Exclusive: Lost Charlie Chaplin film discovered in Michigan

[Paul E. Gierucki]

This is an updated version of the article originally published on Monday June 7, 2010.

After a century, lost Chaplin film found in trunk

By Scott Eyman
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Posted: 8:20 p.m. Monday, June 7, 2010

The diminutive figure emerges from the underbrush wearing a Keystone Kops uniform about four sizes too large. He screws up his courage by giving a very familiar wiggle of his butt, followed by a very familiar wriggle of his shoulders.
He's wearing a little mustache that would soon become world famous, carrying only a nightstick and the possibility of greatness.

It's Charlie Chaplin, making a cameo appearance in a Keystone comedy called A Thief Catcher in January 1914, about a month after he started working at the Edendale, Calif., studio. It's the 36th film he made in a frantic year's activity before he left for more green, not to mention greener pastures.

Until a few months ago, nobody knew it existed.

A Thief Catcher, released by the Mutual Film Corp . on Feb. 19, 1914, was thought to be among the estimated half of all silent films lost to history. The short actually stars Ford Sterling, Mack Swain and Edgar Kennedy. Chaplin appears for perhaps two minutes of the 10-minute film.

Finding a lost Chaplin appearance can be roughly compared to finding a lost Beethoven quartet, and you can hear many potent notes clearly in his brief appearance. Following on the heels of a previously lost 1927 John Ford film discovered recently in New Zealand, the existence of A Thief Catcher proves yet again that amazing discoveries are still possible even after a century.

The 16mm print was found by historian and collector Paul Gierucki at an antiques show in Taylor, Mich. "It was in an old steamer trunk full of 16mm films," he said. "Cartoons, all sorts of things. I could tell it was a Keystone comedy, so I haggled and got it for $100."

Thinking it was just another Keystone, Gierucki didn't look at it for a while. He finally got around to it in early March. When Chaplin made his entrance about six minutes in, "my heart stopped," Gierucki said. "I recognized him immediately."

"Is this who I think it is?" he asked fellow collector Richard Roberts, sending along a frame grab.

"Probably," Roberts said, "but we need to see him move."

Once you've seen him move, there's no question.

Mabel's Strange Predicament, the first film in which Chaplin appeared in his famous makeup, started shooting on Jan. 6, 1914, a day after production began on A Thief Catcher.

"It's either his second mustache picture or his first," Roberts said. "It cements the concept that he had the character before he came to Keystone and didn't slap it together on the way to the shooting stage one day. Even when he's doing a minor part, he's doing that character. It's a new brick in the Chaplin biography. And this opens up the door to other unknown Chaplin appearances at Keystone."

Every few years, someone rushes to the media with news of a lost Chaplin film, which usually turns out to be a familiar film with a different title. But A Thief Catcher is the real deal.

Chaplin wasn't a known commodity when the picture was released. Stardom would come gradually over the next nine months as his comedies took the world by storm.

In later years, Chaplin did an unbilled cameo in the 1915 Essanay comedy His Regeneration and a surprise appearance as himself in the 1928 King Vidor feature Show People.

A Thief Catcher will be unveiled at Slapsticon, a film convention, on July 17 at the Spectrum Theater in Rosslyn, Va.


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More on Scott Eyman

He has written 11 books, including critically acclaimed biographies of silent film star Mary Pickford, directors Ernst Lubitsch and John Ford, and MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer. His latest, Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. DeMille, will be published in September.