbert*
- Spectator
Billy Hauber
- Spectator
Alice Davenport
- Patron at outdoor bar
Fred Fishback
- Spectator
Production
Team
Charles
Chaplin - Director, Scenario
Mack Sennett
- Producer
His Musical Career
Charlie
Chaplin's musical career is as a piano mover for a music store in
this, his
thirty-first comedy for Keystone. The film is a direct
inspiration
for
Little
Fellow is not a tramp but a hard-working labourer.
Charlie is first
seen applying
for his job, being examined, muscles and even teeth, by Mack
Swain.
In the showroom, we see Mr. Rich (Fritz Schade) deciding to buy a
piano from
salesman, Charley Chase, and a few moments later, Mr. Poor
being threatened
that his piano will be repossessed if he can't make his
payments.
Mack and Charlie are sent to deliver the one piano and pick up
the other,
for which, of course, they will mix up the addresses. As they
take the
piano outside, Mack pulls Charlie along the showroom floor, as
Charlie
smiles to the camera, expressing his delight in a free ride.
They
load the
piano onto the horse-drawn wagon. At one point the slope is so
severe
that when Mack leans to the back of the wagon, the donkey is lifted
right off
the ground. Arriving at Mr. Poor's house the residents are
delighted
that they seem to be receiving a free piano, as Charlie carries
the piano
on his back and must be straightened out by boss Mack.
Next, the
movers
proceed to Mr. Rich's house and proceed to take his piano, over the
objections
of Mrs. Rich. Mr. Rich arrives as
Charlie and Mack get the piano out
to the
sidewalk. A kick to Mack's backside sends the piano, Charlie and Mack
skidding
down a steep hill, and to Mr. Rich's horror, into
where Charlie
plays some last notes before they begin to sink.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Piano Mover
Mack Swain
- Mike, His Partner
Frank Hayes
- Mr. Poor
Peggy Page - Miss Poor
Charley
Chase - Piano Store Manager
Billy Gilbert
- Piano Store Salesman
Cecile
Arnold - Mrs. Rich
Fritz Schade
- Mr. Rich
Billy Hauber
- Servant
His Trysting
Place
In his
32nd film for Keystone, Charlie Chaplin is a married man, an
unusual
state for his film character. His wife, played by Mabel Normand,
complains
that they have no money for new shoes for her or food for their
baby.
They have a fight and Charlie leaves, promising to bring a present
home for
their son. Meanwhile another couple in a hotel room are rather
lovey,
as the wife, Phyllis Allen helps hubby Ambrose, Mack Swain
prepare
to go out. On his way out, a young lady who has just completed a
love letter
asks Ambrose to mail it for her. He
puts the letter in his
coat pocket.
Charlie goes to a drug store and buys a bottle for the baby,
which he
puts in his coat pocket. He proceeds to a diner where,
coincidentally,
Ambrose has gone for lunch. The pair get into a funny food
fight at
the lunch counter, and switch coats accidentally. When Charlie
arrives
home Mabel finds the note in his pocket and flies into a rage,
eventually
breaking an ironing board over his head. Charlie escapes to a
nearby
park where Ambrose has met his wife who consoles him over the
beating
he has just taken from Charlie. Calmed down, Mack goes to a nearby
refreshment
stand. Mabel has by now caught up
with Charlie and is
delivering
quite a beating, which delights Mack. Meanwhile, Phyllis has
found the
baby bottle in "his" coat pocket and when he returns to their
bench berates
him for his infidelity. When Mabel shows Charlie the note she
has found,
he examines the coat and the mystery is solved. The two men
exchange
coats, but when Charlie returns the love note to Mack, Phyllis
attacks
him with her umbrella. But Charlie, Mabel and their baby are
reunited
in a picture of connubial bliss.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Clarence, the Husband
Mabel Normand
- Mabel, His Wife
Mack Swain
- Ambrose
Phyllis
Allen - Ambrose's Wife
Peggy Page - Clarice
Nick Cogley
- Bearded Diner
Frank Hayes
- Diner
Glen Cavender
- Cook, Park Cop
Vivian
Edwards - Lady Outside Restaurant
Billy Gilbert
- Restaurant Patron
Production
Team
Charles
Chaplin - Screenwriter, Director
Mack Sennett
- Producer
Tillie's Punctured Romance
This Keystone
comedy, Charlie Chaplin's 33rd, is the first feature length comedy
ever made
and contributed to making Chaplin and his co-star Marie Dressler major
stars.
