Leo White Movies
A music-hall favorite in his native England, dapper, diminutive Leo White was brought to America by theatrical impresario Daniel Frohman. In 1914, White joined the Essanay film company, where he appeared in support of Wallace Beery in the Sweedie comedies. Within a year he was a member in good standing of Charlie Chaplin's stock company, playing a variety of dandies, noblemen, and anarchists. He moved to Hal Roach's "Rollin'" comedies in 1917, where he co-starred with such funmakers as Harold Lloyd, Harry "Snub" Pollard, Bebe Daniels, and Bud Jamison. White showed up in several features of the 1920s, including Lloyd's Why Worry (1923), Valentino's Blood and Sand (1922), and the mighty Ben-Hur (1926, as Sallanbat). In the talkie era, he played supporting roles in Columbia and RKO two-reel comedies, and bits in features: in the Marx Brothers' Night at the Opera, for example, he's one of the three bearded Russian aviators. From 1934 to 1948, he was on call at Warner Bros. for bits and extra roles. Leo White spent his last decade essaying one-scene roles in such Warner features as Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), and The Fountainhead (1949), and even had a part in the animated Looney Tune Eatin' on the Cuff (1943). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1920
Made in between his two classics, Blind Husbands and Foolish Wives, this drama from director Erich von Stroheim centers on a restless American wife married to a rich but unsuccessful playwright who reels after his newest work is rejected. The trouble begins when she finds herself strongly attracted to a handsome army officer and begins an affair. Unfortunately, the scandal hits the paper, though no names are mentioned. Upon reading about it, the playwright is suddenly inspired and uses it to beef up his play. He has no idea that his wife is involved until opening night. The play is a smash hit thanks to his wife's philandering, but she is utterly humiliated. She gets a headache and asks her husband, who still doesn't know, to escort her home. Instead he asks her lover to do it. As the party goes on, the truth theatens to come out. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- 1920
Jesse Robbins, who oversaw Charles Chaplin's films for Essanay, directed this Jimmy Aubrey comedy, which has something of a Chaplinesque feel about it. Aubrey plays a tramp whose thieving ways are cured by a pretty settlement worker (Dixie Lamont), who convinces him to go straight. Still hungry, the tramp sits down at a food-laden table only to discover that the family who is sitting down to eat is about to be evicted for non-payment of rent. The landlord (Oliver Hardy) hires Jimmy to help him oust the unwanted tenants. Jimmy, however, takes pity on them and steals the money from the landlord to help them pay the rent. Later, he saves the settlement worker from a kidnap attempt and she has him over for dinner to reward him. Unfortunately, it turns out that her father is the mean landlord. The landlord goes after Jimmy, but his punches are thrown wild and hit everything but his target. Finally he knocks down a post that supports the house and it comes crashing down. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jimmy Aubrey, Dixie Lamont, (more)
- 1920
Comedian Jimmy Aubrey shares his best moments in this two-reeler with Oliver Hardy who, before he teamed up with Stan Laurel, played alongside a variety of other comics. He plays a neighborhood bully here, who mercilessly harasses Aubrey, an outcast who is even beaten up by a gang of children. Jimmy accidentally knocks a bum's bottle into a manhole and the bully coerces him into helping him retrieve it. Jimmy lowers the bully into the manhole with disastrous effects. After getting dumped back in the hole several times, the bully gives Jimmy a beating. An idler (Leo White) is pestering an heiress (Dixie Lamont) who Jimmy has befriended; when he comes to her aid, a kid gets mixed up in the struggle and the idler pushes him into the street. The youngster is hit by a car and Jimmy and the heiress take him to her home to get treatment. The boy turns out to be the bully's kid, and the bully viciously turns on the idler, saving Jimmy in the bargain. The heiress gifts Jimmy with a rose, but leaves him behind when she drives off in her limo. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jimmy Aubrey, Dixie Lamont, (more)
- 1918
Although this two-reel Billy West comedy was released under the banner of the Bull's Eye Film Corporation, it's likely that it was made while the comic was still working for King Bee. Oliver Hardy, who did not join West and the other King Bee stock players in later endeavors, also appears in the film. West, Charles Chaplin's most notable impersonator, borrows some of Chaplin's best gags, and performs them pretty well here. Billy is on the run from the law and eludes the pursuing cops by entering a cafe. There, he runs afoul of the headwaiter (Hardy) when he can't pay for the beer he has drunk and gets tossed out not once, but several times. The cops catch up with him, and, faced with the choice of jail or gainful employment, he chooses the job. So Billy goes to work as a waiter at the very same cafe, and is forced to put on a dress and dance when one of the dancers suddenly quits. A prize fighter (Leo White) comes in and manhandles his date. Billy comes to the girl's aid and then winds up having to face the fighter in the ring. Somehow, Billy manages to win, but later on, the fighter harasses the girl again and Billy has to give him another knockout punch. One of the bit players in the film is a slightly boozy piano player -- it's director Charles Parrott, who later became more famous as Hal Roach comic Charley Chase. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy West, Oliver Hardy, (more)
- 1918
Popular Universal star Priscilla Dean teamed for the second time with director Tod Browning in 1918's Brazen Beauty (the first of their many collaborations was the profitable The Deciding Kiss) Dean plays a Montana rancher who heads to New York when she inherits her late father's millions. The snooty Manhattan socialites treat the brash, uninhibited Dean rather badly. Still, she is determined to become one of the "400"-at least until she falls in love with unpretentious Thurston Hall. The Brazen Beauty was based on The Magnificent Jacala, a French novelette by Louise Winter. The 5-reel film was one of seven pictures directed by Tod Browning in 1918. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1918
