2. The Charm of Chaplin
1) True/False. When initially contacted to begin his movie career, Chaplin
mistakenly assumed the telegram was concerning his inheritance of a large
sum of money.
2) True/False. Once Chaplin created the character of the tramp, he found
instant success.
3) What did the newspapers call the sensational nationwide obsession with
Charlie Chaplin?
4) In his films, Charlie was frequently paired with one of two women, name
one.
5) While still very successful, what was one of the chief complaints white
middle class had about Chaplin?.
3.
4. One does not really
become a star until the
publicists and
journalists focus on, and
the audience gets
interested in, the
personality of the actor
behind the mask.
Charles Maland,
“A Star is Born”
5.
6.
7. “Comedy is based
on conflict and
pain, and is
therefore a
transformation
of pain into
pleasure.”
8.
9. “When I was eleven years old, homeless
and starving in London, I had big
dreams. I was a precocious youngster
full of imagination and fancies and
pride. My dream was to become a great
musician or an actor.”
Chaplin wrote in Charlie Chaplin’s
Own Story.
10. “The eternal loser, struggling to
keep up appearances and
preserve a modicum of human
dignity. The Tramp’s silhouette-
the baggy trousers set and
pinched shoulders-made him
instantly recognizable, even
from the rear, and lent him a
childlike appeal.”
Charlie Chaplin’s Own Story
13. What themes are in City Lights?
What images underscore these
themes?
How are the wealthy or the
elite portrayed?
How is the alien portrayed?
How many times is a 1st
impression wrong?
Why is it named City Lights?
14. The Charm of Chaplin
1) Where did Chaplin begin his movie career?
2) True/False. When initially contacted to begin his movie career, Chaplin
mistakenly assumed the telegram was concerning his inheritance of a large
sum of money.
3) True/False. Once Chaplin created the character of the tramp, he found
instant success.
4) What did the newspapers call the sensational nationwide obsession with
Charlie Chaplin?
5) In his films, Charlie was frequently paired with one of two women, name
one.
6) Name one example (other than the success of his films) as evidence of
Chaplin’s star image.
7) While still very successful, what was one of the chief complaints white
middle class had about Chaplin?
8) Name two things that Chaplin did to change this.
9) What was the name of the studio where Chaplin achieved celebrity status.
10)In 1919, Chaplin built his own studio with three other prominent celebrities
Notas del editor
\n
True. The telegram came from Kessel and Bauman in the Longacre Buildling. The Longacre Building housed attorneys, but Kessel and Bauman owned the NY Motion Pictures Company – which owned Keystone.\nFalse. He did create the Tramp while at Keystone, but did not find instant success.\nChaplinitis\nMabel Norman or Edna Purviance\nHe was vulgar and irreverent\n\n\n\n
Charlie started a career as a comedian in vaudeville, which eventually took him to the United States in 1910 as a featured player with the Fred Karno Repertoire Company. First to Keystone with Mac Sennet (breakaway from DW Griffith)\n($150/week). He was in 35 films for them in 1914 alone. Bawdy, crude films. Started to work with Mabl Normand.\n then to Essanay ($1250/week and a big signing bonus) in 1915. Made 14 films there - really refined his image\n then in 1916 to Mutual at ($10,000/wk), UA - Million\n
\n
Chaplinitis that began while he was at Essanay. Rags to riches story.\n
films began to achieve greater degree of pathos. what changed the most was his relationship with women. He tapped into the American sensibility to the underdog hopelessly outclassed trying to win the affection of the woman he loves. \n
Life paralleled art. Used comedy to survive the pain of his childhood and adult tragedy.\n
A Dickensian life. Charlie was born to Hannah and Charles Chaplin, both music hall entertainers in London. His dad was an alcoholic that left his mom when he was around 1 years old. Eventually died of alcoholism when Charlie was 12, but by then Charlie was already in Hanwell School for orphans and destitute children. His mother, whom he adored, grew ill, broke, and went nuts.\n
\n
Charlie never became a citizen. He was always an alien\n
The Kid – single mother gets turned out, forced to leave her child. Abandons child in car of wealthy patron, theives steal the car. Charlie ends up finding the baby where the theives dump him in an alley. The mother regretting her decision, goes back to the car, distraught with greif, can’t find the child. When she becomes successful singer, she gets re-united with child by doing charity work with the poor.\n\n“Only sin is motherhood” – walks away from hospital, crosscut with image of Christ carrying the cross up Calvary.\nWhen she stands outside church, a cinematic Pieta of mother with child, a window frames a halo on her head.\n\nGot sense of religion from mother (read two passages)\n
1st marriage to Mildred Harris- 17 yearls old - \n resulted in his first child – Norman, who died when he was 3 days old\n
Misunderstood alien\n Cruelty of social welfare institutions\n Distrust of bureaucrats\n Heavy use of Christ imagery\nWatch City Lights – images that sort of underscorewrite down the images (that you see that demonstrate the irony)\n\n
1913 - Mack Sennet, Keystone Studios $150/weekly 1st 3 months, then raised to $175/weekly for the rest of the year\nTrue. The telegram came from Kessel and Bauman in the Longacre Buildling. The Longacre Building housed attorneys, but Kessel and Bauman owned the NY Motion Pictures Company – which owned Keystone.\nFalse. He did create the Tramp while at Keystone, but did not find instant success.\nChaplinitis\nMabel Normand or Edna Purviance\nUse of Charlie’s name in advertisements, in cartoons, and articles in magazines and newspapers – American myth – Horatio Alger story\nHe was vulgar and irreverent\nHe used the publicity of Hirsch and Todd to create personna of hard working, serious aspiring artist.\nInstead of being at odds with women, he began to develop a softer, more romantic relationship with them.\nConcentrated more on creating pathos\nDeveloped themes that in spite of the odds, in spite of travail and disappointment to have determination – a cardinal virtue of the genteel culture\nIncluded other serious elements in films like class conflict\nEssanay\n DW Griffith, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford.\n