Charlie Chaplin Filmography Continued
KEYSTONE MUTUAL FIRST NATIONAL UNITED ARTISTS
E
S S A N A Y
His
New Job
1915
- Two Reels
AKA Charlie's New Job
Charlie
Chaplin began his new job at Essanay Studios, who lured him away
from
Keystone with an offer of $1250 a week plus a bonus of $10,000, with a
parody
film on his former employer. It features two actresses at the
beginning
of their careers in minor roles - Gloria Swanson and Agnes
Ayres.
Charlie
applies for work at the Lockstone Motion Picture Company.
Arriving
at the office just after him is cross-eyed comedian Ben Turpin.
Charlie
is interviewed by the boss who uses a funnel and long tube as a
hearing
aid. Charlie uses the device with a cigarette in his mouth which
gets
lodged in the funnel. Charlie tries to dislodge it by pouring ink into
the
funnel and blowing but ends up with the ink on his own face. Hired as
an
assistant carpenter/prop man, he disrupts rehearsals and gets into
trouble
with the director. He is told to don an extra's military costume
for
the Russian melodrama being filmed, but goes instead into the star's
dressing
room and steals his costume. Charlie is as inept as an actor as he
is
a carpenter, sitting on the train of the leading lady's gown, tearing it
off
as she walks up a staircase and blowing his nose in it as he overacts
tearfully.
(This scene contains one of the first dolly shots in Chaplin
films).
He later topples a large column which lands on top of him and is
sat
upon by Turpin, who, having replaced him as prop man is called to lift
the
column.. Eventually, the star actor arrives and enraged at finding his
costume
missing, starts a melee on stage which ends with everyone but
Charlie
unconscious.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Film Extra
Ben
Turpin - Film Extra
Leo
White - Actor, Receptionist
Charlotte
Mineau - Film Star
Gloria
Swanson - Extra, Stenographer
Agnes
Ayres - Extra, Secretary
Production
Team
Charles
Chaplin - Screenwriter, Director
Jess
Robbins - Producer
The Beautiful Edna Purviance
A
Night Out
1915
- Two Reels
In
his second Essanay comedy Charlie Chaplin is teamed with cross-eyed
comic
Ben Turpin as two drunks on a spree. It is noteworthy as his first
film
with Edna Purviance, who was to be his love interest in films for the
next
eight years, and in real life for the next three. It combines elements
from
at least three Keystones, Mabel's Strange Predicament, The
Rounders
and Caught in the Rain, but uses a number of comic
transpositions
of the type that were to become Chaplin's hallmark. Charlie
and
Ben carouse to a saloon and a restaurant, incurring the wrath of a
French
boulevardier and a restaurant manager. Ejected from the restaurant,
they
return to their hotel room where they meet Edna, whose room is across
the
hall. Charlie flirts with Edna until her husband, the restaurant
manager
returns and chases him away. Charlie and Ben then have a fight and
Charlie
packs and leaves the hotel, checking into another one nearby. Edna
and
hubby decide they don't like the hotel either and move in to Charlie's.
Charlie
undresses for bed in his room while Edna, across the hall, plays
fetch
with her dog. When she throws her
slipper into the hallway, the dog
takes
it into Charlie's room and under his bed. Chasing the dog, Edna hides
under
Charlie's bed when he re-enters the room from the bathroom. He
escorts
her back to her room but is caught there by the irate husband.
When
hubby draws a pistol Charlie escape through the window, but makes his
way
back into the hotel. He encounters Ben who has come looking for
Charlie's
share of the rent on their former room, and a fight ensues in
which
Charlie ends up floundering in the bathtub.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Drinker
Ben
Turpin - Fellow Drinker
Bud
Jamison - Head Waiter
Edna
Purviance - Head Waiter's Wife
Leo
White - French Boulevardier and Desk Clerk
Ernest
Van Pelt -Second Desk Clerk
Production
Team
Charles
Chaplin - Screenwriter, Director
Harry
Ensign - Cinematographer
Ernest
Van Pelt - Asst. Director
The
Champion
1915
- Two Reels
AKA Battling Charlie
The
Champion, Chaplin's third film for Essanay, is easily his most
advanced
film to date in plotting and characterization and one of the
funniest.