Although Diana Rosson (Edith Roberts) is a rich, sophisticated young woman, she can't stand the eligible bachelors that her aunt (Clarissa Selwynne) keeps sending her. She wants a real man, not a pampered society gentleman. So she takes off for her country estate in search of one. When she gets there, she finds that several all-too real tramps have broken in, but before they can do her any harm, a stranger, Dick Webster (Emmanuel White), arrives and sends them on their way. The grateful Diana buys him a luxurious new car, which ruins the budding romance right off -- he's poor but honest and has no interest in becoming involved with a spoiled, wealthy girl. But Diana has her own way of solving matters -- she sends Dick to her poor relation (Diana, of course, disguises herself as this relative). The two fall in love and only after they are married does Dick discover that he has wed Diana. As first he is angry, then he understands that money -- whether it's a little or a lot -- really doesn't matter, and they return to their wedded bliss. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1918
Triple Trouble, although commonly acknowledged in Chaplin filmographies, was not really a Charlie Chaplin film in that it was released without his permission, and much to his annoyance by Essanay three years after he left them. Its jumbled story is cobbled together out of pieces of Police, Work and the unfinished feature, Life, which Essanay insisted Chaplin abandon in favor of making more quickly produced two-reelers. It also contains new footage shot in 1918 by Leo White in order to provide the weak plot on which to hang the Chaplin footage. Chaplin is a janitor in the home of Colonel Nutt, the inventor of a new secret weapon, the wireless bomb. Edna Purviance is the cleaning woman in the same household and Charlie incurs her anger by spilling garbage on her clean floor and getting her into trouble with their boss, the cook Billy Armstrong. A group of foreign diplomats led by White plan to get the formula from the Professor by either bribe or theft. When he is ejected from the house by the butler at the Colonel's request, Leo hires a thief to do the dirty work, but is overheard by a cop.
Meanwhile, in a scene excised from Life and Police, Charlie goes to a flop house for the night where he encounters some rather odd characters, including a drunk who won't stop singing until Charlie smashes him with a bottle, but not before preparing his bed and pillow and tucking him in afterward. A riot starts at the flophouse when Charlie robs a pickpocket who has been robbing the sleepers. Chaplin uses a gag he was to repeat in The Gold Rush, that of laying covered in bed, wrong way round, with hands in shoes. The thief, having co-opted Charlie, arrives at the Nutt house and tries to steal the formula, but the cops are there and a melee ensues in which the thief fires his gun into the Colonel's invention and the house, the diplomats and everyone else explodes. Charlie is seen emerging from the oven door -- just as he had at the end of Work. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
Meanwhile, in a scene excised from Life and Police, Charlie goes to a flop house for the night where he encounters some rather odd characters, including a drunk who won't stop singing until Charlie smashes him with a bottle, but not before preparing his bed and pillow and tucking him in afterward. A riot starts at the flophouse when Charlie robs a pickpocket who has been robbing the sleepers. Chaplin uses a gag he was to repeat in The Gold Rush, that of laying covered in bed, wrong way round, with hands in shoes. The thief, having co-opted Charlie, arrives at the Nutt house and tries to steal the formula, but the cops are there and a melee ensues in which the thief fires his gun into the Colonel's invention and the house, the diplomats and everyone else explodes. Charlie is seen emerging from the oven door -- just as he had at the end of Work. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, (more)
- 1916
Charlie Chaplin launched his 670,000-dollar contract with the Mutual Film Corporation with the hilarious The Floorwalker. The film's chief comedic device, the store escalator, was inspired by Chaplin's visit to New York, where, at an elevated train station, he saw a minor accident involving one. The manager of the store receives a letter -- his superiors are coming to investigate him. He's been skimming money from the store, in cahoots with the bossy and mean floorwalker who bears a striking resemblance to Charlie. The pair decide they're going to take off with the cash and begin emptying the safe in the office upstairs. Meanwhile, Charlie comes wandering into the store, trying out everything but buying nothing. The store seems to be infested with shoplifters and store detectives. Charlie gets caught by one of the latter when he tries to buy a display rack. He escapes upstairs where he encounters his doppelganger who has just knocked out the manager and is escaping with a suitcase full of money. The lookalikes do the classic mirror routine, copied later by the Marx Brothers in Duck Soup. They agree to exchange clothes and identities, but the real floorwalker is arrested as the Tramp, leaving behind the satchel full of loot. Charlie takes over the floorwalker's duties, getting involved with various customers, especially the ladies in the shoe department. When Charlie finds the case, he's ecstatic, until Eric Campbell awakens and, mistaking him for his crooked partner, begins a merry chase up and down the escalator and all around the store, hampered only by the ever-vigilant store detectives. The real floorwalker returns in custody and comes clean, implicating the manager. The chase continues until Charlie is caught in the elevator by a detective as it descends upon the head of Campbell who is also apprehended. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- 1916
