Tag Archives: Keystone Studio

The Little Tramp’s Screen Debut – Charlie Chaplin’s Kid Autos – They Were What ?!?

My latest YouTube video presents Charlie Chaplin’s screen debut of “The Little Tramp,” while explaining what exactly were “kid auto races.” Below, a few scenes from the video, and further below, my original post about the film from 2011. Inducted … Continue reading

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Flying “Lizzies of the Field” – Part 2

One of silent comedies’ craziest scenes, race cars zooming down a ramp, flying through the air, landing in a pile atop each other, marks the exciting climax to Lizzies of the Field (1924), the Mack Sennett Comedies Studio production recently … Continue reading

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Billy Bevan’s “Lizzies of the Field” before Griffith Observatory

This post is dedicated with heartfelt appreciation to Dave Glass and Dave Wyatt, who join the growing ranks of silent film superheroes preserving and restoring classic films, and making them available on home video to grateful fans. Having released compilations … Continue reading

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CHASE! A Tribute to the Keystone Cops

CHASE! A Tribute to the Keystone Cops, honors these still universally recognized icons of silent comedy with an anthology of entertaining and informative essays assembled and edited by Lon & Debra Davis. Historian Sam Gill provides the foreword, joined by … Continue reading

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Charlie Chaplin’s Once Lost Film – A Thief Catcher

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

Harold Lloyd’s Earliest Days Filming in Edendale

The cinematic roots for the three great kings of comedy, Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd, trace back to the earliest days of filmmaking. As reported HERE, Chaplin staged scenes from his 1914 Keystone films Those Love Pangs and Tillie’s Punctured Romance … Continue reading

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Chaplin’s Earliest Scenes Beside the Selig Studio

When Charlie Chaplin began his film career at the Keystone Studio in 1914, the Selig Polyscope studio (above) stood just two blocks to the north, sandwiched between Clifford and Duane Streets along Allesandro (now Glendale Boulevard) in Edendale. Opening in … Continue reading

Posted in Charlie Chaplin, Edendale, Keystone Studio, Tillie's Punctured Romance | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Charlie Chaplin’s Echo Park Home – 100 Years Later

As I explain in my book Silent Traces, Charlie Chaplin filmed several early comedies in Echo Park, just a few blocks south of the Keystone Studio where he began his film career 100 years ago. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it turns out … Continue reading

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Chaplin’s First Scene – a Very Busy Place to Film

One of my earliest posts (reprinted below), reports that the site of Chaplin’s first scene, from his initial movie Making a Living (1914), was discovered by Kevin Dale to have been filmed in front of a residential porch adjacent to … Continue reading

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Chaplin – Caught In the Rain 100 Years Ago by the 2nd St Tunnel

Charlie Chaplin’s lucky 13th Keystone Studio movie Caught in the Rain was released May 4, 1914, one hundred years ago today. Although Chaplin credits this film in his autobiography as his first directorial effort, Chaplin biographer David Robinson suggests otherwise, … Continue reading

Posted in Bunker Hill, Charlie Chaplin, Keystone Studio, Los Angeles Historic Core, Los Angeles Tunnels | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Chaplin – 100 Years Ago on Sunset Boulevard

“Sunset Boulevard” – few words evoke the mystique and glamour of Southern California more than the name of this historic street that wends its way west from the heart of downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Ocean. As discussed here, … Continue reading

Posted in Charlie Chaplin, Cops, Keystone Studio, Tillie's Punctured Romance | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Chaplin, Arbuckle and The Rounders

I’ve always enjoyed the comic interplay between Charlie Chaplin and Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle during their classic Keystone short The Rounders (1914).  Charlie and Roscoe play a couple of good time inebriates, or “rounders,” who empty their wives’ pocketbooks in order … Continue reading

Posted in Charlie Chaplin, Los Angeles Historic Core, Roscoe Arbuckle | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Chaplin’s Kid Autos – They Were What ?!?

Inducted now into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, Kid Auto Races at Venice, Cal. was Charlie Chaplin’s second motion picture release, and the first release to feature his Little Tramp persona.  It was filmed at the … Continue reading

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Chaplin – A Film Johnnie at the Bryson

The remarkable image quality of the new Chaplin at Keystone collection from Flicker Alley makes it possible to identify several more scenes from Charlie’s earliest films.  As shown here, the extant Bryson Apartments (2701 Wilshire Blvd.) stood in for the … Continue reading

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Chaplin’s Very First Scene – Now a Jack-in-the-Box

Following the release of the Chaplin at Keystone DVD Collection, for which I prepared a bonus feature program, Kevin Dale contacted me wondering if Chaplin had filmed the opening scene from his inaugural film Making a Living in front of … Continue reading

Posted in Chaplin Tour, Charlie Chaplin, Keystone Studio | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments