It's mid-April, those inevitable requests for tax filing extensions are in, big big big film events, principally the TCM Classic Film Festival are on - and we're cheap schlubs and not going.
So today, we celebrate the birthday of the only, the hilarious, one of the featured stars of Fred Karno's troupe, Charles Spencer Chaplin.
When it comes to birthdays of comedians and comediennes from the silent era - Charlie Chaplin today, talented actress and extremely reluctant comedienne Fay Tincher (a.k.a. Rowdy Ann on April 17, 1884 and that guy with the glasses who knew more about story construction than anyone in the business, Harold Lloyd, on April 20, 1993 - this week is a bonanza.
Noting that Kevin Brownlow and David Gill's superlative documentary Unknown Chaplin can be purchased on DVD, let us, first and foremost, take a look at The Little Tramp's first insouciant appearance in Charlie's second film, KID AUTO RACES AT VENICE.
In his silver screen debut, MAKING A LIVING, which is on the Chaplin At Keystone DVD set, Charlie plays a slick sharper, possibly based a bit on his pal Max Linder. Chaplin's co-star in MAKING A LIVING and KID AUTO RACES AT VENICE is Henry "Suicide" Lehrman, later responsible for some of the wildest, weirdest, most extreme and most bizarre comedy shorts ever as producer/director at L-Ko and Fox.
The aforementioned DVD set reveals that Charlie was already quite advanced in his visual comedy riffology very early in his movie career.
We love Mabel's Married Life and Mabel At The Wheel because Charlie shares the screen with the winsome and very funny comedienne "Madcap Mabel" Normand. Both richly deserved their inclusion in Leonard Maltin's book The Great Movie Comedians.
Chaplin didn't just play a part other than The Little Tramp in MAKING A LIVING and several of his Keystone Comedies. Charlie's dual role in the Fred Karno "Mumming Birds" troupe's performance of "A Night in an English Music Hall" was committed to celluloid in his Essanay 2-reeler A Night In The Show (1915). Charlie was preceded at Karno in this dual role by Billie "The Man From Nowhere" Ritchie and Billie Reeves.
Tough to pick a favorite (or two or three) from his 1916-1917 series for Mutual. . . Every one is amazing and Charlie's Fred Karno posse (Eric Campbell, Henry Bergman and Albert Austin) shine in supporting roles. Michael Hayde's excellent book Chaplin's Vintage Year: The History Of The Mutual Chaplin Specials delves into these outstanding films in depth.
ONE A.M. absolutely, positively floors this comedy buff, only every time. No doubt Buster Keaton studied ONE A.M. in detail - it's a good bet that the pal of Chaplin and Keaton (and Charlie's Keystone co-star in THE ROUNDERS) Roscoe Arbuckle arranged to borrow a 35mm print for that very purpose!
Charlie's Mutuals were followed by the First National series. Gotta love A DOG'S LIFE!
The Kid is not the first comedy feature film - the Drews' A Florida Enchantment and Mabel Normand's Mickey earn that honor - but it remains innovative for blending slapstick and pathos successfully.
The famous scene from The Gold Rush with Charlie's friend and co-star from Keystone, Mack "Ambrose" Swain, pokes fun at starvation and facing death - and gets big laughs.
One of my favorites from the Chaplin catalog is The Circus.
Saw CITY LIGHTS on the big screen during one of its revivals and was blown away by its brilliant comedy.
Love how an unwitting Charlie gets in the ring with another friend and former Keystone co-star Hank Mann in CITY LIGHTS. It's a Boxing Day favorite!
The gang at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog remain big fans of MODERN TIMES, the last film in which Charlie observed his Carmen Miranda rights and remained silent.
Was there a dry eye in Radio City Music Hall or any other massive theatre at the ending of MODERN TIMES? No.
As the gang here ponders a veritable slew of 2023 losses to art and culture, from MAD Magazine's genius of the fold-in and numerous Snappy Answers To Stupid Questions books, the incomparable Al Jaffee (who made it to 102) to way too many magical master maestros of music (Wayne Shorter, David Lindley, Burt Bacharach, Jeff Beck and Gary Rossington), a fitting response is to seek (and find) belly laughs by celebrating the life and amazing career of the guy who out-Sennetted Mack Sennett and put silver screen slapstick on the map in America.
Thanks for the laughs, Mr. Chaplin - we'll see you when the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum presents the 2023 edition of Charlie Chaplin Days. Cheers!
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