In Behind the Screen, the seventh of his 12 Mutual Studios two-reelers, Charlie Chaplin pokes some less than gentle fun at his former employer Mack Sennett. Chaplin and Eric Campbell play a couple of bumbling stagehands at Gigantic Picture Studios. They knock each other about, break for lunch, and knock each about again. Pretty Edna Purviance sneaks into the studio disguised as a boy. Chaplin finds out her secret and steals a kiss -- drawing a very suspicious glance from Campbell. The film ends with a combination union strike and slapstick pie fight. Best bit: a temperamental movie comedian refuses to throw a pie without proper "motivation." Chaplin spent so much time achieving perfection in Behind the Screen that Mutual was obliged to apologize to its exhibitors for missing the scheduled release date by two weeks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, (more)
- 1916
The second of Charles Chaplin's Mutual two-reelers, The Fireman is virtually wall-to-wall slapstick. Chaplin is an earnest but inept member of a ramshackle small town fire department. His boss, Eric Campbell, has entered into an unhanded deal with the wealthy father of heroine Edna Purviance; the father plans to burn down his house for the insurance and split the settlement with Campbell, provided that the latter does not attempt to extinguish the blaze. Chaplin, of course, knows nothing about this set-up, and when the house catches fire, he rushes to the rescue. And a darn good thing too: Purviance, also unaware of her dad's machinations, is in the house at the time it is torched. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Charlie Chaplin's third film in his Mutual period is his first minor masterpiece. It combines comedy and drama in the style that Chaplin had developed in his earlier Essanay film The Tramp and anticipates later dramatic comedies such as The Kid and City Lights. Charlie plays an itinerant violinist whose famous feet we first see emerging from the swinging doors of a saloon. He takes up his position outside the back door and begins his concert, but at this moment a street band begins playing outside the front door. When Charlie enters the saloon to pass the hat, the patrons, believing he's part of the band, contribute generously. When the real band leader enters to pass his hat, a fight and chase begin from which Charlie eventually escapes. The audience is now introduced to "The Mother," an obviously upper-class woman who interrupts her embroidering and looks longingly at a photograph of her long-lost child. Charlie, having forsaken the city, wanders down a country road where he comes upon a gypsy encampment where a beautiful drudge (Edna Purviance), under the control of the brutal Gypsy Chief (Eric Campbell) is washing clothes. Charlie plays a concert for his audience of one, the fast tempo causing the girl to scrub her laundry at a lightning pace and his soulful playing evoking her strong emotions. The concert is interrupted by the Chief, who pushes Charlie into a water basin and beats the girl severely for shirking her duties. Seeing this brutality, Charlie puts aside his cane and violin in favor of a stout club and rescues the girl in an exciting scene in which they dramatically escape in one of the wagons.
Later, encamped by the side of a road, Charlie prepares breakfast while the girl goes for water. She meets a handsome artist (Lloyd Bacon), who, noticing a shamrock shaped birthmark on her arm, asks her to pose for him. After he finishes his sketch, she invites him to breakfast. During the meal, it's obvious from her face that she's infatuated with him, and Charlie is aware that he's losing her. When the artist leaves, the girl gazes longingly after him as Charlie watches her apprehensively. Some time later, the painting is exhibited in a posh gallery and the Mother, in attendance, almost collapses as she recognizes her daughter by her birthmark. Meanwhile Charlie tries to cheer up the despondent girl by promising that he'll learn to draw too. Suddenly a limousine pulls up and mother and daughter are reunited. Charlie gallantly refuses a cash reward and wishes the artist luck just before they drive off. Alone, Charlie tries to cheer himself but succumbs to his emotions. In the limousine the girl realizes her true feelings and makes the driver return to Charlie, whom she excitedly hauls off to the limousine and to a presumed life of luxury. This was not the ending originally planned for the film, in which Chaplin was going to have the Tramp attempt a drowning suicide, only to be rescued by a homely farm girl, and seeing her, jumping back in again. Fortunately, he opted for the happier, more optimistic ending. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
Later, encamped by the side of a road, Charlie prepares breakfast while the girl goes for water. She meets a handsome artist (Lloyd Bacon), who, noticing a shamrock shaped birthmark on her arm, asks her to pose for him. After he finishes his sketch, she invites him to breakfast. During the meal, it's obvious from her face that she's infatuated with him, and Charlie is aware that he's losing her. When the artist leaves, the girl gazes longingly after him as Charlie watches her apprehensively. Some time later, the painting is exhibited in a posh gallery and the Mother, in attendance, almost collapses as she recognizes her daughter by her birthmark. Meanwhile Charlie tries to cheer up the despondent girl by promising that he'll learn to draw too. Suddenly a limousine pulls up and mother and daughter are reunited. Charlie gallantly refuses a cash reward and wishes the artist luck just before they drive off. Alone, Charlie tries to cheer himself but succumbs to his emotions. In the limousine the girl realizes her true feelings and makes the driver return to Charlie, whom she excitedly hauls off to the limousine and to a presumed life of luxury. This was not the ending originally planned for the film, in which Chaplin was going to have the Tramp attempt a drowning suicide, only to be rescued by a homely farm girl, and seeing her, jumping back in again. Fortunately, he opted for the happier, more optimistic ending. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin
- 1916