We meet Charlie and his bulldog sharing a found hot dog, which
the
dog won't eat until it is salted. They
pass a gymnasium advertising
for
sparring partners who can take a punch. Charlie finds a lucky horseshoe
and
after witnessing the condition of the previous sparring partners,
decides
to employ it in his left boxing glove.
He thereby kayos the club
champ
and becomes the new golden boy. He begins to train for the big
championship
fight against Champ, Bud Jamison. The
beautiful daughter of
the
Gym owner, Edna Purviance gets his interest and seems taken with him.
A
shady character Leo White, a slimy betting tout, oozes into camp and
tries
to bribe Charlie into throwing the big fight, but while Charlie takes
his
money, he treats him with total contempt. On the day of the fight
Charlie
says an emotional goodbye to his dog and enters the ring. In the
audience
are cowboy star Bronco Billy Anderson, one of the founders of
Essanay
(whose initials, along with partner George K. Spoor's are the
source
of its name), and Ben Turpin as the vendor. The hilarious
slapstick
prizefight is pretty even at first but by the fourth round
Charlie's
getting the worst of it. Seeing the trouble his master is in, the
bulldog
jumps into the ring and restrains the opponent by the seat of his
pants
while Charlie delivers a series of coup-de-grace punches. Charlie is
hoisted
on the shoulders of his cornermen as the new Champion.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Challenger
Edna
Purviance - Trainer's Daughter
?
- Trainer
Ernest
Van Pelt - Club Champ, later Bud's Trainer
Bud
Jamison - World Champion
Leo
White - Dishonest Better
Gilbert
M. Anderson - Enthusiastic Fan
Lloyd
Bacon - Sparring Partner/ Referee
Bill
Cato - Sparring Partner
Ben
Turpin - Salesman
Production
Team
Charles
Chaplin - Screenwriter, Director
Harry
Ensign - Cinematographer
Ernest
Van Pelt - Asst. Director
In
The Park
1915
- One Reel (12 minutes)
Charlie
Chaplin's fourth release for Essanay is very similar to his
Keystone
Twenty Minutes of Love. He had taken longer than planned to
complete
his previous film, The Champion, and he felt obliged to give
Essanay
a new film quickly, so he shot and edited this park farce in the
course
of a week. It opens with Leo White in his French Count costume and
Leona
Anderson (Broncho Billy's sister) spooning on a park bench, observed
by
an amused Edna Purviance seated on a nearby bench, wearing a nursemaid's
outfit
and minding a baby carriage. Charlie, strolling through the park, encounters an
inept
pickpocket, from whose pocket Charlie picks a cigarette and a match.
Charlie
comes upon the couple and mocking their emotions, gets chased away.
Edna
is joined by her boyfriend Bud Jamison, who goes off to buy a hot dog
from
a vendor. Finding Edna alone, Charlie makes eyes at her and gets a few
smiles
in return, but when he tries to mash her she spurns him. Meanwhile
the
pickpocket steals Leona's purse while the couple are necking.
Returning
to Edna, Bud chases Charlie away. Charlie encounters the same hot
dog
vendor and steals a string of hot dogs which he hangs from his breast
pocket
and eats by swinging them up to his mouth. The pickpocket steals
Charlie's
hot dogs, but Charlie steals the purse from his pocket. While
Charlie
sells the purse to Bud for $2, the pickpocket starts a brick fight
during
which everyone except Charlie is knocked out. Charlie gives the
purse
to Edna, who rewards him with a hug, but Bud awakens and returns to
claim
the purse and Edna. By this time Leona has discovered her purse is
gone
and sends Leo over to Bud to retrieve it. He is beaten back by Bud and
when
Leona spurns him for his ineptitude he contemplates suicide. Charlie
comes
along and obliges him by booting him into the lake. Meanwhile Leona
has
summoned a cop who gets the purse back from Bud and confronts Charlie,
but
ends up in the lake along with Bud, as Charlie strolls away.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Tramp
Edna
Purviance - Nursemaid
Bud
Jamison - Her Boyfriend
Leo
White - European masher
Leona
Anderson - His Girlfriend
Ernest
Van Pelt - Hot Dog seller
Paddy
McQuire - Hot Dog thief
Lloyd
Bacon - Pickpocket
Production Team
Charles
Chaplin - Director, Screenwriter
Harry
Ensign - Cinematographer
Ernest
Van Pelt - Assistant Director
Jess
Robbins - Producer
A
Jitney Elopement
1915
- Two reels - 26 mins
AKA
Charlie's Elopement
Married
in Haste
The
title of Charlie Chaplin's fifth comedy for Essanay refers to the
popular
term for a Model T Ford, a jitney. Its theme of impersonation was
one
Chaplin had used before in Caught in a Cabaret and Her Friend the
Bandit,
and would use again in The Count and other films. Charlie's
girlfriend
Edna is about to be forced by her father to wed the wealthy
Count
de Ha-Ha, whom neither has met. Charlie, dropping by for a visit,
stands
below her bedroom window whistling for her. She tosses him a note
from
the Count, announcing his visit and pleads to be rescued. Charlie
impersonates
the Count and is welcomed by her mercenary father. He's given
drinks
and cigars and sits down to lunch with Edna and her father. Chaplin
performs
a bit that he had done in one of the Karno sketches, that of
carving
a loaf of bread into a spiral and using it as an accordion.
