Chaplin’s Motion Picture Debut: The First Five Films
If you went back in time and met a young Charlie Chaplin struggling to get through a boyhood of poverty and neglect, and told him he’d have one of the most famous “rags to riches” stories of all time, he probably wouldn’t believe you. Even the twenty-four-year-old Chaplin, with years of work in English music halls behind him and a new contract with the Keystone Film Company under his belt, might still have been skeptical. For even a once-in-a-generation talent like Chaplin took a little time to find his footing in the daunting new medium of motion pictures.
But it didn’t take him too much time. Chaplin’s iconic “Little Tramp” character emerged relatively quickly after he joined Keystone in 1914, the familiar mustache, bowler hat and twirling cane making an appearance in his second film. It’s fascinating to analyze these early Chaplin film roles, because as primitive as some of these early Keystones might seem today, they were Chaplin’s essential stepping stones to fame and fortune.
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Making a Living (1914)
Chaplin’s very first screen appearance featured a costume that practically appears alien to us today: a top hat, a monocle, and most strange of all in retrospect, a large drooping mustache. It shows he was attempting to fit in with the comedians of Keystone, who wore loud makeup and fake mustaches with happy abandon.
Stories differ about how Chaplin was recruited to the Keystone studio, but one sound explanation is that New York Motion Picture executive Harry Aiken saw him performing onstage with the Fred Karno troupe in Los Angeles. Famously, the N.Y.M.P. sent the Karno manager a telegram asking: “IS THERE A MAN NAMED CHAFFIN IN YOUR COMPANY OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.” By December 1913 Chaplin had taken up residence in L.A. and timidly awaited his very first screen role at the high-spirited Keystone studio.
Making a Living was a one-reeler filmed partly in the garden of a nearby house. Chaplin plays a swindler who ends up vying with a reporter for the affections of the same woman. Some of his mannerisms (like the little hat tips) are already recognizably Chaplinesque, while others seem to mimic Keystone’s current top comedian Ford Sterling. In the end Chaplin ended up disliking the film and also butted heads with its director, Henry Lehrman.
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Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914)
The second Keystone Chaplin appeared in was actually Mabel’s Strange Predicament (1914), but Kid Auto Races at Venice was released first. This seems like a happy stroke of fortune to us today, since not only did Chaplin wear his familiar “Tramp” outfit, but he wore it in front of a mass of ordinary onlookers who had no idea they were witnessing the ascension of a superstar–which makes this little film extra fascinating.
Many Keystone comedies took advantage of local places and events for film locations: parks, parades, city streets, beaches, and in this case, a children’s soapbox race. The split-reel Kid Auto Races simply showed a small film crew attempting to film the races while being repeatedly sabotaged by Chaplin, who keeps strutting over trying to get on camera. It’s a wonderful bit of fourth wall-breaking that’s aged very well today. Equally compelling is watching the reactions of the regular people in the background, who watch politely with perhaps a hint of bewilderment.
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Mabel’s Strange Predicament (1914)
Kid Auto Races may have been released first, but this was the film that marked the real debut of Chaplin’s Tramp costume. He had been feeling lackluster about his Making a Living getup and apparently created the new look on the fly, later recalling: “I wanted everything to be a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large…I added a small mustache, which I reasoned, would add age without hiding my expression.”
Chaplin’s co-star and director was the very popular comedienne Mabel Normand. While the one-reeler bore her name, Chaplin had ample screentime to the point where he nearly ran away with the film. It’s set in a small hotel where the drunken Charlie is annoying his fellow guests in the lobby. Guest Mabel ends up locking herself out of her room in her pajamas, leading to an encounter with the obnoxious Charlie. Chaplin’s character is much more familiar here, with his cheeky mannerisms and waddling walk. Modern critiques of Chaplin often say he was “too sentimental,” but his early films show a much edgier character.
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A Thief Catcher (1914)
While it was sometimes rumored that Chaplin may have appeared as a Keystone Cop (most Keystone actors doubled as cops at one time or another), historians eventually concluded it was unlikely. Enter the year 2010, when historian Paul A. Gierucki bought an old Keystone reel at an antique sale in Michigan. It turned out to be a print of A Thief Catcher, which, amazingly, contained a scene with a cop played by none other than Chaplin.
A Thief Catcher was actually a vehicle for the delightfully over-the-top Ford Sterling, playing a police chief who thwarts a gang of thieves. Chaplin’s little role is complete with his signature mustache. While his scenes are brief, he does make the most of them and your eye can’t help wandering to this confident little comedian.
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Between Showers (1914)
After imitating Ford Sterling (to a point) and appearing in a Ford Sterling film, it was only fitting that Keystone’s rising star would go toe-to-toe with Keystone’s established star. Chaplin and Sterling play rival “mashers” fighting over the same woman trying to cross a large puddle. The plot may have been inspired by a recent rainfall in L.A.–the crystal-clear print shows flooded gutters and muddy streets.
The two comedians are definitely equals, obviously enjoying playing off each other’s talents. Still, Chaplin’s (slightly) more subtle comedy has certainly aged better than Sterling’s enthusiastic mugging. This comes as little surprise to us today, knowing it would only be a few more months until Chaplin would leave Keystone for Essanay and then Mutual, working his way up to more elaborate and personal works–and global fame.
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–Lea Stans for Classic Movie Hub
You can read all of Lea’s Silents are Golden articles here.
Lea Stans is a born-and-raised Minnesotan with a degree in English and an obsessive interest in the silent film era (which she largely blames on Buster Keaton). In addition to blogging about her passion at her site Silent-ology, she is a columnist for the Silent Film Quarterly and has also written for The Keaton Chronicle.
