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Chaplin’s Very First Scene – Now a Jack-in-the-Box

January 31, 2014, 5:21 am
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"Assuming they shot Making a Living in sequential order, this marks the very first scene of Chaplin’s entire career. It also means that when the film opened on February 2, 1914, 100 years ago, it was through this scene that movie audiences were first introduced to young Mr. Chaplin. The site is now a driveway to a Jack-in-the-Box restaurant, while the main filming stage remains in use today as a Public Storage warehouse."
Read more: http://silentlocations.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/chaplins-very-first-scene-now-a-jack-in-the-box/ 

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Charlie & Paulette at the premiere of GONE WITH THE WIND, 1939

January 31, 2014, 8:54 am
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Paulette was a top candidate for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With The Wind (gossip columnist Louella Parsons had even started referring to her as "Scarlett O'Goddard.") In the early 1950s, Paulette told a friend that she was offered the role of Scarlett at one point but it was taken away from her because she couldn't provide proof that she was married to Chaplin.1 David O. Selznick, the film's producer, seemingly wanted his leading lady to be a "good girl" without scandals to jeopardize the success of his film, but this seems a bit contradictory considering the woman who eventually got the part, Vivien Leigh, was shacking up with Laurence Olivier while they were still married to other people. The more realistic reason Paulette didn't play Scarlett had to do with her contractual obligations to Chaplin. In 1938, Selznick wrote to George Cukor: "Incidentally, the point in her contract, concerning Chaplin's rights, should be straightened out immediately. It might be wise for you to make clear to Goddard that unless this point is straightened out...and unless we get a further extension of the contract to a full seven years, she is not going to play Scarlett."2 In a taped interview late in life, Paulette admitted that the reason she didn't play Scarlett was because "Charlie wouldn't release me from his contract." Goddard biographers Joe Morella and Edward Epstein contend that Paulette's contract contained what was known as the "Chaplin clause," which stated that Paulette could work on any other film as long as it didn't interfere with the production of a Chaplin film.3 Regardless of Chaplin's involvement, they say that the moment Selznick laid eyes on Vivien Leigh it was all over for Paulette anyway--and she knew it: "Selznick took one look and that was that."4

Paulette's 1937 screen test for Scarlett O'Hara can be seen here. To his credit, Chaplin did make efforts to support Paulette's blossoming career. His friend, actress Constance Collier, was enlisted to work with Paulette, at his request, prior to the screen test.

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1 Julie Gilbert, Opposite Attraction. Paulette confided this information to Michael Hall, a former actor, who was a longtime friend and confidante. Another interesting tidbit is that Hall once met William Menzies, the costume designer for Gone With The Wind, who told him that two weeks before production began he pleaded with Selznick to tell him who was going to play Scarlett so he could start making the gowns. Selznick decided then and there that it would be Paulette, so Menzies told his staff to begin making the dresses with Goddard's measurements. A week later he discovered that Vivien Leigh would be playing Scarlett.
2 ibid
3 Morella & Epstein, Paulette: The Adventurous Life Of Paulette Goddard
4 "A Soaking For Success,"Charlie Chaplin: The Centenary Celebration, ed. by Peter Haining
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Footage of Charlie at Jack Pickford's wedding to Marilyn Miller, 1922

January 31, 2014, 1:17 pm
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www.footage.framepool.com

Charlie can be seen around the :30 mark clowning with Mary Pickford and pretending to put a ring on her finger. He can also be seen briefly at the beginning (I think he is the one who closes the door after everyone files out) and end (around :45 mark). Douglas Fairbanks makes an appearance as well.

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Chaplin & Buster Keaton outside the Balboa Studios, 1918

February 1, 2014, 7:08 am
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With Oona, Geraldine, and Michael, c.1948

February 1, 2014, 11:29 am
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Charlie standing next to a horse, c. 1919

February 1, 2014, 11:58 am
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Possibly taken during the filming of Sunnyside.
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February 1, 2014, 1:46 pm
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Chaplin's first appearance on film took place 100 years ago today, or did it?

