A Woman Clippings 56/72
Harry C. Carr, Photoplay, New York, October 1915
A Regular Roughneck
Charlie Chaplin was on the screen, going through
some of his most popular antics.
„Mercy! isn‘t he vulgar?“ said the girl beside
me to her companion, as Chaplin
scratched a match under his collar and lit a cigarette.
„Yes,“ said the other girl. „He‘s a regular roughneck.“
(...) Film Fun, Jan. 1916
„This is a terrific test of popularity“
Editorial content. „Charlie Chaplin´s Story
The Funny Man as A Serious, Systematic Director,
Alive to the Grave Mechanics of Comics
By Harry C. Carr
Illustrations by E. W. Gale. Jr.
Conclusion
You often hear wise moving picture fans tell how Charlie
Chaplin produces a picture by just dashing out anything
that comes into his head. Yes indeed! Chaplin dashes through
a scenario just about the way a watchmaker dashes
through the work of repairing a repeater. All these uproariously
funny Chaplin farces have been made slowly and
painfully.
Chaplin never works from a regularly ,written out‘
scenario. He gets a general idea, then slowly patches it together
after getting the actors in front of the camera. Most
of the scenarios are his own stuff. He says he thinks of them
as he walks along the street, or in cafes, or any old
where. Most of the time, Chaplin seems abstracted and as far
away as in a dream. This is because he is usually
manufacturing some moving picture story.
He says he got one of the best hunches he ever had
while eating lunch. It struck him so suddenly that he almost went
out without paying the check.
The scenario for His Trysting Place came from an old
comic song that Chaplin‘s father sang in vaudeville years ago.
Once he has possession of the hunch, Chaplin begins
directing the piece. His methods in this are as eccentric as are
all his other ways.
Chaplin plants himself in a chair just out of range
of the camera. As he always acts in the piece he is directing,
he always wears his stage costume. He pulls the dinky
little derby down over his eyes, spraddles his big shoes out
in front of him and the actors begin.
Chaplin lets them do their comedy just as they please
as long as they please him – which is about five seconds, usually.
He sits and watches them with an expression which seems
to say, ,Good Lord, and these guys are getting money for doing
this?‘ Then when he can‘t stand it any longer he jumps up
and shows them how to do it.
He very rarely tells them what to do; he shows them.
The result is that every part in every Chariie Chaplin
piece is acted by Charlie Chaplin himself. As he goes along,
he makes almost innumerable changes and corrections.
As he practically writes his scenarios after the acting has begun,
it is intensely nervous work. It is as hard to get a chance
to see him at work as it is to get him into a lodge meeting.
But to show you the instinctive kindness of the man,
the other day two little street boys were found peeking in under
the fence. One of the supers was going to drive them away
but Charlie called them in. There happened to be a lull in the
proceedings, so he pretended to direct them in a comedy.
To their delight, he put them through a little impromptu scenario.
And it was noted that he was just as careful in directing
their stuff as his own. The general public, he refused to admit
to the studio, thereby differing from some directors, who
seem happiest when a crowd is looking on.
A very important and rather arduous part of picture work
is selecting the ,locations.‘ In most companies this
is the job of the assistant directors. Chaplin, however, does
all his own searching for locations. However, it must
be said that most of his locations are simple and easy to find.
In moving picture work, a great deal of time is
wasted while the camera men are fixing the light shields,
and other necessary contrivances. During this time,
the actors are left to their own devices. Chaplin fools around
during these periods and unconsciously pulls some of his
funniest comedy. While he was still with Keystone, they went
down to the Ince ranch to produce that prehistoric film
in which a great snake pulled ,Ambrose‘ up a cliff. They had
a whole basket of snakes down on the beach. While
they were waiting to begin, Chaplin started to juggling with
the snakes in imitation of a circus snake charmer.
It was so funny that it nearly broke up the business of the
numerous Ince companies of the day.
Chaplin, like many of the big directors, is a great
waster of film. He never leaves a situation until
he is thoroughly satisfied with it and he is hard to satisfy.
He is very much given to re-takes, which is the most
expensive habit in the movies.
It is plain to the careful observer that Chaplin is working
toward something entirely new in pictures. In a general
way, his idea is that comedy should be more subtle and have
more real story, although the horse-play antics he indulges
in make that idea hardly credible.
He made the greatest advance in this direction in The
Tramp. In this, there was not only a real story, but
a touch of real pathos which gave Chaplin a chance for the
greatest ,finish‘ that has ever been shown in any
movie comedy. I think every one who saw it will agree
with me on that point.
Chaplin‘s idea is that one of the old style rough comedies
gives absolutely no chance for real effects. When the
paperhanger has spilled paste down the back of the dude
and somebody has been pushed off into the lake,
the comedy has been exhausted. Plays like The Tramp open
up all kinds of chances for contrasts, – lights and shade.
He does many things now because he believes ,the public
wants them so‘ – and for no other reason.
Chaplin also believes that scenarios will be longer.