Although
his table manners are decidedly not upper class, Charlie pulls off
the
impersonation until the real Count arrives. The enraged father kicks
Charlie
out of the house, then goes out for a spin with Edna and the Count
in
the latter's car. They drive to a park where father hopes the Count can
sweet
talk Edna into marrying him. At first
horrified by his intentions,
she
breaks out into gales of laughter at the sight of the tattered seat of
his
pants. Charlie happens by and steals Edna away, dispatching Count and
father,
along with a couple of cops. The fleeing couple steal the Count's
jitney,
and lead Count, father and cop, now following in a car they've
taken,
a merry chase. The chase leads them to a
pier, where in a clever
stop
motion photography scene, the cars jockey about until Charlie bumps
the
other car off the pier and into the water. A happy Charlie and Edna are
about
to kiss as the film fades out.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Charlie
Edna
Purviance - Edna
Ernest
Van Pelt - Her Father
Leo
White - Her Millionaire Suitor, Count de Ha-Ha
Lloyd
Bacon -
Paddy
McQuire - Old Servant & Policeman
Bud
Jamison - Policeman
Production Team
Charles
Chaplin - Screenwriter, Director
Jess
Robbins - Producer
Harry
Ensign - Cinematographer
Ernest
Van Pelt - Assistant Director
The
Tramp
1915
- Two Reels - 20 minutes
The
Tramp, Charlie Chaplin's sixth film for Essanay is generally
considered
his first masterpiece. It is the first of his films that blended
pathos
with comedy and contains subtle pantomime along with the knockabout
slapstick.
Charlie is truly a tramp in this film, wandering down a dusty
country
road carrying his bindle. He is knocked down by near misses from
two
passing autos and pulls a whisk broom from his pocket and dusts himself
off.
He sits by a tree to eat his lunch but it is stolen by a hobo, Leo
White.
Despondent, Charlie salts some grass and eats it. We next meet farm
girl
Edna Purviance and her father Ernest Van Pelt, who gives her some
cash
and sends her on an errand. She stops on her way to count her money
and
is robbed by Leo. Her cries bring
Charlie who rescues her from Leo and
two
other tramp thieves. Edna brings Charlie home to the farm where he is
rewarded
with a job as a farm hand. He is inept
at the job, the source of
several
funny scenes with fellow hand Paddy McQuire. The three thieving
hobos
show up and try to involve Charlie in a scheme to rob the farmer's
money.
Charlie foils their efforts by hitting them on their heads with a
mallet
as they reach the top of the ladder that he has set up at his
bedroom
window. Farmer Ernest, alerted by the noise, grabs his shotgun and
chases
off the crooks, but Charlie gets shot in the leg accidentally. This
scenes
is played completely straight and is utterly convincing as Charlie
passes
out from the pain. Charlie is next seen recuperating from his
injuries,
lounging at an outdoor table with Edna and squirting seltzer into
his
drink. But his happiness is short lived.
