Charlie became ill with dengue fever the night he and Syd sailed from Batavia on April 18th. The next day he didn't appear for meals and kept to his cabin. As the SS Ophir neared Singapore, the captain arranged for a doctor to meet the boat.
The Straits Times (Singapore), April 20th, 1932. (D.E.I. = Dutch East Indies)
The brothers' initial plan was to sail for Japan on the 24th but Charlie will remain in the hospital until the 26th. They will not leave for Japan until May 6th.
On April 15th, 1931, Charlie arrived in Algeria from Nice. A couple of days later, his lover and traveling companion, May Reeves, joined him and the two remained there for the next ten days.
I meant to post this yesterday but the day got away from me.
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Charlie mocks the couple making out on the bench by hugging & kissing a tree.
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Charlie steals the watch from the pickpocket (Chester Conklin) who had just stolen it from someone else.
There is some debate as to whether this film was Chaplin's directorial debut. Existing Keystone documents list Joseph Maddern as the sole director. In his autobiography, Chaplin cites Caught In The Rain, released two weeks later, as the first film he directed. However, in a letter to his brother, Sydney, from August 1914, Charlie lists the films in which he had appeared marking six of them as "my own" with Twenty Minutes Of Love being the first (below). We don't know what Chaplin may have meant by "my own" but it's possible that he was referring to the storyline. In Chaplin's 1924 article "Does the Public Know What It Wants," he describes how during his early days at Keystone he was called upon to make a short comedy. "When I reached the studio of the old Keystone Company I was told by the director that a short comedy was needed, and needed that day. I was promised that if I could turn out the sort of picture that was wanted I would receive an extra twenty-five dollars. I had no story, I hadn't even an idea, and I had no actors, but I wanted that twenty-five." Chaplin goes on to describe rounding up the actors and coming up with the story.* "The resultant picture," Chaplin wrote, "was called Twenty Minutes Of Love." It is also suggestive that Chaplin remembered in his autobiography that the song "Too Much Mustard" inspired the action of the film. In the end, it's likely that Maddern may have directed the film but served as more of a watch dog, making sure the film was completed on time and on budget, while Chaplin created the scenario and gags.
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From Chaplin: His Life & Art by David Robinson
* Chaplin goes on to describe a scene that doesn't appear in the finished film: "The character that I play in all my films was to be on a bridge, standing on the rail about to jump. A pretty girl passes by, and the would-be suicide changes his mind." (Chaplin, "Does The Public Know What It Wants"Adelphi, January 1924, reprinted in Peter Haining, The Legend of Charlie Chaplin.)
Syd was interviewed at the Adelphi Hotel where he had been staying while Charlie recovered from dengue fever at the Singapore General Hospital. He discussed his and Charlie's future film plans, the talkies, their recent trip to Bali, and why he disliked his 1925 film, Charley's Aunt.
Chaplin's twelfth Keystone was directed by Mabel Normand even though Chaplin is often listed as co-director. However, the film contains so many Chaplinesque ideas, it's obvious that she gave Chaplin the same creative free rein that director Joseph Maddern did with Twenty Minutes Of Love.
“This is Mabel Normand, Marie Dressler and myself (Charlie). With all the photos I have had I have not one with myself straight. Taken with Marie’s camera. Very bum.”
Source: Chaplin: Genius Of The Cinema by Jeffrey Vance
I'd originally thought this session was from 1925, but I am now leaning towards 1927. Chaplin was in New York during both years (he was also there in 1923 but I don't think these photos date back that far). The Chaplin archive website gives them a date of 1922 but I think that's incorrect as well. I can't find where photos from this session appear in magazines or newspaper articles any earlier than 1927. I also have a publicity photo for The Circus with a photo from this session which makes me think the later date is correct, although Chaplin was not against using old photos for publicity.
