Before making his timeless comedy classics City Lights and The Great Dictator, Charlie Chaplin worked with Keystone silent film greats like Mabel Normand and Mack Sennett to develop his Little Tramp character.
The Early Life of Charlie Chaplin
The famed Charles Chaplin had long been a performer working in the Vaudevilles throughout England. In 1910, he was offered a chance that would stretch his creative talents – to join the rest of the Fred Karno troupe and travel to the United States. After a successful tour, Karno returned to England in 1912 with his group all the better off for the visit. With just a brief five month layover, Chaplin and his fellow Vaudevillians, including Stan Laurel of “Laurel and Hardy” fame, launched a second tour on October 2 of the same year. This time, Chaplin would embark on a life changing journey.
Keystone Studios and Mack Sennet
While touring across the Midwest, a film producer named Mack Sennett saw a performance of Chaplin and made him a job offer at his company, Keystone Studios. One problem arose, however, Sennett believed Chaplin was an old man. In the performance the producer sited, the comic was pretending to be an inebriated old man. When arriving on the set, Chaplin had to convince that the producer would be worth the arrangement originally offered.
This fact came to a head when, in 1913, Chaplin appeared in his first film: Making a Living. After Sennett nearly fired him, strong persuading from Mabel Normand and Fatty Arbuckle convinced the producer to give the comedian another try. Conditionally, however, Normand would be handling the writing and directing chores of the Chaplin films. This made the situation worse, however, as Chaplin did not like being told what to do by a woman.
Charlie Chaplin's Most Famous Character - The Little Tramp
Soon, Chaplin's films for Keystone were highly successful. This was propagated by the creation of Chaplin's most famous character: The Tramp. The character debuted on February 7, 1914 in the film Kid Auto Races at Vienna.
Chaplin was inspired for the visual components of The Tramp by a variety of sources. The most important dynamic of the character was the fact that it could be used very effectively in comedy. Chaplin found a delicate way to balance The Tramp's imagery. A tiny hat was paired with extremely large shoes. A little coat was donned with baggy pants, creating a humorous suit. With the mustache, Chaplin added the age and maturity Sennett expected, while still enabling the actor to demonstrate facial emotions.
Chaplin Leaves Keystone
In 1915, Chaplin left Keystone for Essanay Studios, which paid him much more. While with the company, he made 34 different shorts, most of which starred the Tramp. The tenure culminated in a feature length comedy starring all of the Keystone regulars under director Mack Sennett.
At age 25, Charles Chaplin himself was one of the most successful performers of his era. However, his days with the Keystone Studio was only just the beginning.
Jason Chavis - Jason lives and works out of Minneapolis. He is the author of four books, two movies and a play as well as numerous articles for a variety ...
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