Edna's boyfriend, Lloyd
Bacon,
arrives on the scene and Charlie, seeing that his love for Edna is
unrequited,
goes into the farmhouse and writes a note: "i thout your
kindness
was love but it ain't cause i seen him". He turns his back to the
camera
and picks up Edna's hat, kisses it and walks outside. Bidding Edna
and
Lloyd farewell, Charlie refuses the money offered by Lloyd. The film
closes
with what would become Chaplin's classic ending -Charlie walking
sadly
back along the road, but suddenly putting an optimistic little spring
in
his step as the camera irises in.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - A Tramp
Edna
Purviance - Farmer's Daughter
Ernest
Van Pelt - Farmer
Lloyd
Bacon - Edna's boyfriend & thief
Paddy
McQuire - Farmhand
Leo
White - Tramp/thief
Bud
Jamison - Thief
Billy
Armstrong - Poet
Production Team
Charles
Chaplin - Director, Screenwriter
Harry
Ensign - Cinematographer
Ernest
Van Pelt - Assistant Director
Jess
Robbins - Producer
By
the Sea
1915 -One Reel
Charlie
Chaplin's last one-reeler (with the exception of The Bond), is
an
impromptu film shot on the beach at Crystal Pier in
first
film shot there since leaving Keystone. It is superior to similarly
made
Keystones in that the timing and gag ideas are much better realized.
The
film opens with couple Billy Armstrong and Margie Reiger at the
beach
on a windy day. Margie goes off telling Billy to stay put. Charlie
comes
walking down a seaside street eating a banana and, after tossing the
peel
away, he slips on it. He encounters Billy when both men's hats,
attached
to them by elastics, get blown off by the wind and entangled. This
causes
a fight between them in which Charlie gets Billy in a headlock and
knocks
him unconscious, but fleas from Billy's head jump onto Charlie's
arms.
He performs a precursor of the flea circus routine that is featured
in
Limelight and the never released The Professor.
Just then Edna
Purviance
passes by and Charlie flirts with her. She is amused by his
antics
despite herself. She goes off and sits
down by her boyfriend, Bud
Jamison,
who has been waiting for her on a nearby bench. Charlie and Billy
make
up and Billy offers to buy them refreshments at a nearby ice cream
stand
operated by Snub Pollard. They again begin to fight as Billy
refuses
to pay. During the fight Bud gets hit by flying ice cream and joins
the
fray. The fight is broken up by a cop, who drags Billy off. Escaping,
Charlie
sits down next to Edna, bouncing her up and down by sitting down
heavily.
He's chased off by the returning Bud and joins Margie (who has
been
looking for Billy) on another bench until all the others arrive,
whereupon
Charlie tips over the bench and makes his getaway.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Tramp
Billy
Armstrong - Husband
Margie
Reiger - Wife
Edna
Purviance - Girl
Bud
Jamison - Jealous Boyfriend
Harry
"Snub" Pollard - Ice Cream Vendor
Ed
Armstrong - Tobacconist
Ernest
Van Pelt - Policeman
Paddy
McQuire - Policeman
Production Team
Charles
Chaplin - Director, Screenwriter
Harry
Ensign - Cinematographer
Ernest
Van Pelt - Assistant Director
Jess
Robbins - Producer
Work
1915
- Two Reels - 20 minutes
Work,
Charlie Chaplin's eighth film for Essanay casts Charlie as a
wallpaper
hanger's assistant who must pull the wagon containing the boss
(Charles
Insley) and all his gear through the city streets and up some
imposing
hills (created by using tilted camera angles). Charlie is little
more
than a beast of burden and must do all the work when they arrive at a
wealthy
couple's (Billy Armstrong, Marta Golden) home. The woman of the
house
suspects the workers of being dishonest when she catches Charlie
admiring
a small statue and locks up her valuables in a safe. This prompts
Charlie
to "lock up" his and his boss' watches and cash by pinning them
into
his pants pocket. Charlie proves to be an inept decorator, making a
huge
mess and causing his boss to get a bucket of wallpaper paste over his
head.
He befriends Edna Purviance, the maid, and in a rather intimate
scene,
tells her his story and his hopes for the future. The wife's lover,
Leo
White arrives, but when he sees that Billy is still home, he pretends
to
be a workman. Billy is wise to the dodge
and attacks Leo, eventually
pulling
out a revolver and chasing him around the house. A stray bullet
hits
the gas stove which explodes, partially burying everyone. In the
famous
last scene Charlie emerges from the inverted oven door, exhales some
smoke
and sizing up the situation, smiles into the camera.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Charlie, the Paperhanger's Assistant
Edna
Purviance - Maid
Charles Insley - Boss Paperhanger
Marta
Golden - Wife
Billy
Armstrong - Husband
Leo
White - Lover
Paddy McQuire - Cart Passenger
Production Team
Charles
Chaplin - Director, Screenwriter
Harry
Ensign - Cinematographer
Ernest
Van Pelt - Assistant Director
Jess
Robbins - Producer
A
Woman
1915
- Two reels - 20 minutes
Director Charles Chaplin
Charlie
Chaplin's ninth film for Essanay contains his third and last
female
impersonation. It begins, as so many of Chaplin's early films do, in
a
park. Edna Purviance is seated on a park bench with her parents,
Charles
Insley and Marta Golden. Mother has fallen asleep and is
snoring
loudly, much to Edna's disgust. Bored, Edna herself soon falls
asleep
and Father, spotting a fetching lady (Margie Reiger), chases after
her.
