Re: Becoming Charley Chase - July 28 Release
Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 11:22 pm
I just finished watching disc 1 showcasing Chase's leading man work at Keystone. Fine prints and good speeds. I grew up renting Blackhawk films and it seemed that in my youth the Keystones were always racing through my projector a-mile-a-minute so it's nice revisiting them at a normal pace where, as someone stated, you can actually read their lips.
After listening to all of the audio commentaries (which used practically everyone on this board) I had a few thoughts of my own. It was mentioned that by 1914 Sennett had 6 working companies on the lot and when Chase graduated to a feature player he was placed in the sixth company. I got to thinking how much of a quota of film was each company expected to turn out? Chaplin made 35 Keystones (including a feature) so was that the norm for each company? I believe when Sennett first began Keystone he had to deliver two films a week but with in a year both Mabel & Ford Sterling appeared in around 60 films each so I assume that quota number went out the window.
The other thought centered on Mae Busch. Since she is teamed with Chase in many of these films it was only natural that her history would be commented on and her purported role as vamp in breaking up the real life romance of Mabel & Mack. No one states these accepted tales as facts but it is Brent who goes out of his way to dispel that this ever happened since in all his research not one bit of evidence or witness has every been found to substantiate these claims and as such must be called hearsay. That got me thinking of how ironic both actress ended up at the Roach lot in '26. Although both actresses were down on their luck Mabel was wined and dined by Roach to sign up promising features and putting her back on top. If that was the case wouldn't she had kicked and screamed and raised holy hell when she saw her sworn enemy who broke up her wedding and almost broke her head and her spirit and every other adjective that Busch has been accused of, and wouldn't she had told Roach, "Get that dame off this lot or I walk!!"
And yet Mabel never said that because this never happened which makes me think there was some other girl or some other reason that broke up their romance.
One more comment on Mae Busch and this one is a head scratcher. It was stated that when she went to Roach the only comedians on the lot that she appeared in were the films of Laurel & Hardy....and not once with her good friend Charley Chase who she started out with in movies.
By the way - great theme music on the menus.
Gary J.
After listening to all of the audio commentaries (which used practically everyone on this board) I had a few thoughts of my own. It was mentioned that by 1914 Sennett had 6 working companies on the lot and when Chase graduated to a feature player he was placed in the sixth company. I got to thinking how much of a quota of film was each company expected to turn out? Chaplin made 35 Keystones (including a feature) so was that the norm for each company? I believe when Sennett first began Keystone he had to deliver two films a week but with in a year both Mabel & Ford Sterling appeared in around 60 films each so I assume that quota number went out the window.
The other thought centered on Mae Busch. Since she is teamed with Chase in many of these films it was only natural that her history would be commented on and her purported role as vamp in breaking up the real life romance of Mabel & Mack. No one states these accepted tales as facts but it is Brent who goes out of his way to dispel that this ever happened since in all his research not one bit of evidence or witness has every been found to substantiate these claims and as such must be called hearsay. That got me thinking of how ironic both actress ended up at the Roach lot in '26. Although both actresses were down on their luck Mabel was wined and dined by Roach to sign up promising features and putting her back on top. If that was the case wouldn't she had kicked and screamed and raised holy hell when she saw her sworn enemy who broke up her wedding and almost broke her head and her spirit and every other adjective that Busch has been accused of, and wouldn't she had told Roach, "Get that dame off this lot or I walk!!"
And yet Mabel never said that because this never happened which makes me think there was some other girl or some other reason that broke up their romance.
One more comment on Mae Busch and this one is a head scratcher. It was stated that when she went to Roach the only comedians on the lot that she appeared in were the films of Laurel & Hardy....and not once with her good friend Charley Chase who she started out with in movies.
By the way - great theme music on the menus.
Gary J.