Charlie Chaplin's last film for Essanay (not counting the compilation, Triple Trouble) was released after he had moved on to the Mutual Film Corporation. Charlie is released from prison with the customary few dollars in his pocket. He's approached on the street by a fake preacher who asks Charlie to "Let me help you go straight," making him sob with his touching sermon, while picking his pocket. Charlie encounters a drunk with his pocketwatch hanging from his vest, but resists the temptation of stealing it. A few moments later, after realizing he has been robbed, Charlie sees the preacher with the drunk and notes, after the preacher departs, that the watch is gone. Approached by a real preacher this time, Charlie chases him down the street. As evening approaches Charlie goes to a seedy flophouse, but is ejected because he cannot pay. He encounters an old cellmate on the street and is recruited to participate in the robbery of Edna's house. Charlie proves an inept burglar, making so much noise that Edna is roused, and she calls the police before confronting them. She begs them not to go upstairs because her mother is very ill and the shock might kill her. She even provides food and beer for the burglars, asking Charlie to let her help him to go straight. But Charlie's partner is heartless and heads upstairs despite Edna's pleas. When Edna tries to stop him, he threatens to strike her and that is too much for Charlie, who fights with the thief until the police arrive. Firing his pistol, the thief escapes through a back window, but the cops catch Charlie before he can escape. Edna, grateful to Charlie for his protection, lies to the police telling them Charlie is her husband. After the cops leave, Edna gives Charlie a coin and sends him off. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- 1916
The Count, filmed during Charlie Chaplin's 1916-17 Mutual period, is a rowdy throwback to his Keystone days. Chaplin plays the assistant to bombastic clothes-presser Eric Campbell. While dallying with the cook at the Moneybags Mansion, Charlie spots Eric, posing as Count Broko. Eric tries to hide his subterfuge by introducing Charlie as his secretary. In this guise, Charlie is invited to a formal dinner dance presided over by lovely socialite Edna Purviance. When the real Count Broko (Leo White) shows up, chaos reigns supreme. The Count was the fifth of Chaplin's "golden dozen" Mutual two-reelers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Burlesque on Carmen was intended by Charlie Chaplin to be a two-reel film, but to his annoyance additional material, shot by Leo White and featuring Ben Turpin, was added for its release after Chaplin left Essanay. It is a parody of two contemporary films based on Bizet's opera, by Cecil B. De Mille (starring opera star Geraldine Farrar) and Raoul Walsh (starring vamp Theda Bara). Chaplin plays Darn Hosiery (Don Jose) the Corporal of the Guard who is seduced by Carmen (engagingly played by Edna Purviance) so that Gypsy smugglers can get their swag through the city gates. His chief rivals for Carmen's affections are Escamillo, the Toreador and a fellow soldier of the guard, Leo White.
The interjection of the Turpin sections and the use of outtakes of the Chaplin material makes the plot rather murky. Don Jose is charmed by Carmen and ignores his military duties. He allows the smugglers to enter the city gates but other guards, alerted by his rival White, give chase. Later, as the guards and gypsies struggle at a village gate, Don Jose gets into a duel for Carmen's attentions with White, during which Don Jose engages in some Chaplinesque fencing and wrestling, but aided by Carmen he kills White. Realizing the depth of his deed he pursues Carmen who has taken off out a window. He catches up with her, but the Toreador interrupts his accusations and takes Carmen away. Sometime later they are seen arriving at the bull ring. Don Jose catches up with Carmen and, playing it perfectly straight, he chillingly accuses her of infidelity and when she mocks his love, he stabs her and then himself. They are discovered by the Toreador, but Don Jose revives, mule kicks Escamillo back into the arena and picks up Carmen who also comes back to life. Looking into the camera, they smilingly show the audience the collapsible knife as the camera irises in. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
The interjection of the Turpin sections and the use of outtakes of the Chaplin material makes the plot rather murky. Don Jose is charmed by Carmen and ignores his military duties. He allows the smugglers to enter the city gates but other guards, alerted by his rival White, give chase. Later, as the guards and gypsies struggle at a village gate, Don Jose gets into a duel for Carmen's attentions with White, during which Don Jose engages in some Chaplinesque fencing and wrestling, but aided by Carmen he kills White. Realizing the depth of his deed he pursues Carmen who has taken off out a window. He catches up with her, but the Toreador interrupts his accusations and takes Carmen away. Sometime later they are seen arriving at the bull ring. Don Jose catches up with Carmen and, playing it perfectly straight, he chillingly accuses her of infidelity and when she mocks his love, he stabs her and then himself. They are discovered by the Toreador, but Don Jose revives, mule kicks Escamillo back into the arena and picks up Carmen who also comes back to life. Looking into the camera, they smilingly show the audience the collapsible knife as the camera irises in. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, (more)
- 1915
Charlie Chaplin's fourth release for Essanay is very similar to his Keystone Twenty Minutes of Love. He had taken longer than planned to complete his previous film, The Champion, and he felt obliged to give Essanay a new film quickly, so he shot and edited this park farce in the course of a week. It opens with Leo White in his French Count costume and Margie Reiger spooning on a park bench, observed by an amused Edna Purviance seated on a nearby bench, wearing a nursemaid's outfit and minding a baby carriage. Chaplin, strolling through the park, encounters an inept pickpocket, from whose pocket Chaplin picks a cigarette and a match. Chaplin comes upon the couple, and mocking their emotions, he gets chased away. Purviance is joined by her boyfriend Bud Jamison who goes off to buy a hot dog from a vendor.
