Columbus Dispatch: Zanesville to put focus on Chaplin

[Bruce Calvert]

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/ar ... aplin.html

Zanesville to put focus on Chaplin
Conference sets screening of short long thought lost
Sunday, October 24, 2010 03:00 AM
By Nick Chordas

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

FILE PHOTO
Charlie Chaplin in the 1921 film The Kid
"The Tramp" is coming to Zanesville.

Screen icon Charlie Chaplin will be the focus of "Charlie in the Heartland," an international academic conference - the first to be held in the United States, according to organizer Lisa Stein - at Ohio University-Zanesville.

"We wanted to highlight the fact that this year is the 100th anniversary of Chaplin first setting foot on American soil," said Stein, an assistant professor of English who has studied the comedian and early film star born in England.

The event, running Thursday through Saturday, will feature presentations from scholars, as well as open-to-the-public showings of Chaplin's features and shorts, including a rare screening of A Thief Catcher (1914).

The Keystone comedy, thought to be lost, features Chaplin in a nonstarring role. It was discovered last year at an antiques sale in Michigan.

The 10-minute production will be shown on DVD - as will all movies in the program with the exception of The Kid and The Idle Class. Those 1921 films will be presented in 35 mm at the Twin City Opera House in McConnelsville.

"Many of Chaplin's films have been restored, and we'd like to show people just how beautiful old movies can be," Stein said.

Admission to the Opera House, located about 80 miles east of Columbus, is $1 (or free for Muskingum County residents). All other screenings, to take place in Elson Hall Auditorium on the OU-Zanesville campus, are free.

Tickets are required for A Thief Catcher, showing with The New Janitor (1914) and Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914). To reserve tickets - or get information about attending presentations and panel discussions - call 740-588-1535.

The Zanesville Museum of Art, meanwhile, will offer "Charlie Chaplin and American Culture," featuring Chaplin-related memorabilia, through Dec. 4.

"I would liken Chaplin to distinctive artists in other fields like Shakespeare or Dickens," said Charles Maland, an English professor at the University of Tennessee and a Chaplin scholar who will be the conference keynote speaker.

"Society is always changing and evolving, ... but I expect scholars and movie fans to remain interested in his work."

nchordas@dispatch.com

Schedule
'Charlie in the Heartland'

film screenings

Unless otherwise noted, movies will be shown free in Elson Hall Auditorium, 1425 Newark Rd., at Ohio University-Zanesville.

• Thursday - 1:30 p.m.: Work (1915), One A.M. (1916) and The Pawnshop (1916); 8:15: Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914), Mabel's Strange Predicament (1914), Tango Tangles (1914), The Fatal Mallet (1914) and Caught in a Cabaret (1914)

• Friday - 1 p.m.: The Masquerader (1914), Dough and Dynamite (1914) and His Trysting Place (1914); 6:30: The Kid (1921) and The Idle Class (1921) in Twin City Opera House, 15 W. Main St., McConnelsville ($1, or free for Muskingum County residents)

• Saturday - 8 a.m.: A Dog's Life (1918) and How To Make Movies (1918); 2:15 p.m.: The Great Dictator (1940); 8:30: A Thief Catcher (1914), The New Janitor (1914) and Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914) (tickets required)