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Mabel´s Strange Predicament Clippings 1/32
Variety, New York, February 6, 1914.
Mabel‘s Strange Predicament Title & Scenes
& MR. CONKLIN OFF-STAGE
Comedian Tells How Chaplin Was Inspired To Wear
Big Shoes and Small Hat
CHESTER CONKLIN, who is to be seen this week
in McFadden‘s Flats at the Mark Strand, the
other day was sitting in an automobile waiting to be called
for a scene of Rubber Heels, then being filmed
opposite the Astoria studio. (...)
Mr. Conklin acted one year with Charlie Chaplin, and
Conklin says that Mack Sennett thought he had
been „stung“ when he engaged Chaplin at $175 a week.
,That was in the days before artificial lights,‘
said Mr. Conklin, ,and therefore we relied upon the sun
and worked in the open all the time. Chaplin‘s
chief work was in portraying a drunk, and he appeared
as a drunk in one scene of a picture, then went
to another set where he did his stunt, and then to another
for about the same thing. A picture called Mabel‘s
Strange Predicament really started Chaplin going. Before
that it was thought that all he had to do was to stagger,
jump, run and get his feet tangled up in something. He had
portrayed a comic English newspaper reporter
with a long mustache, and he was terrible. In Mabel‘s Strange Predicament the principal players were Mabel
Normand, Roscoe Arbuckle, Chaplin, Ford Sterling and
myself. Sterling was the pattern for all comedy.
He wore huge shoes.
,During a lull in the activities, while Arbuckle and I were
playing pinochle, Charlie got the idea of using
his world-renowned costume. I wore baggy trousers and
Arbuckle had a small derby hat, and then there
was Sterling with his enormous shoes. Charlie, to amuse
himself and perhaps other folk, put on my trousers,
Arbuckle‘s hat and Sterling‘s footwear. Then he picked
up a piece of black crêpe and held it under
his nose like a small, thick mustache. He looked so ridiculous
that he impressed Sennett as having possibilities.
They fixed the mustache on and Charlie played in this make-up.
And the first thing we knew was that he had stolen
the picture from all of us.‘“
(...) New York Times, Feb. 6, 1927
& My London correspondent tells me that the top-hole comic
films in Britain today are without any doubt, Keystones,
handled in London by the Western Import Company, Ltd. There
is a Keystone in almost every „first run“ program
in London every week and most weeks it is the best enjoyed
item on the bill. The Britisher wants to laugh with
vigor when he goes to the theatre. Some very fine productions
of the problem order leave him cold and he is apt
to yawn at the three reels of sentimentality in which some
European manufacturers specialize. But a good
rousing comedy, or more strictly speaking, a „Comic“ – is exactly
to his taste. „Refined comedy“ he likes, farce with
a knockabout element he absolutely revels in. He has a keen
eye for the grotesque, loves to see types he knows
caricatured and is not above finding amusement in a good fall
or a collision. Hence the popularity of Keystones,
which contain all these elements and the Britisher can appreciate
the latter even when roaring at the former.
(...) Reel Life, Feb 21, 1914
„Mabel‘s Strange Predicament, com., Key“
Editorial content. „RELEASED NEXT WEEK
(Feb. 9 to Feb. 16, inc.)
Manufacturers Indicated By Abbreviations, Viz.: (...)
MUTUAL (...)
Keystone................Key (...)
Feb. 9 – Monday.
Mutual –“ (...)
„Mabel‘s Strange Predicament, com., Key.“
Redaktioneller Inhalt
In diesem, seinem ersten Auftritt als Tramp kreuzt
Chaplin als Betrunkener auf, der in der Hotelhalle telefonieren will
und feststellt, dass er kein Geld bei sich hat. Dann tritt Mabel
mit einem Hund an der Leine in die Hotelhalle.
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