Finding Purviance alone, Chaplin makes eyes at her and gets a few smiles in return, but when he tries to mash her she spurns him. Meanwhile the pickpocket steals Reiger's purse while the couple are necking. Returning to Purviance, Jamison chases Chaplin away. Chaplin encounters the same hot dog vendor and steals a string of hot dogs which he hangs from his breast pocket and eats by swinging them up to his mouth. The pickpocket steals Chaplin's hot dogs, but Chaplin steals the purse from his pocket. While Chaplin sells the purse to Jamison for $2, the pickpocket starts a brick fight during which everyone except Chaplin is knocked out. Chaplin gives the purse to Purviance, who rewards him with a hug, but Jamison awakens and returns to claim the purse and Purviance. By this time Reiger has discovered her purse is gone and sends White over to Jamison to retrieve it. He is beaten back by Jamison and when Reiger spurns him for his ineptitude he contemplates suicide. Chaplin comes along and obliges him by booting him into the lake. Meanwhile Reiger has summoned a cop who gets the purse back from Jamison and confronts Chaplin, but ends up in the lake along with Jamison, as Chaplin strolls away. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
Finding Purviance alone, Chaplin makes eyes at her and gets a few smiles in return, but when he tries to mash her she spurns him. Meanwhile the pickpocket steals Reiger's purse while the couple are necking. Returning to Purviance, Jamison chases Chaplin away. Chaplin encounters the same hot dog vendor and steals a string of hot dogs which he hangs from his breast pocket and eats by swinging them up to his mouth. The pickpocket steals Chaplin's hot dogs, but Chaplin steals the purse from his pocket. While Chaplin sells the purse to Jamison for $2, the pickpocket starts a brick fight during which everyone except Chaplin is knocked out. Chaplin gives the purse to Purviance, who rewards him with a hug, but Jamison awakens and returns to claim the purse and Purviance. By this time Reiger has discovered her purse is gone and sends White over to Jamison to retrieve it. He is beaten back by Jamison and when Reiger spurns him for his ineptitude he contemplates suicide. Chaplin comes along and obliges him by booting him into the lake. Meanwhile Reiger has summoned a cop who gets the purse back from Jamison and confronts Chaplin, but ends up in the lake along with Jamison, as Chaplin strolls away. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, (more)
- 1915
Charlie Chaplin's 10th Essanay film marks a further development for him in story construction, gag development and the use of pathos along with physical comedy. Chaplin enters the bank importantly, strolls down a staircase and opens a large safe. He emerges carrying a mop and bucket and dons his janitor's uniform. He wanders into the lobby/reception area and accidentally puts his soaking mop into the top hat of a bond salesman, (Lawrence A. Bowes) who's waiting for the arrival of the Bank President. Hitting the salesman and a bank worker (Leo White) with the wet mop, he's chased away to the back office where he finds fellow janitor Billy Armstrong with whom a series of minor battles occur.
Edna Purviance, a stenographer, arrives at work with a birthday present, a tie, for a cashier whose name is also Charles, Carl Stockdale. She types a note: "To Charles with love from Edna." Chaplin finds the note and tie and assumes they're for him, and it's clear he loves Purviance. He brings her a bouquet of flowers and leaves a note "To Edna with love, Charlie." The bank president arrives and rejects the bond salesman's pitch and the angry salesman vows revenge. As the salesman stands dazed, Chaplin, told to mail a letter, indicates that he doesn't look well, takes his pulse and tells him to stick out his tongue, on which Chaplin moistens the postage stamp. The Cashier comes in to thank Purviance for the tie and tells her that it wasn't he who left the flowers, but Charlie the Janitor. Angry, Purviance calls Chaplin a fool and, unaware that he's watching through the door, throws the flowers into a trash basket. Crushed, Chaplin retrieves the flowers, goes back downstairs to the vault and sits down to rest.
Shortly afterward, the bond salesman along with four seedy crooks enter the bank. Two of them go upstairs and see the president, Purviance and the Cashier counting money. When Purviance and Charles head downstairs to the vault, they hold up the president. The other three intercept Charles and Purviance downstairs. At the first opportunity, Charles pushes Purviance over and runs away, but he's held at gunpoint by one of the crooks as the other tussles with the president. Meanwhile her screams have awakened Chaplin and he rescues her, kicking three of the crooks into the safe and locking it as Purviance collapses. Carrying her over one shoulder, he climbs the stairs and rescues the cashier by disarming the crook. He then takes care of the other thief, rescuing the president. When the police have the robbers in custody, Chaplin is congratulated by the president. He wanders into the office and takes the flowers out of his coat. Purviance enters and picks up the flowers, smiling, and the look of love and hope on Chaplin's face is truly angelic. They embrace, but just then the camera crossfades -- it was all a dream, and Chaplin awakens in the vault kissing a mop. As the picture fades, he wanders off screen holding the flowers. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
Edna Purviance, a stenographer, arrives at work with a birthday present, a tie, for a cashier whose name is also Charles, Carl Stockdale. She types a note: "To Charles with love from Edna." Chaplin finds the note and tie and assumes they're for him, and it's clear he loves Purviance. He brings her a bouquet of flowers and leaves a note "To Edna with love, Charlie." The bank president arrives and rejects the bond salesman's pitch and the angry salesman vows revenge. As the salesman stands dazed, Chaplin, told to mail a letter, indicates that he doesn't look well, takes his pulse and tells him to stick out his tongue, on which Chaplin moistens the postage stamp. The Cashier comes in to thank Purviance for the tie and tells her that it wasn't he who left the flowers, but Charlie the Janitor. Angry, Purviance calls Chaplin a fool and, unaware that he's watching through the door, throws the flowers into a trash basket. Crushed, Chaplin retrieves the flowers, goes back downstairs to the vault and sits down to rest.