Chaplin
plays a con artist (not the Tramp) who talks Tillie, an innocent country lass,
into taking
her father's savings and running off to the city with him. Once there,
he re-establishes
his affair with the beautiful Mabel Normand, abandoning
Tillie,
who must begin working at a restaurant, while Charlie and Mabel
spend her father's money for new clothes.
Meanwhile, Tillie's millionaire uncle is reported to have died in a mountain climbing
accident. When the opportunistic Charlie learns that Tillie has just inherited three
million
is suspicious
when she learns of her inheritance. Later, at a wedding gala
at Tillie's
new mansion where Normand has begun working as a maid, Charlie
sneaks
off for a little tete-a-tete with the latter. Trouble erupts when
Dressler
catches them smooching. Suddenly all the slapstick craziness for
which director
Mack Sennett is famous erupts as Tillie grabs a pistol and
begins
chasing Charlie and Mabel, firing randomly. Just as the wayward
Charlie
is to be strangled to death, the "late" uncle suddenly appears and
ejects
all the celebrants. Charlie and Mabel, chased by Tillie race out of
the ruined
mansion to a pier where they are followed by the ubiquitous
Keystone
Kops whom the uncle has summoned. Tillie ends up in the drink, and
when rescued
after numerous attempts, rejects Charlie while consoling Mabel
saying,
"He ain't no good to neither of us", as the Kops drag Charlie away.
Cast
Marie Dressler
- Tillie Banks, Country Girl
Charles
Chaplin - Charlie, City Slicker
Mabel Normand
- Mabel, Charlie's Girl Friend
Mack Swain
- John Banks, Tillie's Father
Charles
Bennett - Douglas Banks; Mortgage Holder; Maitre D'
Phyllis
Allen - Wardress
Billie
Bennett - Maid and Guest
Charley
Chase - Detective at Movie Theatre
Alice Davenport
- Guest
Peggy Page - Maid and Waitress
Gordon
Griffith - Newsboy
Alice Howell
- Guest
Edgar Kennedy
- Restaurant Owner,
Glen Cavender
- Pianist in Restaurant and Cop
Harry Mc
Coy - Second Pianist in Restaurant and Pianist in Theater
Fritz Schade
- Waiter and Diner
Charles
Murray - Detective in Film
Minta Durfee
- Crook's Accomplice in Film
Frank Opperman
- Rev. D. Simpson
Billy Hauber
- Servant and Cop
Fred Fishback
- Servant
Hank Mann
- Keystone Cop
Al St.
John - Keystone Cop
Slim Summerville
- Keystone Cop
Wallace
MacDonald - Guest and Keystone Cop
Nick Cogley
- Desk Sergeant
NB: Claims
that Milton Berle played the newsboy are spurious.
Production
Team
Mack Sennett
- Director
Getting Acquainted
A publicity still for Getting Acquainted. Phyllis Allen, Mabel Normand, Mack Swain, Charlie Chaplin
Charlie
Chaplin's penultimate Keystone comedy takes us back to the
scene of
so many of his Keystones,
that it
is a story of two married couples with wandering husbands:
Charlie and battle-ax Phyllis Allen, and Mack Swain and Mabel
Normand.
Mack and Mabel, taking the air, spot a stalled sports car
which fascinates
Mack, who leaves Mabel and goes off to help the
driver
start it up. Seated on a park bench with Charlie, Phyllis has
has fallen
asleep.
A beautiful
young woman, Cecile Arnold pauses by the bench, looking
for her
beau, a mysterious Turk. Charlie flirts
with her and is spurned, but
leaves
Phyllis asleep and chases after her.