Charlie appears wandering through the park and, after Father departs
to
buy sodas, joins Margie and flirts with her. When Father returns he is
enraged
and hits Charlie on the head with one of the soda bottles,
escorting
Margie away. A couple of dandies out for a stroll, Leo White
and
Billy Armstrong, sit down next to Charlie and when he's caught taking
a
sip out of one of their sodas, they fight. Leo runs away and Billy is
knocked
unconscious. Meanwhile Father and Margie are playing hide and seek
and
Margie has taken the opportunity of a blindfolded Father to escape.
Charlie
comes upon him and leads him around by the neck with his cane until
they
reach the lake into which Charlie throws Father. Charlie wanders off
to
discover Edna and Mother still asleep. Awakened, they become acquainted,
inviting
Charlie home for tea. Father meets Billy and invites him home for
a
drink. When they show up at home,
Charlie is recognized and when a fight
breaks
out, Charlie runs upstairs to hide. Hiding in
Edna's room, he dons
her
dress and hat. Edna, finding Charlie in the hall falls down laughing at
Charlie's
female impersonation, but suggests he shave his mustache and don
a
pair of her shoes. When this is done,
the illusion is perfect. So
perfect
that both Father and Billy are totally fooled and flirt
outrageously
with Charlie, much to Edna's amusement and Mother's anger.
Both
men ask for a kiss and Charlie suggests that they kiss opposite cheeks
at
the count of three. Of course Charlie steps back at three and the men
kiss
each other. This starts another fracas during which Billy is ejected
from
the house. Still enamoured, Father accidentally pulls off Charlie's
dress,
revealing his true identity. Edna intervenes and begs forgiveness
for
Charlie, but Father gives him the boot and he ends up on the sidewalk
beside
Billy to whom he delivers a knockout slap as the film ends.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Charlie
Edna
Purviance - Daughter
Charles Insley - Father
Marta
Golden - Mother
Margie
Reiger- Girl in park
Billy
Armstrong - Father's Friend
Leo
White - Dandy in park
Jess
Robbins - Soft drink salesman
Production Team
Charles
Chaplin - Director, Screenwriter
Harry
Ensign - Cinematographer
Ernest
Van Pelt - Assistant Director
Jess
Robbins - Producer
The
Bank
1915
- Two reels 20 minutes
Charlie
Chaplin's tenth Essanay film marks a further development for him
in
story construction, gag development and the use of pathos along with
physical
comedy. Charlie enters the bank importantly, strolls down a
staircase
and opens a large safe. But he emerges carrying a mop and bucket
and
dons his janitor's uniform. He wanders into the lobby/reception area
and
accidentally puts his soaking mop into the top hat of a bond salesman,
(Lawrence
A. Bowes) who's waiting for the arrival of the Bank President.
Hitting
the salesman and a bank worker Leo White with the wet mop, he's
chased
away to the back office where he finds fellow janitor Billy
Armstrong
with whom a series of minor battles occur. Edna Purviance, a
stenographer,
arrives at work with a birthday present, a tie, for a cashier
who's
name is also Charles, (Carl Stockdale). She types a note: "To Charles
with
love from Edna". Charlie finds the note and tie and assumes they're
for
him, and it's clear he loves Edna. He brings her a bouquet of flowers
and
leaves a note "To Edna with love, Charlie". The bank President
arrives
and
rejects the bond salesman's pitch and the angry salesman vows revenge.
