English stage pantomimist Charlie Chaplin, who had just signed a year's contract with Keystone Studios, was disappointed in his movie debut. He was told by studio head Mack Sennett to improve his screen presence or he would break his contract. On a rainy afternoon waiting to rehearse for his next movie, February 1914's "Mabel's Strange Predicament," Chaplin spied on several costumes hanging and laying around in the Keystone dressing room. He began trying on several pieces of clothing, including a small bowler hat, a tight-fitting jacket, baggy pants, oversized shoes, and a fake mustache to make him look older than his youthful 24-year-old face.
His role in "Mabel's" was to play a vagabond drunk hanging out in a hotel lobby. Recalling vaudeville tramps who appeared on the English stage such as Lew Bloom, Chaplin admitted he drew inspiration from the British comic magazine's two tramp characters as well.
For "Mabel's Strange Predicament," actress Mabel Normand assumed directing duties while Sennett looked over her shoulder examining on set Chaplin's performance. The studio head couldn't have been as critical of Chaplin's screen presence as he was after his initial film since the new actor, upon reviews from the press, drew accolades such as "we do not think we are taking a great risk in prophesying that in six months Chaplin will rank as one of the most popular screen performers in the world." The public's first view of Chaplin's vagabond role appeared a few days earlier from "Mabel's" premier when his "Kid Auto Races In Venice" was shown, even though the later was filmed shortly after "Mabel's." Since the editing was minimal in "Kid Auto," Keystone Studio was able to release it before the more involved "Mabel's." Shot during Venice, California's Junior Vanderbilt Cup races, "Kid Auto" was filmed within a 45-minute period where Chaplin is seen hogging a camera's view intending to record the sporting event. Henry Lehrman, who directed the one-reeler, plays the cameraman who physically attempts to get Chaplin out of the way. Like a Monty Python skit, the Keystone Studio camera is recording another movie camera and operator recording an event, likely the first movie in cinema to do so.
Chaplin also drew praise in his role as a tramp wanting attention in "Kid Auto." As one movie reviewer wrote, "Chaplin is a born screen comedian; he does things we have never seen done on the screen before." Chaplin's tramp character would evolve through the many years the actor assumed his character. From "Mabel's Strange Predicament" initial drunken role to a caring but down-on-his-luck everyman during the Depression Era, Chaplin's on-screen personality would personify what many had experienced during those trying times. Chaplin portrayed the tramp in 25 of his 36 films he made for Keystone during his first year, and he continued to do so through his next 30 years on the screen.
His role in "Mabel's" was to play a vagabond drunk hanging out in a hotel lobby. Recalling vaudeville tramps who appeared on the English stage such as Lew Bloom, Chaplin admitted he drew inspiration from the British comic magazine's two tramp characters as well.
For "Mabel's Strange Predicament," actress Mabel Normand assumed directing duties while Sennett looked over her shoulder examining on set Chaplin's performance. The studio head couldn't have been as critical of Chaplin's screen presence as he was after his initial film since the new actor, upon reviews from the press, drew accolades such as "we do not think we are taking a great risk in prophesying that in six months Chaplin will rank as one of the most popular screen performers in the world." The public's first view of Chaplin's vagabond role appeared a few days earlier from "Mabel's" premier when his "Kid Auto Races In Venice" was shown, even though the later was filmed shortly after "Mabel's." Since the editing was minimal in "Kid Auto," Keystone Studio was able to release it before the more involved "Mabel's." Shot during Venice, California's Junior Vanderbilt Cup races, "Kid Auto" was filmed within a 45-minute period where Chaplin is seen hogging a camera's view intending to record the sporting event. Henry Lehrman, who directed the one-reeler, plays the cameraman who physically attempts to get Chaplin out of the way. Like a Monty Python skit, the Keystone Studio camera is recording another movie camera and operator recording an event, likely the first movie in cinema to do so.
Chaplin also drew praise in his role as a tramp wanting attention in "Kid Auto." As one movie reviewer wrote, "Chaplin is a born screen comedian; he does things we have never seen done on the screen before." Chaplin's tramp character would evolve through the many years the actor assumed his character. From "Mabel's Strange Predicament" initial drunken role to a caring but down-on-his-luck everyman during the Depression Era, Chaplin's on-screen personality would personify what many had experienced during those trying times. Chaplin portrayed the tramp in 25 of his 36 films he made for Keystone during his first year, and he continued to do so through his next 30 years on the screen.