The Early Years of Charlie Chaplin

Final Shorts and First Features

Lisa Stein Haven

• Publisher: White Owl
• Year: 2023
• ISBN:
  9781526780737
• Topic: Médias et arts de la scène
• Subtopic: Film et vidéo

A thorough look into the early life and career of Charlie Chaplin. Charlie Chaplin's career has been described, critiqued, and scrutinized. There arebook-length studies on Chaplin's music hall career, his career at Keystone Studios and theMutual Studios. Somehow, his tenure with First National studios, however, has been largelyneglected, even though it was during this several-year contractual time period that Chaplinbuilt and occupied his own studio for the first time, that he attempted and succeeded in filminga comedy feature ( The Kid ) and that he helped to set up United Artists, an organization thatprotected the salaries and creative freedom of actors in Hollywood. This period in Chaplin'sstory is especially interesting because such landmark moments are accompanied by Chaplin'sfirst marriage and divorce, the death of his first child, his friendship with French silent filmcomedian Max Linder, World War I and the role he would play in it, and the production andrelease of several unsuccessful films that marked Chaplin's first creative blockage - one thatthreatened his future career. This book will discuss the transitional periods just before andafter the First National contract, as well as the all-important period satisfying it. Archival evidence provides most of the support for the book's assertions, from the Chaplin archive (property of Roy Export, digitized by Cineteca di Bologna, Italy), and the personal archives of otherindividuals or institutions discussed. Rare photos will illustrate the story.