As
the salesman stands dazed, Charlie, told to mail a letter, indicates
that
he doesn't look well, takes his pulse and tells him to stick out his
tongue,
on which Charlie moistens the postage
stamp. The Cashier comes in
to
thank Edna for the tie and tells her that it wasn't he who left the
flowers,
but Charlie the Janitor. Angry, Edna
calls Charlie a fool and,
unaware
that he's watching through the door, throws the flowers into a
trash
basket. Crushed, Charlie retrieves the flowers, goes back downstairs
to
the vault and sits down to rest. Shortly, the bond salesman along with
four
seedy crooks enter the bank. Two of them
go upstairs and see the
President,
Edna and the Cashier counting money. When Edna and Charles head
downstairs
to the vault, they hold up the President.
The other three
intercept
Charles and Edna downstairs. At the
first opportunity Charles
pushes
Edna over and runs away, but he's held at gunpoint by one of the
crooks
as the other tussles with the President.
Meanwhile Edna's screams
have
awakened Charlie and he rescues her, kicking three of the crooks into
the
safe and locking it as Edna collapses. Carrying her over one shoulder,
he
climbs the stairs and rescues the cashier by disarming the crook. He
then
takes care of the other thief, rescuing the President. When the
police
have the robbers in custody, Charlie is congratulated by the
President.
He wanders into the office and takes the flowers out of his
coat. Edna enters and picks up the flowers,
smiling, and the look of love
and
hope on Charlie's face is truly angelic.
They embrace, but just then
the
camera crossfades -it was all a dream, and Charlie awakens in the vault
kissing
a mop. As the picture fades he wanders off screen holding the
flowers.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - The Janitor
Edna
Purviance - The Stenographer
Charles
Insley - The Bank President
Carl
Stockdale - Charles the Cashier
Billy
Armstrong - Another Janitor
Leo
White - Bank Officer
Paddy
McQuire - Clerk & robber
Fred
Goodwins - Clerk & robber
Lee
Hill - Robber
Production Team
Charles
Chaplin - Director, Screenwriter
Harry
Ensign - Cinematographer
Ernest
Van Pelt - Assistant Director
Jess
Robbins - Producer
Shanghaied
1915
- 20 minutes
AKA
Charlie on the Ocean
Charlie
the Sailor
Shanghaied,
Charlie Chaplin's eleventh film for Essanay was shot
largely
on board the SS Vaquero, which Chaplin had rented for the film.
Chaplin's
cameraman, Harry Ensign, devised a pivot for the camera which
simulated
the violent rocking of the ship as well as rockers for the stage,
anticipating
the shipboard shots in The Immigrant. Charlie is in love
with
Edna, whose father owns a ship which he plans to have blown up for the
insurance
money. Forbidden to see Charlie, Edna runs away, leaving a note:
"Father
- I have stowed away on your boat. Goodbye. Your unhappy daughter,
Edna".
Coincidentally, Charlie is hired to hit prospective crew members
over
the head with a mallet, whereupon they are shanghaied. He is himself
shanghaied
by the first mate in the same fashion. Charlie is a willing but
inept
seaman, knocking the whole crew overboard by misdirecting a loading
crane,
and washing dishes in the soup that the cook is preparing. As the
ship's
rolling increases, Charlie has difficulty serving dinner and becomes
seasick.
He discovers Edna hiding in the hold just before the Captain and
First
Mate light the fuse on a keg of TNT and escape in a launch.Meanwhile,
Edna's
father has found her note and is chasing after them in a speeding
boat,
trying to stop the explosion. Charlie throws the TNT keg overboard
and
into the skiff of the escaping Captain, saving the Vaquero. When Edna's
father
arrives Edna and Charlie join him in his launch, but when he will
still
not approve of Charlie even after saving his daughter and his boat,
Charlie
kicks him overboard, much to Edna's delight.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Tramp
Edna
Purviance - Daughter of the Shipowner
Billy
Armstrong - Shanghaied Seaman
Fred
Goodwins - Shanghaied Seaman
Paddy
McQuire - Shanghaied Seaman
John
Rand - Ship's Cook
Wesley
Ruggles - Shipowner
Leo
White - Shanghaied Seaman
Lee Hill - Sailor
Production Team
Charles
Chaplin - Director, Screenwriter
Harry
Ensign - Cinematographer
Ernest
Van Pelt - Assistant Director
Jess
Robbins - Producer
A
Night in the Show
Alternate
title A Night at the Show
1915
- Two Reels - 20 minutes
Charlie
Chaplin's twelfth film for the Essanay Film Company is largely a
filmed
version of the Fred Karno music hall sketch, A Night in an English
Music
Hall, known in
Mr.
