Tag Archives: Charlie Chaplin

New revelations about Safety Last! and The Kid

Posted on November 12, 2022 by John Bengtson

Two recent YouTube videos revealing new details from Harold Lloyd’s Safety Last!, and Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid, are now uploaded to my YouTube Channel. The channel includes a playlist of other video presentations hosted by museums and other groups. Hang … Continue reading →

Posted in Chaplin - Keaton - Lloyd Alley, Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, Safety Last!, The Kid | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Kid, Cops, Intolerance revealed in a 125 year old photo

Posted on October 29, 2022 by John Bengtson

When the great silent comedians filmed the streets of LA one hundred or more years ago, many of those settings were already decades old. Focusing on a single vintage photo, let’s explore one of the most fascinating film locations in … Continue reading →

Posted in Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Los Angeles Historic Core | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Jackie Coogan’s Charlie Chaplin’s Lost LA Alley – The Rag Man

Posted on September 17, 2022 by John Bengtson

Jackie Coogan returned twice more to an LA alley where he made The Kid with Charlie Chaplin. Early LA streets, now lost, appear in Jackie’s The Rag Man (1925). Jackie plays an orphan who becomes a successful junk dealer working … Continue reading →

Posted in Charlie Chaplin, The Kid | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times” Sanitarium Solved

Posted on August 21, 2022 by John Bengtson

Charlie Chaplin used the former Occidental College Hall of Letters (still standing) to portray the charity hospital where Edna Purviance delivers her baby in The Kid (1921). But “cured of a nervous breakdown but without a job” during Modern Times … Continue reading →

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Soft Shoes – Crossing Paths with Chaplin, Laurel, and Lloyd

Posted on June 18, 2022 by John Bengtson

Now streaming on the San Francisco Silent Film Festival’s website, Harry Carey’s 1925 action/drama Soft Shoes, in which Carey (right) seeks to rescue a young woman from a life of crime, was purportedly set in San Francisco. Yet the film’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Charlie Chaplin, Chinatown, Harold Lloyd, Stan Laurel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Charlie Chaplin’s One A.M. Mystery

Posted on May 29, 2022 by John Bengtson

Charlie Chaplin’s 1916 Mutual comedy short One A.M. was unique in many ways. Charlie plays a drunken bon-vivant, returning home after a night on the town. Except for a brief exterior scene with his taxi driver Albert Austin, Charlie plays … Continue reading →

Posted in Chaplin Studio, Charlie Chaplin, Hollywood History, Lyons and Moran | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

SF Silent Film Festival Returns to Live Cinema with Chaplin’s City Lights

Posted on February 5, 2022 by John Bengtson

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival returns to presenting live cinema this February 19 at the Paramount Theater with the Oakland Symphony Orchestra accompanying Charlie Chaplin’s masterpiece City Lights (1931), conducted by Timothy Brock. You may order tickets HERE. Along … Continue reading →

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Take the Tour – the Buster Keaton Studio

Posted on January 8, 2022 by John Bengtson

I first read Rudi Blesh’s biography Keaton in junior high, and was immediately hooked by Buster’s magic and the romance of early filmmaking. I grew up watching silent comedies on public television, and collecting 8mm prints of Charlie Chaplin and … Continue reading →

Posted in Buster Keaton, Keaton Studio, Keaton Tour | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

Lady Cops (and Harold Lloyd) Reveal 1914 Lost LA Treasures

Posted on December 12, 2021 by John Bengtson

What time machines! Thanks to the Eastman Museum, vivid details of downtown LA’s most iconic (and now sadly lost) landmarks fill the background of the 1914 gender reversal comedy Forcing the Force, restored and streaming on the museum site. Harold … Continue reading →

Posted in Court Hill, Los Angeles Historic Core | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Silent Movie Day celebrates the Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley

Posted on October 9, 2021 by John Bengtson

On September 29, 2021, the inaugural National Silent Movie Day, Hollywood Heritage celebrated the Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley with this beautiful plaque. This story by the Hollywood Partnership provides a good overview of that special day. https://hollywoodpartnership.com/post/first-ever-national-silent-movie-day-comes-to-hollywood It was crowded by the … Continue reading →