He is a great admirer of The Birth of a Nation. He
saw that play nearly every week during its long run in Los
Angeles. His idea is that comedies will also come
to the point where one funny film provides a whole evening‘s
entertainment. Tillie‘s Punctured Romance he believes
an example of this tendency.
He has two reasons for wanting to put on longer plays.
One is that it will give more time in which to carefully
work out his effects. The greatest reason is that he can produce
the same financial returns without appearing so often.
Chaplin is of the opinion that it is taking an awful chance
with his popularity to be shown in a new comedy every
week or so. We see Maude Adams at long intervals – once
a year, perhaps, and we are eager to see her. But would
we be so keen if we could see her in four or five different plays
the same night in the same town?
As Chaplin says, this is a terrific test of popularity.
In the meantime, however, his popularity continues to
increase to a veritable craze. When Charlie Chaplin
goes to a summer resort near Los Angeles, it is like the
triumphant visit of a king.
It is an open secret that Chaplin doesn‘t expect to be
in the pictures long.
,I want to make all the money I can,‘ he says. ,Then,
in a few years, I am going to quit. I will pass along and let some
other fellow have the center of the stage. I have made
a bigger hit than I ever thought possible in my wildest dreams.
And I am much obliged to everyone for laughing. For the
public is the entertainer‘s court of last appeal.‘
That Charlie Chaplin is a born actor, entertainer, clown
and buffoon, not only while posing before the camera,
but from the time he rises in the morning till he goes to sleep
at night – generally late at night – is the sum of the
opinions of his colleagues at Niles, with whom he worked
for months. Some of these actors and actresses,
as is the way of stage folk, do not speak very highly of Chaplin‘s
,art,‘ yet all of them recognize that there is some sort
of mad genius in the little chap who has made the whole country
laugh at his antics. As for Chaplin himself he stoutly
contends that it takes as much conscientious preparation for
a comedy as for the so-called higher art.
Now for a few instances to prove the above verdict
of his colleagues:
Five or six months ago, the Essanay company decided
that Chaplin ought to have a madcap partner of the
opposite sex to hurl through his dizzy series of utterly illogical
exploits. Chaplin and his managers had the whole field
of musical comedy, comic opera, comic drama, and burlesque.
The golden megaphone of the Essanay company could
summon anyone of a thousand or two of sprightly young women
with lots of stage experience, praised and petted in
public – and funny!
,Let‘s just put an ad in the paper,‘ suggested Chaplin,
scratching his curly poll. ,Let‘s get some new blood
in the game.‘
The following morning there was a small personal
advertisement in one of the San Francisco papers,
offering a position in the ,movies‘ to a young girl without
previous stage experience. During the next week
or two, Chaplin looked over more than a thousand fair applicants.
The cat was out of the bag. The stage struck young
woman of San Francisco knew that Chaplin was looking for
a girl to play against him, and the competition became
hysterical.
Chaplin, unaided, selected one, Miss Edna Purviance, who
did not know even the alphabet of stage business.
She has made good. She has appeared in a number
of reels with Chaplin, offering an excellent foil for him.
There were some heartaches at Niles, but the work of the new
film actress convinced both actors and Chaplin‘s
employees that he knew something about show business
which they had never suspected in one so guileless.
,How the Dickens did he manage to do it?‘ asked one
of the veteran comedians at Niles. ,That job of picking
a new woman is one of the tricks of the trade which ancient
and honorable managers have spent scores of years
in mastering.‘
The selection of Miss Purviance might, of course,
be explained as a lucky accident, a lottery chance. But then
there is Dick Turpin whom Chaplin selected for important
parts in his reels. Turpin is almost as funny as Chaplin himself
and divided honors with him in several film comedies.
Here was another instance of Chaplin‘s astuteness. His ability
to pick winners was further shown recently in the selection
of Bud Jamieson,“ Jamison. „with whom the comedian recently
became acquainted in San Francisco. Jamieson“
Jamison. „is big, fat, genial, jolly, and an excellent musician,
but he had never been on the stage till Chaplin and his
associates invited him to Niles, not for the purpose of entering
the ,movies,‘ but just to amuse the player folk out there!
A sort of court-jester to the jester-royal.
,This guy is good,‘ remarked Chaplin to the Boss
of the Niles film ranch. ,He‘s handed me a bunch of laughs.
I‘ll bet he can make other people laugh.‘
Bud Jamieson“ Jamison. „was pulled from the piano
and given small roles in the Chaplin comedies. He made an
instant hit, and he is doing well at present.
At Niles they say that Chaplin‘s thrift in money matters
is excelled by none, and equalled only by that well known Scotch
coin preserver, Harry Lauder.
,Chaplin has got some of the oldest money in California,‘
said one of his colleagues at Niles. ,He never had a bank
account till he joined the Essanay, and in a few years he‘ll be
selling at a premium the coin he received as his first
week‘s salary. He didn‘t know how to make out a bank account
till a few months ago, and he didn‘t know how to draw
a check. One of the boys offered to show him how to make
out a check, Chaplin watched him a few moments, and
then shut his eyes tight, and turned away.‘
,I don‘t want to learn. I don‘t want to learn.‘
,But he is learning how to write a check,‘ said another
movie actor. ,I saw him write a check once.‘
,You did?‘ yelled a chorus of doubting actors and
actresses.