February 2, 2014, 6:55 am
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Our first glimpse of Chaplin in Making A Living.

Making A Living was released on February 2nd, 1914, but was it really Chaplin's first appearance before a camera?

According to The Chaplin Encyclopedia by Glenn Mitchell:
It is believed that Chaplin may have made his first appearance before a movie camera when still a child. Harry M. Geduld's Chapliniana quotes a New York Times article of 2 September, 1921, which claims he was caught on film (while playing truant in St. James Park!)by a newsreel cameraman.1 Geduld is one of a few sources to mention a further chance appearance in newsreels, when Chaplin was engaged with the Karno Company at St. Helier, Jersey, during 1912 (there is a parallel story of a newsreel cameraman who later claimed to have filmed Chaplin on stage in Britain during that year, which may or may not tie in to this account). Chaplin observed a cameraman filming the annual "Battle Of The Flowers" event and offered some impromptu mime for the benefit of cinemagoers. Neither of these items is known to have survived. 
Nevertheless, Making A Living is the first entertainment film featuring Chaplin to be shown to the general public, therefore it occupies a significant place in film history.

For his costume, Chaplin chose a top hat, frock coat, droopy mustache, and monocle. He wore a similar outfit on stage in some Karno sketches, including "The Football Match," and it reappears in Cruel Cruel Love and Mabel At The Wheel (but with a goatee and smaller mustache). Although the film is a typical, fast-paced, Keystone comedy, Charlie's performance did stand out among contemporary critics:

Moving Picture World, February 7th, 1914

For me, it is hard to watch this film and not think about how Charlie had spent the last several years of his life practically living on a train as a vaudeville entertainer. He has no idea what his future holds. He has no idea that within a year or two, he will be one of the most famous and highly-paid people on the planet.

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1The following is an excerpt from the September 2nd, 1921 New York Times article: "Mrs. Elizabeth Jackson [wife of the William Jackson, co-founder of the Eight Lancashire Lads], who is described on one school register as guardian of the film star, tells an amusing story of his first screen appearance. Mrs. Jackson's husband happened to be one day at Oxford Music Hall in London and saw a film of Scots Guards marching through St. James Park and there was Charlie with the other boys keeping step alongside the soldiers. He was supposed to have been at school on the day the film was taken." Barry Anthony, author of Chaplin's Music Hall, gives a likely date for the film as November or December 1899.
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Charlie & Doug being Charlie & Doug

February 2, 2014, 1:06 pm
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Unpublished Chaplin Novella, "Footlights," to Be Released

February 3, 2014, 8:18 am
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Chaplin conducting the Abe Lyman Orchestra, 1925

February 3, 2014, 11:34 am
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Chaplin guest conducted the orchestra for a gramophone recording of two of his own original compositions: “Sing A Song” & “With You Dear, In Bombay."


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Charlie with Japanese actress Shirley Yamaguchi, 1953

February 3, 2014, 1:57 pm
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Could this be the newsreel footage of Charlie as a boy?

February 4, 2014, 6:02 am
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A fellow fan, Ashley, sent me a link to newsreel footage of the Gordon Highlanders, a Scottish regiment in the British Army, marching with a group of children in 1899. In my post on Sunday about Making A Living, I mentioned that Charlie's first film appearance may have been when he was caught by a newsreel camera as Scots Guards marched through St. James Park. Here is a description of the footage from a September 1921 New York Times article (Mrs. Jackson was the wife of the co-owner of the Eight Lancashire Lads):
"Mrs. Jackson's husband happened to be one day at Oxford Music Hall in London and saw a film of Scots Guards marching through St. James Park and there was Charlie with the other boys keeping step alongside the soldiers. He was supposed to have been at school on the day the film was taken."
I'm not sure if the setting of this newsreel is St. James Park (the bottom of a statue can be seen in the background). I have watched this footage a couple of times and I didn't see anyone resembling Charlie but there are so few photos of him as a boy, it's hard to know what to look for, plus some of the faces are very hard to make out. This might not be the footage of Charlie, but I thought I would pass it along anyway--perhaps someone with better eyes than me might be able to spot him.


