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Modern Times Clippings 224/382

Henry Sutherland, UP, Tampa Tribune, Tampa, Fla., Jan. 14, 1936.

STRIKING THEATRE FRONTS

      Charlie Chaplin‘s latest cinematic masterpiece – „Modern

Times“ – offers a wide scope for striking theatre front

designs in the modern motif. The typical pantomimic humor

of Charlie Chaplin should, of course, be your outstanding

theme. Since a large part of the picture takes place in a factory,

the background should be composed of large chimneys,

tremendous cog-wheels, blowing whistles and factory wall –

all of compo board. The illustration you see above was

half of the design used for the Rivoli Theatre in New York, where

the World Premiere of „Modern Times“ took place. At the

top background, are two large chimneys and to the right of them

are two small chimneys with cross-pieces. Smoke,

in the form of steam, was constantly emitted from the chimneys.

Whistles on the smaller chimneys helped the factory

effect no end. In front of the chimneys are figures of Charlie

Chaplin in characteristic pose, which you can copy

by blowing up, coloring and cutting out stills from „Modern Times.“

To the left of the front are figures of Charlie Chaplin

and Paulette Goddard, peering toward the right – another

still blow-up. The mass of the front is composed

of compo board, painted to simulate a brick wall, with large

cut-out colored letters spelling out the billing. Thru

the cellophane window in the left center of the illustration, can

be seen a figure of Charlie Chaplin on top of part

of a wheel, which was also blown up from a still and linked

to another similar blowup, so that when the wheel

turns – thru the agency of a small motor – Chaplin can be seen

on the wheel at all times. The other half of your front

can be made exactly the same way, using different figure

blowups. At night, baby spots from your marquee,

focused on the steam, the cog-wheels and blowups, will lend

that sweet effect essential for a real showman‘s front!

      Modern Times Pressbook, 1936, United Artists

collection at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater

Research, detail

„Czar Hays also has had his say“

Editorial content. „CHAPLIN‘S NEW FILM

      IS STILL NOT RELEASED

      Revises ,Modern Times,‘

      Delaying Exhibition

      By Henry Sutherland

      HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Jan. 13. – (United Press.) – Charlie

Chaplin has spent two years making Modern Times,

and now he‘s well on the way towards spending two more years

looking at the film before letting the public see it.“ (...)

      „Czar Hays also has had his say. For the first time

censors looked over a Chaplin film and demanded elimination

of six situations as ,vulgar.‘

      Briefly, the story is that of a well-meaning but futile little man (Chaplin), caught up in the whirl of modern industry.“ (...)

      „Picture ends with a shot from the horse-and-buggy days

of the screen, with Chaplin and Goddard, driven from

the cafe, walking hand in hand into the sunrise.

      A prologue sub-title written by Chaplin, says Modern Times

is ,a story of industry, or individual enterprise – humanity

crusading in the pursuit of happiness.‘

      One guess as to what that means, if anything, is probably

as good as another, but Chaplin denies emphatically the picture

has any social significance.“

      It‘s not for the first time censors looked over a Chaplin film.

      Also in Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, New York,

      Jan. 13, 1936.

      Modern Times world premiere is in New York Feb. 5, 1936

      at the Rivoli Theatre.

      Rivoli Theatre, Broadway at 49th Street, New York.

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