,I did. I was on April 21, or was it March 21? Well,
anyhow, it was on the twenty-first of some month. I remember
because Chaplin wrote the date 21th!‘
Most of the film actors at Niles live in cottages.
Chaplin occupied a cottage with one of the actors, and at first
bade fair to become a popular member of the colony,
but that was before he brought his ,Tabby‘ to Niles. One day
he returned from San Francisco in great glee carrying
under his arm a battered violin case. The same night he began
to make night life in Niles hideous with the mournful
strains which he tortured out of an ancient and disreputable
violin. The film folk promptly likened Chaplin‘s playing
to the wailing of an old tabby-cat on a back fence at midnight,
mourning over a misspent life. The musically inclined
actors aver that Chaplin has assassinated more tunes on his
violin than a score of German street bands. There was
some talk of dipping the film star and his ,Tabby‘ into the bay, but nothing came of it. The plotters evidently remembered
that Tabbies have nine lives. The actors recovered their sense
of humor, and when the wailing, discordant notes of
Chaplin‘s fiddle broke the rustic evening stillness, they joined
in a lugubrious chorus, each voice a semitone out
of tune.
Chaplin‘s habits are mostly those of a bat. Those
who know him best say he would never go to bed if he could
have his own way about it. He is by nature ,a sun dodger,‘
according to his companions. He has never been known to yawn
after sunset, but none of the other characteristics of a night
hawk are his. He does not drink. In fact, his disposition is confined
to turning day into night and smoking. But sleep or no
sleep, Charlie Chaplin has never been known to show the lack
of slumber the next day. When the Australian Boys‘ Club
which has been visiting the Exposition and the Pacific coast
and Canada came to Niles, Chaplin presented himself
unannounced. He was immediately recognized by one of the
lads who had seen him in pictures in the Antipodes.
,There is Charlie Chaplin!‘ shouted the boy, and Chaplin
found himself surrounded by the youngsters. The
comedian went through all his favorite poses, relieved the
bandmaster of his baton, and led the band, going
through his whole repertoire of antics. It was an awful concert,
for the boys could not play their instruments and laugh
at Chaplin at the same time. The boys gave him three Kangaroo
cheers when the concert was finished, and Chaplin returned
the compliment by presenting each of the lads with his
autographed photograph.
The Hotel Oakland was made the scene of one
of Chaplin‘s comedies. Out of a side entrance staggered
Chaplin one sunny morning in a terribly disheveled
condition, chased by another actor. Evidently, there had been
an annihilating fight in the preceding scene. Both men
were supposed to be filled to the tonsils with some compound
of rum. They ran and tumbled and rolled around in a
corner, out of the camera‘s range, and into its range stepped
other actors and actresses, supposed to be in the same
party, and when they had finished their turn, the camera man
stopped turning the crank, waiting for Chaplin and his
companion to return. The company and the camera man
waited in vain. Finally one of the actors noticed a
number of people running from all directions toward Fourteenth
street where Chaplin and his partner had disappeared.
He walked toward the corner of Fourteenth street just in time
to see a patrol wagon dash up to a large crowd of people.
A minute or so later three or four fat policemen struggled from
the center of the jam toward the patrol wagon dragging
Chaplin and his companion. The pair had tumbled into the arms
of a conscientious officer who thought Chaplin and
his friends were intoxicated. Explanations availed nothing.
,You do your explaining to the judge,‘ was the
policeman‘s reply, and it took the combined efforts of the whole
movie company to release Chaplin and his fellow actor.
Chaplin‘s first appearance in Oakland caused nearly a riot.
With several movie actors, he was about to enter
a restaurant, when he was recognized, and the cry of ,Here‘s
Charlie Chaplin!‘ summoned every rubber neck in the
vicinity. Chaplin escaped into the restaurant, and the crowd
followed. Chaplin did not want to disappoint his admirers,
so he took a ketch-up bottle and emptied it into the pocket of a
waiter. Somebody grabbed the waiters strong right
arm just before the bottle descended on Charlie‘s head.
The restaurant was in an uproar. When the table
was laid and the order served, Chaplin disposed of his frugal
meal just as he sometimes does in the film comedies.
It was not refined fun, but the crowd laughed because it had
seen a living demonstration of the comedy king.
Mention has been made of the fact that Chaplin talks
to himself when he is alone. As a matter of fact he
talks to himself whether alone or in a crowd when he is not
talking to someone else. The moment he ceases
talking with anyone else, Charlie takes up the conversation
with Mr. Chaplin.“
Two photos. Six drawings.
Harry C. Carr, Charlie Chaplin´s Story,
Photoplay, July 1915
Photoplay, August 1915
Photoplay, September 1915
Photoplay, October 1915
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