Pest, his famous inebriate role from the Karno sketch and Mr. Rowdy, a
drunk
in the balcony. Mr. Pest disturbs his fellow audience members,
continuously
changing his seat and making passes at Edna Purviance, until
her
boyfriend returns to his seat. He gets into a row with the orchestra
leader,
John Rand, before being moved to a seat in a box by the stage.
When
the show starts he interferes in the acts, an exotic dancer, a snake
charmer,
a fire eater and two terrible singers who are pelted with tomatoes
and
ice cream cones thrown by Mr. Rowdy from the balcony, much to the
delight
of the audience. Alarmed by the fire eater, Mr. Rowdy fetches a
fire
hose and drenches everyone below, including his doppleganger, Mr.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Mr. Pest/Mr. Rowdy
Fred
Goodwins - Audience Member
Paddy
McQuire - musician
James T. Kelley - musician (trombone)
Harry DeRoy - musician (tuba)
Edna
Purviance - Woman in audience
Charles
Insley - Audience Member
Bud
Jamison - Dash (Singer)
Loyal
Underwood - Dot (Singer)
John
Rand - Orchestra Leader
Wesley
Ruggles - Audience member
Leo
White - Man in Stalls and Black Man in Balcony
Dee
Lampton -Fat Boy
Charlotte
Mineau - Audience Member
May
White - Fat Lady in Stalls, Exotic Dancer
Production Team
Charles
Chaplin - Director, Screenwriter
Harry
Ensign - Cinematographer
Ernest
Van Pelt - Assistant Director
Jess
Robbins - Producer
Charlie
Chaplin's Burlesque on Carmen
1916
- Two Reels - 44 minutes
Burlesque
on Carmen was intended by Charlie Chaplin to be a two reel
film,
but to his annoyance additional material, shot by Leo White and
featuring
Ben Turpin, was added for its release after Chaplin left
Essanay.
It is a parody of two contemporary films based on Bizet's opera,
by
Cecil B. De Mille (starring opera star Geraldine Farrar) and Raoul
Walsh (starring vamp Theda Bara).
Chaplin plays Darn Hosiery (Don Jose) the Corporal of the Guard who is
seduced by Carmen
(engagingly played by
smugglers can get their swag through the
affections are Escamillo, the Toreador and a fellow soldier of the guard,
Leo White. The interjection
the Chaplin materialmakes the plot rather murky.
Don Jose is charmed by Carmen and ignores his military duties. He allows
the smugglers to
enter the city gates but other
guards,
alerted by his rival White, give chase. Later, as the guards and
gypsies
struggle at a village gate, Don Jose gets into a duel for Carmen's
attentions
with White, during which Don Jose engages in some Chaplinesque
fencing
and wrestling, but aided by Carmen he kills White. Realizing the
depth
of his deed he pursues Carmen who has taken off out a window. He
catches
up with her, but the Toreador interrupts his accusations and takes
Carmen
away. Sometime later they are seen arriving at the bull ring. Don
Jose
catches up with Carmen and, playing it perfectly straight, chillingly
accuses
her of infidelity and when she mocks his love, stabs her and then
himself.
They are discovered by the Toreador, but Don Jose revives, mule
kicks
Escamillo back into the arena and picks up Carmen who also comes back
to
life. Looking into the camera, they smilingly show the audience the
collapsible
knife as the camera irises in.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Darn Hosiery (Don Jose)
Edna
Purviance - Carmen
John
Rand - Escamillo, the toreador
Ben
Turpin - Remendado, a smuggler
Leo
White - Officer of the Guard
Jack
Henderson - Lilas Pastia
Wesley
Ruggles - Vagabond
May
White - Frasquita
Bud
Jamison - Soldier
Frank
J. Coleman - Guard
Production Team
Charles
Chaplin - Director, Screenwriter
Leo
White - Director (added material)
Harry
Ensign - Cinematographer
Ernest
Van Pelt - Assistant Director
Jess
Robbins - Producer
Police
1916
- Two Reels
Charlie
Chaplin's last film for Essanay (not counting the compilation,
Triple
Trouble) was released after he had moved on to the Mutual Film
Corporation.
Charlie is released from prison with the customary few dollars
in
his pocket. He's approached on the street by a fake preacher who asks
Charlie
to "Let me help you go straight", making him sob with his touching
sermon,
while picking his pocket. Charlie encounters a drunk with his
pocket
watch hanging from his vest, but resists the temptation of stealing
it.