Shortly afterward, the bond salesman along with four seedy crooks enter the bank. Two of them go upstairs and see the president, Purviance and the Cashier counting money. When Purviance and Charles head downstairs to the vault, they hold up the president. The other three intercept Charles and Purviance downstairs. At the first opportunity, Charles pushes Purviance over and runs away, but he's held at gunpoint by one of the crooks as the other tussles with the president. Meanwhile her screams have awakened Chaplin and he rescues her, kicking three of the crooks into the safe and locking it as Purviance collapses. Carrying her over one shoulder, he climbs the stairs and rescues the cashier by disarming the crook. He then takes care of the other thief, rescuing the president. When the police have the robbers in custody, Chaplin is congratulated by the president. He wanders into the office and takes the flowers out of his coat. Purviance enters and picks up the flowers, smiling, and the look of love and hope on Chaplin's face is truly angelic. They embrace, but just then the camera crossfades -- it was all a dream, and Chaplin awakens in the vault kissing a mop. As the picture fades, he wanders off screen holding the flowers. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, (more)
- 1915
Shanghaied, Charlie Chaplin's 11th film for Essanay was shot largely on board the SS Vaquero, which Chaplin had rented for the film. Chaplin's cameraman, Harry Ensign, devised a pivot for the camera which simulated the violent rocking of the ship as well as rockers for the stage, anticipating the shipboard shots in The Immigrant. In the story, Charlie is in love with Edna Purviance, whose father owns a ship which he plans to have blown up for the insurance money. Forbidden to see Charlie, Edna runs away, leaving a note: "Father -- I have stowed away on your boat. Goodbye. Your unhappy daughter, Edna." Coincidentally, Charlie is hired to hit prospective crew members over the head with a mallet, whereupon they are shanghaied. He is himself shanghaied by the first mate in the same fashion. Charlie is a willing but inept seaman, knocking the whole crew overboard by misdirecting a loading crane and washing dishes in the soup that the cook is preparing. As the ship's rolling increases, Charlie has difficulty serving dinner and becomes seasick. He discovers Edna hiding in the hold just before the Captain and First Mate light the fuse on a keg of TNT and escape in a launch. Meanwhile, Edna's father has found her note and is chasing after them in a speeding boat, trying to stop the explosion. Charlie throws the TNT keg overboard and into the skiff of the escaping Captain, saving the Vaquero. When Edna's father arrives, Edna and Charlie join him in his launch, but when he will still not approve of Charlie, even after saving his daughter and his boat, Charlie kicks the man overboard, much to Edna's delight. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Fred Goodwins, (more)
- 1915
Work, Charlie Chaplin's eighth film for Essanay casts Charlie as a wallpaper-hanger's assistant who must pull the wagon containing the boss (Charles Insley) and all his gear through the city streets and up some imposing hills (created by using tilted camera angles). Charlie is little more than a beast of burden and must do all the work when they arrive at a wealthy couple's (Billy Armstrong and Marta Golden) home. The woman of the house suspects the workers of being dishonest when she catches Charlie admiring a small statue, and she locks up her valuables in a safe. This prompts Charlie to "lock up" his and his boss's watches and cash by pinning them into his pants pocket. Charlie proves to be an inept decorator, making a huge mess and causing his boss to get a bucket of wallpaper paste over his head. He befriends Edna Purviance, the maid, and in a rather intimate scene, tells her his story and his hopes for the future. The wife's lover, Leo White arrives, but when he sees that the husband is still home, he pretends to be a workman. The husband is wise to the dodge and attacks his wife's lover, eventually pulling out a revolver and chasing him around the house. A stray bullet hits the gas stove which explodes, partially burying everyone. In the famous last scene, Charlie emerges from the inverted oven door, exhales some smoke, and, sizing up the situation, smiles into the camera. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, (more)
- 1915
Charlie Chaplin's ninth film for Essanay contains his third and last female impersonation. It begins, as so many of Chaplin's early films do, in a park. Edna Purviance is seated on a park bench with her parents (Charles Insley and Marta Golden). Mother has fallen asleep and is snoring loudly, much to Edna's disgust. Bored, Edna herself soon falls asleep and Father, spotting a fetching lady (Margie Reiger), chases after her. Charlie appears wandering through the park and, after Father departs to buy sodas, joins Margie and flirts with her. When Father returns, he is enraged and hits Charlie on the head with one of the soda bottles, escorting Margie away. A couple of dandies out for a stroll, Leo White and Billy Armstrong, sit down next to Charlie and when he's caught taking a sip out of one of their sodas, they fight. Leo runs away and Billy is knocked unconscious.
Meanwhile Father and Margie are playing hide-and-seek and Margie has taken the opportunity of a blindfolded Father to escape. Charlie comes upon him and leads him around by the neck with his cane until they reach the lake into which Charlie throws Father. Charlie wanders off to discover Edna and Mother, still asleep. Awakened, they become acquainted, inviting Charlie home for tea. Father meets Billy and invites him home for a drink. When they show up at home, Charlie is recognized and when a fight breaks out, Charlie runs upstairs to hide.