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Syd Chaplin surrounded by models for his Sassy Jane clothing company line, c. 1917

February 4, 2014, 9:29 am
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Source: www.sydchaplin.com

The Sassy Jane Manufacturing Company, incorporated in 1917, was the first but not the last of Syd's "boom-and-bust" business endeavors. The company was bankrupt by 1923.1

The model on the right in the above photo looks like the girl Charlie screen tests in How To Make Movies (1918):


1Lisa K. Stein, Syd Chaplin: A Biography
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Publicity still for THE PILGRIM (1923)

February 4, 2014, 1:14 pm
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United Artists, formed Feb. 5th, 1919

February 5, 2014, 5:28 am
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On this day 95 years ago, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, D.W. Griffith & Charlie Chaplin, seeking more artistic and financial control over the production and distribution of their films, founded a company that was the first of its kind, United Artists. At the time, they told reporters in a joint statement that it was a "declaration of independence from producers and exhibitors of machine-made films." It should also be noted that Charlie's brother, Sydney, was instrumental in the formation of the company.

Below is footage from the signing of the contracts. Charlie will eventually appear in his Tramp costume and the four will pose and clown for the cameras.

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MODERN TIMES premieres in New York City, February 5th, 1936

February 5, 2014, 7:26 am
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Modern Times was not only Hollywood's last "silent" film (although the film had sound effects and Chaplin's voice is heard for the first time in a nonsense song at the end), but it also marked the farewell appearance of The Little Tramp.

Chaplin's first film in five years created a near-riot situation outside the Rivoli Theater in New York. Nearly 5000 curious fans stormed the doors of the theater hoping to catch a glimpse of the celebrities who were attending the premiere, among them were Gloria Swanson, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Edward G. Robinson, Ginger Rogers, and Anna May Wong. Chaplin and his co-star Paulette Goddard did not attend the New York opening but did attend the Hollywood premiere a week later on February 12th.

The scene outside the Rivoli for Chaplin's premiere.

Chaplin Studios Daily Production Report for Feb. 5th, 1936. The premiere is mentioned in the memo section.
(The initials "C.H." are probably those of secretary Catherine Hunter)
 Source: Modern Times, Chaplin Project N. 2

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Chaplin & Jean Cocteau, Cap Ferrat, France, c. 1957

February 5, 2014, 12:57 pm
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THE KID, released February 6th, 1921

February 6, 2014, 6:01 am
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Random Excerpt: Chaplin on "The Kid"

February 6, 2014, 9:53 am
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From "The Marvelous Boy Of The Movies," by Charlie Chaplin, Vanity Fair, January 1921
It was by pure accident that I met this remarkable child actor. He was with his parents in a Los Angeles hotel sleeping, as a child will, in a chair. He was roused in order to meet me. He rubbed his eyes, jumped up,  made his politest bow, and promptly went back to sleep. 
However, in that instant, I had seen the rare quality of Jackie Coogan, a quality so lovable that I followed him up, induced his parents to let him become a member of my company and shortly set about a picture which might express something of my feeling--which, I believe, will not prove a purely individual reaction--toward the child. 
What first attracted me to the boy was a whimsical, wistful quality, a genuineness of feeling. He is the lovable child carried to the nth power, yet endowed with not a little of the self-consciousness of an artist and with a hundred resources as an actor....
In this initial stages of his training, however, my chief difficulty was to overcome his inattention, or rather that inability to concentrate the attention, which is, of course, a common characteristic of all children. One quality he has, which is extraordinary in a child: his ability to repeat a scene without losing interest. I have seen him pick up an object after a dozen rehearsals, with a wonder and attention, which would make you believe he was looking at it for the first time in his life....
Now that The Kid is about to be released, I suppose another picture made by myself and Jack Coogan is scarcely probable. What the boy will do, I don't know, but then neither do I know what I shall do, I shall probably go on wearing a trick moustache and carrying a cane too small for me, until at last I meet the undertaker. 

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