A few moments later, after realizing he has been robbed, Charlie sees
the
preacher with the drunk and notes, after the preacher departs, that the
watch
is gone. Approached by a real preacher this time, Charlie chases him
down
the street. As evening approaches Charlie goes to a seedy flop house,
but
is ejected because he cannot pay. He encounters an old cell mate on the
street
and is recruited to participate in the robbery of Edna's house.
Charlie
proves an inept burglar making so much noise that Edna is roused
and
calls the police before confronting them. She begs them not to go
upstairs
because her mother is very ill and the shock might kill her. She
even
provides food and beer for the burglars, asking Charlie to let her
help
him to go straight. But Charlie's partner is heartless and heads
upstairs
despite Edna's pleas. When Edna tries to stop him he threatens to
strike
her and that is too much for Charlie, who fights with the thief
until
the police arrive. Firing his pistol the thief escapes through a back
window,
but the cops catch Charlie before he can escape. Edna, grateful to
Charlie
for his protection lies to the police telling them Charlie is her
husband. After the cops leave, Edna gives Charlie a
coin and sends him off
down
the road in a spirit of renewed hope.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Tramp
Edna
Purviance - Girl
Wesley
Ruggles - Thief
Billy
Armstrong - Fake Preacher and Policeman
Fred
Goodwins - Real Preacher and Policeman
Bud
Jamison - Flophouse patron
Paddy
McGuire - Flophouse patron
Harry
"Snub" Pollard - Flophouse patron
James
T. Kelly - Drunk with Pockets Picked
John
Rand - Policeman
Leo
White - Fruitseller and Doss House Owner and Policeman
George
Cleethorpe - Policeman
Production
Team
Charles
Chaplin - Screenwriter, Director
Harry
Ensign - Cinematographer
Ernest
Van Pelt - Asst. Director
Triple
Trouble
1918
Triple
Trouble, although commonly acknowledged in Chaplin filmographies,
was
not really a Charlie Chaplin film in that it was released without his
permission,
and much to his annoyance by Essanay three years after he left
them.
Its jumbled story is cobbled together out of pieces of Police,
Work
and the unfinished feature, Life, which Essanay insisted Chaplin
abandon
in favor of making more quickly produced two-reelers. It also
contains
new footage shot in 1918 by Leo White in order to provide the
weak
plot on which to hang the Chaplin footage. Chaplin is a janitor in the
home
of Colonel Nutt, the inventor of a new secret weapon, the wireless
bomb. Edna Purviance is the cleaning woman in the
same household and
Charlie
incurs her anger by spilling garbage on her clean floor, getting
her
into trouble with their boss, the cook Billy Armstrong. A group of
foreign
diplomats led by White plan to get the formula from the Professor
by
either bribe or theft. When he is ejected from the house by the butler
at
the Colonel's request, Leo hires a thief to do the dirty work, but is
overheard
by a cop. Meanwhile, in a scene excised from Life and
Police,
Charlie goes to a flop house for the night where he encounters
some
rather odd characters including a drunk who won't stop singing until
Charlie
smashes him with a bottle, but not before preparing his bed and
pillow
and tucking him in afterward. A riot starts at the flophouse when
Charlie
robs a pickpocket who has been robbing the sleepers. Chaplin uses a
gag
he was to repeat in The Gold Rush, that of laying covered in bed,
wrong
way round, with hands in shoes. The thief, having co-opted Charlie,
arrives
at the Nutt house and tries to steal the formula, but the cops are
there
and a melee ensues in which the thief fires his gun into the
Colonel's
invention and the house, the diplomats and everyone else
explodes.
Charlie is seen emerging from the oven door - just as he had at
the
end of Work.
Cast
Charles
Chaplin - Charlie, the Janitor
Edna
Purviance - Maid
Billy
Armstrong - Cook and Pickpocket
Wesley
Ruggles - Crook
Leo
White - Diplomat/Spy and Flophouse owner
James
T. Kelley - Singing Drunk
Bud
Jamison - Flophouse patron
Production Team
Charles
Chaplin - Director, Screenwriter
Harry
Ensign - Cinematographer
Ernest
Van Pelt - Assistant Director
Jess
Robbins - Producer
Leo
White - Director of 1918 material