Hiding in Edna's room, he dons her dress and hat. Edna, finding Charlie in the hall, falls down laughing at Charlie's female impersonation, but suggests he shave his mustache and don a pair of her shoes. When this is done, the illusion is perfect. So perfect that both Father and Billy are totally fooled and flirt outrageously with Charlie, much to Edna's amusement and Mother's anger. Both men ask for a kiss and Charlie suggests that they kiss opposite cheeks at the count of three. Of course Charlie steps back at "three" and the men kiss each other. This starts another fracas during which Billy is ejected from the house. Still enamored, Father accidentally pulls off Charlie's dress, revealing his true identity. Edna intervenes and begs forgiveness for Charlie, but Father gives him the boot and he ends up on the sidewalk beside Billy, to whom he delivers a knockout slap as the film ends. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
Meanwhile Father and Margie are playing hide-and-seek and Margie has taken the opportunity of a blindfolded Father to escape. Charlie comes upon him and leads him around by the neck with his cane until they reach the lake into which Charlie throws Father. Charlie wanders off to discover Edna and Mother, still asleep. Awakened, they become acquainted, inviting Charlie home for tea. Father meets Billy and invites him home for a drink. When they show up at home, Charlie is recognized and when a fight breaks out, Charlie runs upstairs to hide.
Hiding in Edna's room, he dons her dress and hat. Edna, finding Charlie in the hall, falls down laughing at Charlie's female impersonation, but suggests he shave his mustache and don a pair of her shoes. When this is done, the illusion is perfect. So perfect that both Father and Billy are totally fooled and flirt outrageously with Charlie, much to Edna's amusement and Mother's anger. Both men ask for a kiss and Charlie suggests that they kiss opposite cheeks at the count of three. Of course Charlie steps back at "three" and the men kiss each other. This starts another fracas during which Billy is ejected from the house. Still enamored, Father accidentally pulls off Charlie's dress, revealing his true identity. Edna intervenes and begs forgiveness for Charlie, but Father gives him the boot and he ends up on the sidewalk beside Billy, to whom he delivers a knockout slap as the film ends. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, (more)
- 1915
The Champion, Chaplin's third film for Essanay, is easily one of the funniest and is his most advanced film to date in plotting and characterization. We meet Charlie and his bulldog sharing a found hot dog, which the dog won't eat until it is salted. They pass a gymnasium advertising for sparring partners. Charlie finds a lucky horseshoe and after witnessing the condition of the previous sparring partners, he decides to employ it in his left boxing glove. He thereby kayos the club champ and becomes the new golden boy. He begins to train for the big championship fight against Champ, Bud Jamison. The beautiful daughter of the Gym owner, Edna Purviance gets his interest and seems taken with him. A shady character Leo White, a slimy betting tout, oozes into camp and tries to bribe Charlie into throwing the big fight, but while Charlie takes his money, he treats him with total contempt. On the day of the fight, Charlie says an emotional goodbye to his dog and enters the ring. In the audience are cowboy-star Bronco Billy Anderson, one of the founders of Essanay (whose initials, along with partner George K. Spoor's are the source of its name), and Ben Turpin as the vendor. The hilarious slapstick prizefight is pretty even at first, but by the fourth round Charlie's getting the worst of it. Seeing the trouble his master is in, the bulldog jumps into the ring and restrains the opponent by the seat of his pants while Charlie delivers a series of coup-de-grace punches. Charlie is hoisted on the shoulders of his cornermen as the new Champion. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- 1915
The title of Charlie Chaplin's fifth comedy for Essanay refers to the popular term for a Model T Ford, a jitney. Its theme of impersonation was one Chaplin had used before in Caught in a Cabaret and Her Friend the Bandit, and would use again in The Count and other films. Chaplin's girlfriend Edna Purviance is about to be forced by her father to wed the wealthy Count de Ha-Ha (Leo White), whom neither has met. Chaplin, dropping by for a visit, stands below her bedroom window whistling for her. She tosses him a note from the Count, announcing his visit and pleads to be rescued. Chaplin impersonates the Count and is welcomed by her mercenary father. He's given drinks and cigars and sits down to lunch with Purviance and her father. Chaplin performs a bit that he had done in one of the Karno sketches, that of carving a loaf of bread into a spiral and using it as an accordion. Although his table manners are decidedly not upper class, Chaplin pulls off the impersonation until the real Count arrives. The enraged father kicks Chaplin out of the house, then goes out for a spin with Purviance and the Count in the latter's car. They drive to a park where father hopes the Count can sweet-talk Purviance into marrying him. At first horrified by his intentions, she breaks out into gales of laughter at the sight of the tattered seat of his pants. Chaplin happens by and steals Purviance away, dispatching Count and father, along with a couple of cops. The fleeing couple steal the Count's jitney, and lead Count, father and cop, now following in a car they've taken, on a merry chase. The chase leads them to a pier, where in a clever stop-motion photography scene, the cars jockey about until Chaplin bumps the other car off the pier and into the water. A happy Chaplin and Purviance are about to kiss as the film fades out. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Charlie Chaplin began his new job at Essanay Studios, who lured him away from Keystone with an offer of $1250 a week plus a bonus of $10,000, with a parody film on his former employer. It features two actresses at the beginning of their careers in minor roles -- Gloria Swanson and Agnes Ayres. Charlie applies for work at the Lockstone Motion Picture Company. Arriving at the office just after him is cross-eyed comedian Ben Turpin. Charlie is interviewed by the boss who uses a funnel and long tube as a hearing aid. Charlie uses the device with a cigarette in his mouth which gets lodged in the funnel. Charlie tries to dislodge it by pouring ink into the funnel and blowing but ends up with the ink on his own face. Hired as an assistant carpenter/prop man, he disrupts rehearsals and gets into trouble with the director. He is told to don an extra's military costume for the Russian melodrama being filmed, but he goes instead into the star's dressing room and steals his costume. Charlie is as inept as an actor as he is a carpenter, sitting on the train of the leading lady's gown, tearing it off as she walks up a staircase and blowing his nose in it as he overacts tearfully. (This scene contains one of the first dolly shots in Chaplin films). He later topples a large column which lands on top of him, and he is sat upon by Turpin, who, having replaced him as prop man is called to lift the column. Eventually, the star actor arrives, and, enraged at finding his costume missing, starts a melee on stage which ends with everyone but Charlie unconscious. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- 1915
A Night at the Show is the most elaborate two-reeler directed by Charlie Chaplin during his 1915-1916 stay at Essanay studios. Based on "A Night in an English Music Hall," the Fred Karno-produced ensemble sketch which brought Chaplin to the U.S. in 1910, the film is set in a crowded theater, where a series of mediocre variety acts try to entertain the audience. Chaplin plays two roles: a slick-haired dandy in the orchestra seats, who flirts with the female performers at every possible opportunity, and "Mr. Rowdy," a walrus-mustached drunkard who heckles the actors from the balcony. The film comes to an abrupt end when Mr. Rowdy gets hold of a fire hose and douses everyone in sight. A Night at the Show is usually released on video in tandem with several other Essanay Chaplin films, notably The Bank and Shanghaied. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Fred Goodwins, (more)
- 1915
The Tramp, Charlie Chaplin's sixth film for Essanay, is generally considered his first masterpiece. It is the first of his films that blended pathos with comedy and contains subtle pantomime along with the knockabout slapstick. Charlie is truly a tramp in this film, wandering down a dusty country road carrying his bindle. He is knocked down by near misses from two passing autos and pulls a whisk broom from his pocket and dusts himself off. He sits by a tree to eat his lunch, but it is stolen by a hobo (Leo White). Despondent, Charlie salts some grass and eats it. We next meet a farm girl (Edna Purviance) and her father (Fred Goodwins), who gives her some cash and sends her on an errand. She stops on her way to count her money and is robbed by a sinister hobo (Leo White). Her cries bring Charlie, who rescues her from the hobo and two other tramp thieves. The girl brings Charlie home to the farm, where he is rewarded with a job as a farmhand. He is inept at the job, the source of several funny scenes with a fellow farmhand (Paddy McGuire). The three thieving hoboes show up and try to involve Charlie in a scheme to rob the farmer's money. Charlie foils their efforts by hitting them on their heads with a mallet as they reach the top of the ladder that he has set up at his bedroom window.
Farmer Fred, alerted by the noise, grabs his shotgun and chases off the crooks, but Charlie gets shot in the leg accidentally. This scene is played completely straight and is utterly convincing as Charlie passes out from the pain. Charlie is next seen recuperating from his injuries, lounging at an outdoor table with the farm girl and squirting seltzer into his drink. But his happiness is short-lived. Her boyfriend (Lloyd Bacon) arrives on the scene and Charlie, seeing that his love for her is unrequited, goes into the farmhouse and writes a note: "i thout your kindness was love but it ain't cause i seen him." He turns his back to the camera and picks up the girl's hat, kisses it, and walks outside. Bidding the two farewell, Charlie refuses the money offered by the boyfriend. The film closes with what would become Chaplin's classic ending -- Charlie walking sadly back along the road, but suddenly putting an optimistic little spring in his step as the camera irises in. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
Farmer Fred, alerted by the noise, grabs his shotgun and chases off the crooks, but Charlie gets shot in the leg accidentally. This scene is played completely straight and is utterly convincing as Charlie passes out from the pain. Charlie is next seen recuperating from his injuries, lounging at an outdoor table with the farm girl and squirting seltzer into his drink. But his happiness is short-lived. Her boyfriend (Lloyd Bacon) arrives on the scene and Charlie, seeing that his love for her is unrequited, goes into the farmhouse and writes a note: "i thout your kindness was love but it ain't cause i seen him." He turns his back to the camera and picks up the girl's hat, kisses it, and walks outside. Bidding the two farewell, Charlie refuses the money offered by the boyfriend. The film closes with what would become Chaplin's classic ending -- Charlie walking sadly back along the road, but suddenly putting an optimistic little spring in his step as the camera irises in. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, (more)
- 1914
Although already a matinee idol, handsome Francis X. Bushman reportedly won the leading role in this very popular adventure melodrama by winning The Ladies' World's highly publicized "Hero Contest." Bushman played John Delancey Curtis, an American railroad magnate who saves the beautiful Lady Hermione (Beverly Bayne) from being forced into marrying the nasty Count Vasillian (Rapley Holmes). One of Essanay's largest undertakings, One Wonderful Night was filmed on location in New York City and not in Chicago, the company's usual haunt. Considering that Bushman was the only Essanay star to be entered into the "Hero Contest," his victory over such major names as Crane Wilbur and J. Warren Kerrigan was a bit suspect. Bushman later married his leading lady in this and many other films, Beverly Bayne. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