Posted in Chaplin - Keaton - Lloyd Alley, Hollywood History | Tagged , , , , | 14 Comments

Step by silent footstep – how the Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley was revealed

Posted on August 29, 2021 by John Bengtson

Step by silent footstep, clues from a dozen silent films collectively reveal a century-old secret, the humble Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley where three timeless comedies were made. This video has been upgraded with a beautiful score composed and performed by Jon C. … Continue reading →

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Hollywood Heritage Celebrates the Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley

Posted on August 14, 2021 by John Bengtson

Hollywood and “the movies” have been synonymous for over 100 years. Handprints in cement and the Walk of Fame honor stars from the past. But only now, with the exciting Hollywood Heritage campaign, will Hollywood celebrate its direct geographic connections … Continue reading →

Posted in Chaplin - Keaton - Lloyd Alley, Hollywood History | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

The Kid – Chaplin’s Silent Footsteps tour now on YouTube

Posted on July 13, 2021 by John Bengtson

The 2021 Chaplin Days online festival hosted by the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum includes my all-new video tour of Charlie’s century-old masterpiece The Kid (1921), revealing locations and the incredible visual history hidden in the background of the film. … Continue reading →

Posted in Chaplin Tour, The Kid | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

The Kid – Silent Footsteps a Century Ago – Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum Chaplin Days

Posted on June 19, 2021 by John Bengtson

As part of the 2021 Chaplin Days hosted June 25-27 online by the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, I will be presenting an all-new video tour of the locations and incredible visual history hidden in the background of Charlie Chaplin’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Chaplin Tour, The Kid | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Worth a Thousand Words – Patrick Mate’s Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley Cartoon

Posted on May 12, 2021 by John Bengtson

Award-winning animator and wickedly funny caricaturist Patrick Mate has joined the campaign to name the Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley with this delightful cartoon, capturing the spirit of The Kid, Cops, and Safety Last! with a single image. A French-born DreamWorks Animation veteran … Continue reading →

Posted in Chaplin - Keaton - Lloyd Alley | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Charlie, Buster, and Harold Silent Footsteps LA Tour

Posted on April 14, 2021 by John Bengtson

Hosted by the Los Angeles City Historical Society, Charlie, Buster, and Harold’s guided silent footsteps tour across Bunker Hill, Chinatown, Olvera Street, and other historic downtown locations is now posted on YouTube. The webinar is free, but the Historical Society … Continue reading →

Posted in Los Angeles Historic Core | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

The Lens of History – Hollywood before the Chaplin Studio

Posted on January 23, 2021 by John Bengtson

Above, only part of a vast panoramic view looking south at Hollywood, circa 1906. Can you spot the future site of the Charlie Chaplin Studio, nearly straight ahead? The hill in the foreground would become in 1914 the site to … Continue reading →

Posted in Chaplin Studio, Charlie Chaplin, Hollywood History | Tagged , , , , , | 16 Comments

The Remarkable Charlie Chaplin Archives

Posted on November 8, 2020 by John Bengtson

The Charlie Chaplin Archives, housed in Bologna and accessible online, hosts thousands of rare photographs, production logs, scripts, and other fascinating studio records and documentation from Chaplin’s life and long career. Pick a favorite film, or subject of interest, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Chaplin Studio, City Lights | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Lyons & Moran – the “good” old days on New High Street

Posted on October 11, 2020 by John Bengtson

One of my all-time favorite discoveries are the young girls caught on camera intently watching Charlie Chaplin filming scenes from The Kid (1921) (read more HERE). A closer study of Harold Lloyd’s early short From Hand to Mouth (1919) reveals … Continue reading →

Posted in Chaplin - Keaton - Lloyd Alley, Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, Lyons and Moran, The Kid | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Charlie Chaplin’s Once Lost Film – A Thief Catcher

Posted on June 6, 2020 by John Bengtson

A once lost Chaplin film rediscovered?! It made international headlines a decade ago when producer-historian Paul Gierucki found and preserved A Thief Catcher (1914), a Ford Sterling comedy featuring Charlie Chaplin in a supporting role portraying a Keystone Cop. You … Continue reading →

Posted in Charlie Chaplin, Edendale, Keystone Studio, Mabel Normand | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments