Chaplin Centenary......Whup-de-dup

[Richard M Roberts]

Well, I have to say I’m proud that not one Mafian jumped to the urge, as many clowns on the Internet did, to trumpet and hoorah the 100th Anniversary of Charles Chaplin coming to the Movies on February 2nd. It wasn’t like Charlie was even the first great screen comedian, I didn’t see anyone celebrating Max Linder or John Bunny’s Centenaries, or raising a glass when Sidney Drew made his first film appearance a hundred years ago. We could also possibly celebrate Charley Chase’s 100th Anniversary (or, if we could find any actual Charles Parrott Al Christie credits, we could have already celebrated and be done). Did Roscoe Arbuckle get a mention last year? Mabel Normand? Ford Sterling anyone?

And later on this year, is anyone going to be throwing confetti when Syd Chaplin hits the Century mark for his entry into the Film World? Yeah, not likely, Syd always gets short shrift.

Basically, a Century or so ago, the Comedy Film Industry was beginning to heat up, a lot of funny stuff was on the move, Charles Chaplin was a big part of it, but he was far from the only part. For the next twenty years or so, we can most likely celebrate special comedy centenaries virtually every day. How’s that for an excuse for we fellow Mafians to raise a glass to another comedian when we wake each morning?


I’ll drink to that………


RICHARD M ROBERTS

[Gary Johnson]

And yet.......I can't help but think that with each passing generation Chaplins' contribution to screen comedy gets pushed back and diminshed just a little bit more.

To many he is archaic -- Victorian ideals wrapped up in filmaking techniques that date back to the Nickleodeon era (His cardboard sets pale besides Keaton's natural look). Others reject him now simply because he was the critics choice throughout the formative years of film criticism - to the detriment of all other comedians (Gebert comed to mind). And then there are those who still love the old juicy labels from the old yellow press, "communist, degenerate, child-molester...." (Where is old George Schlepp nowadays?).

Chaplins face and figure are still universally recognized but as he has aged and withered on the vine he has morphed into Mickey Mouse.....just another corporate symbol. The Academy loves to trot out his icon status whenever they want to celebrate the glory of Hollywood but there never seems to be time to explain why he was once so revered.

And it is such an easy question to answer.
He was very, very funny. And he still makes me laugh to this day. Especially the scruffy, ingenious, rabble-rouser of the Teens. He dragged straight slapstick out of the muck and mire and turned it into a rythmic dance. His body performed perfectly in synch with every type of gag that his mind could conceive. He could convey more meaning with a tilt of a head than most actors achieved with a 10 minute soliloquy.

In essense, I find few film performers with the ability to totally engage my attention on screen like Charlie Chaplin can. But let's not bring that up. That can't be half as illuminating as the scandals and the raging egotism.....

[Joe Migliore]

In April I'll be scouring the internet to see who first identifies Oliver Hardy as Fat Chaplin.

[Jim Roots]

In April I'll be scouring the internet to see who first identifies Oliver Hardy as Fat Chaplin.

Or worse: Oliver Hardy as Hitler who escaped the Berlin bunker and lived to become a very fat old man.

Jim

[Richard M Roberts]

In April I'll be scouring the internet to see who first identifies Oliver Hardy as Fat Chaplin.

Or worse: Oliver Hardy as Hitler who escaped the Berlin bunker and lived to become a very fat old man.

Jim

" Goebbels, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!".



RICHARD M ROBERTS

[Bruce Calvert]

Hey, it's an excuse to put on a show. Chaplin is getting screened all over this spring because of his 100th anniversary in film. If it gets somebody interested in his Keystone period, or Chaplin at all, that's great. I'm screening Kid Auto Races at Venice at our Sons of the Desert screening this weekend, and I doubt I'll have any complaints from the audience.

I'm hoping I'm still around for the 100th anniversary of Laurel & Hardy's teaming. Except I don't know if I should celebrate Duck Soup, 45 Minutes from Hollywood or The Lucky Dog...

[christopher connelly]

Exactly.

Chaplin was the gateway drug for many of us, because (depending on the TV market in which we grew up) Chaplin silent shorts were run on TV with some regularity. So (for me) my introduction to silent shorts came through Chaplin.

Ditto Our Gang and 3 Stooges for sound shorts.

And METROPOLIS for silent features.

These aren't the best films ever made by a long shot. They're not even the best of their genres. But you always fondly remember your first.

And, so long as people aren't throwing around words like "best" and "genius" - and if an anniversary like this prompts a newbie to give silent shorts a chance - the good far outweighs the silliness of marking some film anniversaries and not others.

And I fully intend to celebrate the Nita Naldi and Helen Morgan film centennials in grand style.

[Gary Johnson]

It's nice to know that someone around here likes to talk about Chaplin's comedy.......

[Richard M Roberts]

Hey, it's an excuse to put on a show. Chaplin is getting screened all over this spring because of his 100th anniversary in film. If it gets somebody interested in his Keystone period, or Chaplin at all, that's great. I'm screening Kid Auto Races at Venice at our Sons of the Desert screening this weekend, and I doubt I'll have any complaints from the audience.

I'm hoping I'm still around for the 100th anniversary of Laurel & Hardy's teaming. Except I don't know if I should celebrate Duck Soup, 45 Minutes from Hollywood or The Lucky Dog...

Hmmmm, the classic BS excuse for corruption of Language, History, Art, what have you. Hey, who cares if we run DRACULA with a crappy Phillip Glass score? What does it matter if we pretend that Charlie Chaplin invented Silent Film Comedy all by his widdle ownsome. It’s perfectly okay to let some rock star idiot cut 45 minutes out of some other artists work so he can do his own “interpretation” of it. If it puts butts in seats and sells tickets, terrific!

We already live in a Country that is culturally, historically, and artistically illiterate, and each generation gets dumber and dumer and dummer and dummah and dumma……..and you know what, it’s because we set the bar lower and lower, because it’s the expedient and easy thing to do, and hey, we can sell a few tickets. Hey, the Chaplin Kids and Grandkids, some of whom appear to have never been touched by human employment, need to keep up the upkeep on the mansions, so lets bang the drums and pretend the rest of the Silent Comedy Industry and Silent Film in general does not exist, because just maybe one of the geeks we sell a ticket to will peer beyond their own myopic life view and seek out other silent comedians.

And they all said THE ARTIST would bring about a new era of modern silent films, and that having Georgio Moroder score METROPOLIS would get us a whole new generation of Silent Film Fans. Hmmmm, the Moroder METROPOLIS did nothing but bring in a few pretentious twits and folk who want more silent films with rock scores. We may get a few more Chaplin fans, but you know, those Chaplin fans ain;t gonna discover anyone else unless we lead them to it to. No, if you’re going to do it, make the effort to do it correct and well. Yeah, Charlie Chaplin was a big deal in 1914, but he was not the only big deal in 1914. Leave that “hey, if it sells tickets, great” crap mentality to the louts at Nitratevile, I challenge the Mafians to find and observe the other important Century Milestones in this History we hold so damn important, hell, it’s almost impossible not to trip over them unless you’ve got a blindfold on. It really ain’t worth doing if you don’t do it right.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

[Bruce Calvert]

So Richard, I'm guessing that you missed the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination, the 50th anniversary of the Beatles on Ed Sullivan this last weekend, and you'll be skipping out on remembrances of the 100th anniversary of the First World War later this year.

I guess that I'm just a glass-half-full kind of person, but I don't care how we rope 'em into the silent comedy universe, as long as they make it eventually. There's a lot of local film festivals that screen all kinds of navel-gazing independent movies, Kung Fu schlock and Bollywood stuff that also devote a single slot to a silent film with live music. As long as they do it right (not the Phillip Glass DRACULA or Stewart Copeland BEN HUR way), and screen a Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd or other classic, I think it's great. There won't be much of a Silent Comedy Mafia in 10 years if you don't get new recruits somehow. There's plenty of time later to steer 'em to Charley Chase, Lloyd Hamilton and Colleen Moore, and away from Al Joy...