When he catches up, the Turk
arrives
and after a brief confrontation in which he stabs Charlie in the backside,
Charlie is chased off. Charlie comes upon Mabel and begins to mash
her.
Tipping
his hat, he hooks her skirt with his upside down cane and raises it
above her
knees. When she protests, he scolds
the cane as if it had a mind of its
own.
Mack arrives on the scene and doesn't heed Mabel's complaints but introduces
her to
Charlie, who he seems to know. Mack
leaves them alone to go back to the
car, and
Charlie persists in mashing Mabel until a cop shows up behind
Charlie.
Mabel then turns all smiles and winks hoping Charlie will mash her
in the
presence of the cop which he does, until the presence of the cop's
billy club
on his shoulder makes him take to his heels.
Meanwhile Mack has
come upon
Phyllis and begins to mash her. Her
cries also bring the cop who
chases
Mack away. Mabel and Phyllis eventually meet and commiserate with
each other
about the mashers they've encountered in the park.
There
follows
a series of comedic chases and fights between the cop and Charlie
and Mack.
While hiding from the cop in the same bushes they are both
apprehended
and dragged off, but Phyllis and Mabel intercede to save their
spouses
from the clutches of the police. The two couples reconcile their
differences
but Charlie still insists on flirting and Phyllis, to Mack and
Mabel's
amusement, drags him off by the seat of his pants.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Mr. Sniffels
Phyllis
Allen - Mrs. Sniffels
Mabel Normand
- Ambrose's Wife
Mack Swain
- Ambrose
Cecile
Arnold - Mary
Glen Cavender
- Turk
Edgar Kennedy
- Cop
Harry McCoy and Peggy Page - Young Couple in Park
Joe Bordeaux
- Stalled Driver
His Prehistoric Past
Two reels
In his
thirty fifth and last Keystone comedy, Charlie Chaplin parodied the
recent
hit, D.W. Griffith's stone age drama, Man's Genesis. Charlie is
caveman
Weakchin, dressed in derby, cane and bearskin. He plucks some fur
from his
bearskin and fills his pipe with it, lighting the pipe by picking
up a stone
and striking it against his thigh. He is an outsider, invading
the territory
and harem of King Lowbrow. At first welcomed by the King, Weakchin
persists
in wooing Sum Babee, one of Lowbrow's favorite wives. Eventually the men
clash and
Weakchin kicks Lowbrow over a cliff.
Taking over the leadership of the
tribe,
Weakchin repairs to the King's cave with another Mrs. Lowbrow.
Rescued by
his sycophantic
court jester, the King sneaks into the cave and clobbers Weakchin
from behind with a rock, whereupon Charlie the Tramp awakes on a park bench with a
cop looming over him - it has all been a dream - the first of many dream sequences in
Chaplin's
films.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Weakchin
Mack Swain
- King Lowbrow
Gene Marsh
- The King's Water Maiden
Peggy Page - King's Second Wife
Fritz Schade
- Cleo, Medicine Man
Cecile
Arnold - Cavewoman
Vivian
Edwards Cavewoman
Ted Edwards
- Caveman
Grover Ligon - Caveman
The Unknown Keystone
It's a Keystone, with Chaplin in street clothes, Mabel Normand at the switchboard, and an unidentified third person. It's not the Normand film "Hello Mabel" as was once suggested. There's a possibility that the stills come from a late 1913 production "How Motion Pictures are Made" which was shot during Chaplin's earliest days at Keystone. Below is a poster from that film:
That's all anyone can say about these stills, two of which appeared in Maurice Bessy's 1985 book "Charlie Chaplin". It is an ongoing subject of curiosity and research to Chaplinphiles.
My thanks
to Keystone scholars Steve Rydsewski, Bo Berglund, Brent Walker,
Rob Farr, Glenn Mitchell and Pierre Pageau, who offered suggestions,
changes and additions to the cast lists in the Keystone page of this filmography,
c)1995-2008 Phil Posner